SUBJECT:

Evaluation
TOPIC:
TESTING PASSAGE COMPREHENSION

TEACHERS NAME:
Ms. Lissette Santos de Landaverde

STUDENTS NAME:
Ayala Miranda Lilian Mercedes
Garca Portillo Edith de la Paz
Herrera Ramos Mirna Guadalupe
Mndez Pocasangre Yoselin Rosibel
Mendoza Valencia Andrea Abigail
Peate Jacobo Mercy Evelyn

INTRODUCTION
Limited Response

Sentence Comprehension

Passage Comprehension

CONTEXT SELECTION:
ESL

students are introduced to

unusual passages or contexts.

Teachers

collect practical reading

passage from the community for use in

class.

Besides the usual articles and

stories, these may include:
Advertisements.
Want ads.
Business and social letters.
Driver's license and loan applications.
Bank statements.
Rental and sales agreements.
Mail order catalogs.
Reading materials from other classes.

School-related written materials such as:

Graphs.

Blackboard summaries.
Duplicated handouts.
Notes and notices.
Selecting what to test depends of course
on what kind of reading you have used with
your students.

EXAMPLE:1
75 Gremlin. 6 cyl 2 dr 4 spd A-1 cond. 20 MPG
city 8 trk AM/FM P.S.PB., auto/cruise bucket
seats Terms 379-1829 after 5.
This automobile has ___________
A. An automatic transmission.
B. A radio but no stereo.
C. Cruise control.
D. Air conditioning.

EXAMPLE:1
75 Gremlin. 6 cyl 2 dr 4 spd A-1 cond. 20 MPG
city 8 trk AM/FM P.S.PB., auto/cruise bucket
seats Terms 379-1829 after 5.
This automobile has ___________
A. An automatic transmission.
B. A radio but no stereo.
C. Cruise control.
D. Air conditioning.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NEWSPAPER

ADVERTISEMENTS
75

= 1975
cyl = cylinders
dr = doors
Spd= speed
cond = condition
MPG city = miles per gallon in the city
8 trk = 8 track stereo

CONT
AM/FM

= Radio frequency
P.S = Power steering
P.B = Power brakes
auto/cruise = Automatic cruise control
After 5 = after 5:00 p.m.

EXAMPLE: 2

What is the best generalization we can make based on

the table?
A. Increased production can lower the cost of a product.
B. Goods were more expensive early in the century than later on.
C. There is an increasing interest in mechanical inventions.
D. People are less interested in items that cost more money.

EXAMPLE: 3

How much should a tenant pay for the rent period?

a) US$100
b) US$200
c) US$300
d) Negotiable

QUESTION TECHNIQUES FOR BEGINNERS

Two

useful approaches:

1.

True-false items

2.

Matching technique

1. TRUE-FALSE ITEMS
Easier

to prepare.

Easier

to understand than

a regular multiple-choice

item.

Among the American Negroes in the southern

states, work songs played an integral part in
fashioning a folk music which was later to become
jazz. These had been part of the West Africans
musical experience at home. And now they were
transported to a new environment. In America they
were found to be of no little importance to the
slaves output of work.
T

Work songs were not helpful in getting more work done. T

Jazz is related to the Work songs of American blacks.

Among the American Negroes in the southern

states, work songs played an integral part in
fashioning a folk music which was later to become
jazz. These had been part of the West Africans
musical experience at home. And now they were
transported to a new environment. In America they
were found to be of no little importance to the
slaves output of work.
Jazz is related to the Work songs of American blacks.

T F

Work songs were not helpful in getting more work done. T

Limitations
Students

answer.

might simply guess the right

GUESSING CORRECTION
Subtract

the number wrong from the

number right.
100- Test items
50 items (Students knew)
50 items (Guessed)
75 (Score) 50 + 25 ( Guessed right)

75 (right items) 25 (wrong items)= 50

CONT GUESSING CORRECTION

Regular

Use

multiple-choice tests.

correction

Test is timed

W (wrong items) / 3 (distractors) R (correct

answers)

2. MATCHING TECHNIQUE
o

Useful.

Copy work.

Often concentrate more on grammar and

vocabulary.

Among the American Negroes in the southern

states, work songs played an integral part in
fashioning a folk music which was later to become
jazz. These had been part of the West Africans
musical experience at home. And now they were
transported to a new environment. In America they
were found to be of no little importance to the
slaves output of work.
What played an integral part in fashioning folk music?
A. work songs

D. Americans

B. jazz

C. a new environment

Ann: Mr. Park never works in the garage

Ken: Yes he does. He worked in the

garage last Saturday.

