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Discuss the Three fundamental principles for crafting assesment tasks. Give examples to support your discussion

Discuss Six important guidelines for developing multiple-choice item and Five guidelines for developing essay item. Give examples to support your discussion3 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES FOR CRAFTING ASSESMENT TASKSFocus on the important learning outcomeFocus on main learning outcome onlyThe minor point will waste the timeExample : The item of task (essay item) must be based on learning outcome that we what to achieved

2. Task Should crafted to elicit from students only the knowledge & performance relevant to the LO to be assessedThe teacher must need very clear idea of the learning outcome that she/he want to assessed.Item must be built to test the knowledge, skills and abilities based the learning outcome.Avoid from unwanted behaviors from student.Example: The item must not make the student do bluffing, fear, guessing or test-wise skills while.

3.The task neither prevent nor inhibit a students ability to demonstrate attainment of the learning outcome that we want to achievedAvoid from grammatic error or stucture of sentence than can make the students confuse The poor instruction in question also may make an item so ambiguous and make student who has the knowledge answer it incorrectlyGive the clear stem questionExample : Bincangkan faktor campur tangan British di Tanah Melayu?

6 IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING FOR MULTIPLE CHOICE ITEM1)Make sure the length of each alternative is more or less the same.This is because normally the longest alternative is the right answer.The students will easily guess the longest alternative is the correct answer because too much facts are given in that alternative compared to the other alternative.Example AExample BWhat is Malaysia National Flower?Malaysian national flower is the bunga raya or hibiscus (hibiscus rosa sinensis) and the flower was selected because it grows abundantly in Malaysia.The sunflowers.The rose.The tulipsWhat is Malaysia National Flower?The hibiscus The sunflowers The rose. The tulipsP/S : For sure that students will choice alternative A because it is the longest and it contains a lot of facts among the other alternativesP/S : This question has almost the same length of alternative. This will make the student read all the alternative carefully before choosing their answer.2) Avoid overlapping alternative meansSometimes the teachers overlooked the alternative that given by them have overlapping means.It often occurs because the teachers wanted to keep the number of alternative for their items and they run out of idea.

Example AExample B Who is the Prime Minister?a) the chief minister that appointed by a ruler b) the most senior minister of the cabinet c) the actual head of the governmentd) the head of the executive branch for the countryWho is the Prime Minister?a) the most senior minister of cabinet b) the person that formally elected to a five-year term by and from among the nine Rulers of the Malay states c) the chief judge of the Federal Courtd) the secretary to the Cabinet of MalaysiaP/S: Alternative A,B,C and D have the same meaning of Prime Minister. Prime Minister is the chief minister that appointed by a ruler. He also the most senior minister of cabinet and the actual head of government. Prime Minister also the head of the executive branch for the countryP/S: Alternative A is the correct answer because the most senior minister of the cabinet is the Prime Minister. Alternative B talked about The Yang di-Pertuan Agong while Alternative C meant who is The Chief Justice of Malaysia. Meanwhile, Alternative D meant for The Chief Secretary of Malaysia

3)Build the questions and alternatives by using the positive descriptions. If the word NOT used in a stem, it should be bold by the teacher so that the students did not overlooked it.Almost 70% of high school students in Malaysia overlooked the word NOT in the question and answered it wrongly.Example A Example BWhat colour is not in the Malaysia Flag?BlueRedgreend) whiteWhat colour is NOT in the Malaysia Flag?a) blueb) Redc) greend) whiteP/S: Alternative A,B and D are the colour that in Malaysia Flag. The students might overlooked the word NOT because it is not been bold and capitalized .P/S: Alternative A,B and D are the colour that in Malaysia Flag. The students will not overlooked the word NOT because it is have been bold and capitalized . The students will confidently choose alternative C4) Define the task in the stemThe stem will present clearly described taskStudents can then get to work on figuring out wich of the items option is bestEXAMPLE A EXAMPLE BMoney..........A medium of communicationsA factor of productionA store of bondsA unit of accountsWhat is an economic function of money ?A medium of communicationsA factor of productionA store of bondsA unit of accounts Forcing students to read through all the alternatives to find out what the item is really about. Distractors tend to be a hodgepodge of any random thoughts Easier to students to find a correct answerThe structure of stem are clear and definite

5) The Stem Should Be A Question Or A Partial SentenceA question stem is preferable because it allows the student to focus on answering the question rather than holding the partial sentence in working memory and sequentially completing it with each alternative (Statman 1988). .EXAMPLE A (INTERIOR BLANK)EXAMPLE B (QUESTION)In addition to the nucleus, are organelles that contain DNA.Golgi BodiesMitochondria and ChloroplastsRibosomes In addition to the nucleus, which organelles cintain DNA?Golgi BodiesMitochondria and ChloroplastsRibosomes