When was he working?

A. In the garage B. Mr. Park C. last

Saturday

Ann: Mr. Park never works in the garage

Ken: Yes he does. He worked in the

garage last Saturday.

When was he working?

A. In the garage
C. last Saturday

B. Mr. Park

QUESTION TECHNIQUES FOR

MORE ADVANCED STUDENTS
Passages should come from
different sources:
Books

from other classes.

Readings from your own English
course.
Give sample test for familiarization.

STANDARD MULTIPLE CHOICE

Varies

according to student level and

difficulty.
Short

passages (35 to 75 words)

Longer

passages (100-300 words)

CONT
Less

advanced students (100-200 words)

More

advanced students (150-300 words)

Use
Try

3-5 passages from different sources.

some examples in class.

CONT
Types of question
Paraphrase

item

Synthesis

item

Inference

item

EXAMPLE 1
Karate is a science of unarmed self-defense and
counterattack. It is a sort of weapon in an empty
hand. In many U.S. cities thousands of young
people are developing their minds as well as their
bodies by learning karate.
IN THIS PASSAGE WE LEARN THAT KARATE_______
A. Is being taught to many young Americans.
B. And training for the mind are both being taught.
C. Can remove a weapon from someones hand.
D. Is used to start a fight.

EXAMPLE 1
Karate is a science of unarmed self-defense and
counterattack. It is a sort of weapon in an empty
hand. In many U.S. cities thousands of young
people are developing their minds as well as their
bodies by learning karate.
IN THIS PASSAGE WE LEARN THAT KARATE_______
A. Is being taught to many young Americans.
B. And training for the mind are both being taught.
C. Can remove a weapon from someons hand.
D. Is used to start a fight.

EXAMPLE 2
Williamsburg is a historic city in Virginia that was
settled by English colonists in 1633, twenty six years
after the first permanent English colony in America
was settled as Jamestown. In the beginning, the
colony at Williamsburg was named Middle Plantation
because of its location in the middle of peninsula
between two rivers, the York and the James. The
site of Williamsburg had been selected by the
colonist because the soil drainage was better
there than at Jamestown location, and there were
fewer mosquitoes.

ACCORDING TO THE PASSAGE, THE COLONIST CHOSE

WILLIAMSBURG BECAUSE________

A. It was in England
B. There were no nearby rivers
C. There were lots of mosquitoes
D. The soil drained well

ACCORDING TO THE PASSAGE, THE COLONIST CHOSE

WILLIAMSBURG BECAUSE________

A. It was in England
B. There were no nearby rivers

C. There were lots of mosquitoes

D. The soil drained well

EXAMPLE 3
Ice ages, those periods when ice covered
extensive areas of the Earth, are known to
have occurred at least six times. Past ice ages
can be recognized from rocks strata that show
evidence of foreign materials deposited by
moving walls of ice or melting glaciers. Ice ages
can also be recognized from land formations
that have been produced from moving walls of
ice, such as U-shaped valleys, sculpured
landsacapes, and polished rock faces.

ACCORDING TO THE PASSAGE, WHAT HAPPENS

DURING AN ICE AGE?
A. Rock strata are recognized by geologists.
B. Evidence of foreign materials is found.
C. Ice covers a large portion of the Earths surface.
D. Ice melts six times.

ACCORDING TO THE PASSAGE, WHAT HAPPENS

DURING AN ICE AGE?
A. Rock strata are recognized by geologists.
B. Evidence of foreign materials is found.
C. Ice covers a large portion of the Earths surface.
D. Ice melts six times.

SECOND KIND OF QUESTION:

SYNTHESIS ITEM
It

requires integration of ideas from more

that one sentence, sometimes from the
entire selection.

We

can use for example: in one simple story

used to test reading comprehension.

EXAMPLE 1
A

lady stops at a restaurant to eat. But she looks

confused when it is time to pay her bill. Then she
says, I cant pay the bill. My purse is gone.

THE LADY COULDNT PAY FOR HER MEAL BECAUSE___

A. Her meal was unhealthy
B. She owns the restaurant
C. She stopped by the place
D. Her purse was lost

EXAMPLE 2
For

a more advanced example of the

synthesis question, we will look at the full
version of the karate passage.