The cognitive load is increased when the stem is constructed with an initial or interior blank, so this construction should be avoided. Easier to student focus on answering the question directly.6) Avoid alternatives such as none of the above or all of the aboveAll the above is the weak alternativeStudent will simply has to find two defensible options (without knowing the others) to realize that all the above must be keyed responseStudent may read alternative A, and recognize that is correct, mark the answer, and never consider other choicesUsually run out of the ideas for plausible distractors and want to create a final optionEXAMPLE A EXAMPLE BWhich appear in both animal and plant cells ?Endoplasmic reticulumGolgi aparatusKysosomeAll of the aboveWhich of the following is not multicellular?HydraCopepodParameciumVolvox5 GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING ESSAY ITEM1. Determine mental processes for the students get readyExaminers must start the questions with such word or phrases compare, give reasons, predict what would happen if and so on.Avoid the words like what, when and list. This kind of words will make students to recall information and does not requires complex thinking and reasoning.

EXAMPLE AEXAMPLE BList the 7- step path to making ethical decisions. List them in their correct progressive order.Explain in what ways a persons failure to apply 5 of the seven-step path for making ethical decisions will impact his or her ability to make ethical decisions. Provide an example that illustrates this impact.The questions does not require students to use complete sentences or more than one sentence. Students may respond to this question by simply listing the name and the number for each steps.Student not only need to compose a response to this questions but they also need to write several sentences in order to provide an answer that sufficiently meets the demands of the given task. Students can provide a wide variety of examples to illustrate the impact and they can structure their response in various ways. They could give the example first and then provide an explanation or they could state the impact first and then provide an example.2.Specify the point value and an approximate time limit for each question in clear directionsBy providing the marks for each essay question, students can estimate how much point that needed to be write. Student do not have to give every point that they have to the essay question and also will not wasting their time.Provide some rough estimates of how long the student should spend on each question.Without the approximate time limit for each essay question, students may feel at loss because they do not know how much time to spend on an essay. When deciding how much time should be spent on a question, keep the slower students and students with certain disabilities in mind.

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3. Clearly define and situate the task within a problem situation.An effective essay question produces valid evidence of the degree to which students have achieved the intended learning outcome.Educators must avoid including vocabulary that is too advanced for students.The following example demonstrates the importance of carefully choosing directive verbs to align the essay question with the intended learning outcome.

Intended Learning OutcomeAnalyze the impact of America at war on the American economy. ExplanationEssay Question ADescribe the impact of America at war on the American economy. Students are asked to describe the impact. To describe requires students to give an account of the impact but it does not require students to make an analysis.Essay Question BAnalyze the impact of America at war on the American economy by describing how different effects of the war work together to influence the economy. Providing guidance concerning the task of analyzing. Thus, directive verbs must be carefully selected to clearly reflect the task required of students and to be aligned to intended outcomes. 4. Clearly define the intended learning outcome to be assessed by the item. Decide which of the following intended learning outcomes lends itself better to be assessed by an essay question.The following table show the example and explanation.

EXAMPLE A EXAMPLE BStudents will appreciate the process of cell division. Given a chart illustrating the process of cell division, students will compare and contrast each major step in the process. Too general to provide clear guidance in writing an essay question. The directive verb, appreciate is vague and difficult to assess.

More useful for guiding the development of an essay question. Specific intended learning outcomes are crucial to designing effective essay questions. Intended learning outcomes meant to guide the development of test items will typically begin with a specific directive verb.5. The essay task can be written as a statement or question. The task can be presented either in the form of a direct question or an imperative statement.For example, the following illustrates the same essay item twice, once as a question and once as an imperative statement.Question : How are the processes of increasing production and improving quality in a manufacturing plant similar or different based on cost? Imperative statement : Compare and contrast the processes of increasing production and improving quality in a manufacturing plant based on cost. It shows that both essay items elicit the same performance from the student (compare and contrast processes based on cost). Whether essay questions are written as imperative statements or questions, they should be written to align with the intended outcome and in such a way that the task is clear to the students.

SourcesCarneson, J., Delpierre, G., & Masters, K. (n.d.). Designing and managing multiple-choice questions: Appendix B, designing MCQs dos and donts. Retrieved July 7, 2006 from the University of Cape Town Web site: http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqappb.htmlHaladyna, T. M. (1999). Developing and validating multiple-choice test items, 2 nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Ahmad Zamri bin Khairani & Lim Hoii Lian. Pentaksiran Di Bilik Darjah (2012), Universiti Sains Malaysia.Christian M. Reiner, Timothy W. Bothell, Richard R. Sudweeks, Bud Wood. Preparing Effective Essay Questions (2002), News Forums Press.