Karate is a science of unarmed self-defense and counterattack. It is

a sort of weapon in an empty hand. In many U.S. cities thousands
of young people are developing their minds as well as their bodies
by learning karate. Ive been taking karate lessons for five years
now, says sixteen-year-old Bobby Hamilton of Columbus, Ohio,
and its great! I find myself doing things that I thought I could never
do. Paula Jones has just begun taking karate lessons at her high
school in Philadelphia. She feels that she has more self-confidence
because of the lessons. I am more aware of myself, she says. I
already have learned so much about self-control. I know everything
in life is not going to be easy. Karate helps prepare me for the times
when Ill have to meet my problems face to face.

A GOOD TITLE FOR THIS SELECTION WOULD BE___

A. Americans Import a Japanese Sport.

B. Karate Weaponless Protection for People of All
Ages.
C. School Children Enjoy a New Kind of Physical
Education Class.
D. Self-Perfection Through Self-Protection.

THIRD KIND OF QUESTION:

INFERENCE ITEM

It requires students to see implications in

what they read.

EXAMPLE 1
(Two men, Gerard and Denys, were traveling in a

forest. They had just been forced to kill a large baby

bear in self-defense.) Then Gerard heard a sound

behind them. It was a strange sound, too, like

something heavy, but not hard, rushing over dry
leaves. It was a large bear, as big as a horse,
running after them a short distance away. As soon
as he saw it, Gerard cried out in fear, The baby
bears mother.

The mother bear was probably running because

it___
A. Was afraid of Gerard and Denys and wanted to
escape.
B. Wanted to hurt those who had killed its baby.
C. Was chasing a horse, a short distance away.
D. Enjoyed running, like horses and other animals
do.

EXAMPLE 2
Marian Anderson's brilliant singing career began at age
six when she sang spirituals at the Union Baptist Church
in her hometown of Philadelphia. She toured Europe in

the 1920s, drawing vast acclaim; however, when she

returned to the United States she was still barred from
performing 5 on the American operatic stage. After she

was prevented from singing in Washington's segregated

Constitution Hall in 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt intervened
and arranged for Miss Anderson to perform at the Lincoln
Memorial.

We can conclude from the passage that Marian

Anderson first toured Europe instead of the United
States because___
A. it was too expensive to tour in the United States

B. she was paid more in Europe

C. she was not allowed to perform in the United

States
D. there were better operatic facilities in Europe

CONSIDERATIONS
1- When testing intermediate or advanced
students dont ask for words or phrases that

appear directly in passages.

2- Avoid illogical distractors (obviously wrong)

In this study, the high divorce rate was cause

by_____
A. The great kindness of husbands and wives to
each other.
B. heavy drinking by the mate who was working.
C. positive relationships of parents and children.
D. having lots of money to pay bills with.

3- They should not be written in such a way that they

can be answered from general knowledge.

In the article, we learned that Adolf Hitler was_____

A. A Russian spy
B. A French ballet dancer
C. An American baseball player
D. A German dictator

MULTIPLE-CHOICE CLOZE
Cloze

test uses a passage that contains

blanks and those replace certain deleted
words.

Cloze

tests as a way to test reading

comprehension.

Standard

cloze measures overall

proficiency.

EXAMPLE 1
Most people are born with the natural ability to (1) ___ stories,
but only a rare few have the determination to become
professional authors, and even fewer have the joy of seeing
their novels top the (2) ___ of bestselling books. Some of the
world's famous crime writers have achieved the (3)
____success of all. Who can (4) ____ the appeal of famous
detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule
Poirot? Even if you haven't read the (5) ___books you will
have
seen
them
in
films
or
on
the
TV.
If you have an ambition to become the (6) ___Agatha Christie
what should you do? The best starting (7)____is to read lots of
examples of crime fiction written by good authors. You will
need a notebook to carry around with you or, (8)___better,
some loose (9)___of paper that you can (10)____notes on
and then file into a folder.

One writer points up another problem, he

would be quite unable to predict what to
put in those blanks.

This

writer suggests using a multiplechoice cloze format.

Students

might rely on their recognition of

the needed word.

 Here

is the first part of multiple-choice cloze. The

correct underlined word is to be circled.

Is

your home safe? Do it/you/them/each protect your

family? Are you safe of/for/from fire or falling? Do

you guard against watching/knowing/eating/sending
unsafe food or drinking poison?
It perhaps/is/always/so important to keep you home

safe and/since/because/ for develop good safety

habits.

 The

best distractors come from students

error.

variation on the standard cloze has been

used in tests prepared by an African
ministry of education.

Andrew Manson began his work as a doctor at

Drineffy, a coal mining town in Wales. Here he
became friends with a doctor named Philip
Denney. They
both
wanted
to
stop
disease____(1)that people could became
well____(2) fact, they even blew up a
____(3)one night to help____(4)peoples
health. In Drineffy, Andrew also met Christine
Barlow. She became his ____(5) the day he
began working in a town called Aberalaw.
KEY: (1) so, (2) In, (3) sewer, (4) improve,
(5) wife

 The

sample is part general proficiency

and part reading comprehension. While
is not a multiple-choice cloze, it could be
converted to that form.

However hazy their grasp of astronomy may be, most adults hold
several beliefs with some certainty. They believe, for example, that
the Earth is round and that it revolves around another, larger round
body (the Sun), (1) ---- a smaller round body (the Moon) revolves
around it. They also believe (2) ---- certain familiar phenomena,
such as the day-night cycle and the seasons, depend on the
movements and relative positions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon. But
how do adults come to form such beliefs? The facts of astronomy
are hardly evident in everyday experience; if anything, the reverse
(3) ---- to be true. Children experience an apparently flat earth from
which they see the Sun move (4) ---- the sky, and they learn things
that seem incompatible with the notion that people could somehow
live on the surface of a large ball. Is the development of adult-level
understanding, therefore, simply a matter of suppressing childish
beliefs and gradually (5) ---- the views of modern adult society?
Key: While, that, across, could be argued, accepting, so,
expect

ALTERNATE FORMS OF PASSAGE

COMPREHENSION ITEMS

1. SENTENCE- LEVEL ITEMS

It

is easy to prepare.

Questions

requires only simple

responses minimize the mixing of
writing and reading skills.

EXAMPLE 1
Andrew Mason began his work as a doctor at
Drineffy, a coal mining town in Wales. Here he
became Friends with a doctor named Philip
Denney. They both wanted to stop disease so that
people could become well. In fact, they even blew
up a sewer one night to help improve peoples
health. In Drineffy, Andrew also met Christine
Barlow. She became his wife the day he began
working in a town called Aberalaw.
The two doctors destroyed the sewer because

Possible answer would be:

They wanted to improve the health of the
people at Drineffy

EXAMPLE 2
A recent investigation by scientists at the U.S. Geological
Survey shows that strange animal behavior might help
predict future earthquakes. Some birds screeched and flew
about
wildly:
dogs
yelped
and
ran
around
uncontrollably. Scientists believe the animals can perceive
these environmental changes as early as several days before
the mishap. In 1976 after observing animal behavior, the
Chinese were able to predict a devastating quake. Although
hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the government
was able to evacuate millions of other people and thus keep
the death toll at a lower level.

Question
If scientists can accurately predict
earthquakes, there will be

Possible

answer:
A lower death rate

EXAMPLE 3
Sometimes called puma, panther, or mountain lion,
the agile cougar has a greater natural range than
any other mammal in the Western Hemisphere
except humans. However, long viewed as a threat
to livestock, it has been intensively hunted since
the arrival of European colonists to the America
and was almost extinct by the early twentieth
century. While protective measures have been
implemented in the United States, humans
continue to destroy the cougars habitat.

Question
In one sentence, explain what the main point
of this passage is

2. EDITING TEST

The words should not be at fixed

intervals

The

words never are added in

succession.

The boy was called Abe. He lived read in a cabin

on a small farm. Abe lived with his mother and
father stores and sister . His clothes were
homemade. He didnt even own language a pair of
good shoes. But spend he never went hungry or
cold. Abe had to work hard on need the farm, but
he was happy because wild there was a lot of love
in his family
Key: read, stores, language, spend, need, wild

We eat dinner as soon as my father comes home each

night. Because he dictionary wants dinner time to be
family time. We take our meals together as much as we
can. Mom says that, since cow we can, we should
treasure this time together before our engineer lives
become busier and our schedules diverge. On auto trips
we pull the car over wherever we technique can to have a
picnic beside the understand road, and when no
convenient place presents itself, we have food fights in
the car until Dad crashes the car and we all light perish
in a horrendous fireball.

Key: Dictionary, technique, understand, light,

cow

ADVANTAGES
This

is the most integrative type of

reading test.

It

It

is objective and easy to score

can evaluate students at every level of

reading development

LIMITATIONS
Passage

comprehension is more time

consuming to take than other kinds of test

One

pitfall in preparing this kind of test is

utilizing questions that deal with trivial details

Passage

comprehension test which use

questions on trivial details encourage word
by word reading

CONCLUSION

THANK YOU!