SEMINAR 3. Testing reading

 

1. Analysing comprehension questions.Read the passage below and see how many of the

questions you can answer.

The grifty snolls cloppered raucingly along the unchoofed trake. They were klasry, so they higgled on, spersately. “Ah, chiwar kervay,” they squopped rehoply, “mi psar Quaj!” “Quaj!” snilled one, and filted even jucklier.

 

a) Where did the snolls clopper?

b) What was the trake like?

c) Why did they higgle on?

d) Why did they clpper raucingly?

e) Why did they higgle sperately?

f) Would an unchoofed trake be easy or difficult to drive a car on?

g) Did the snolls travel quietly or noisily? How do you know?

h) What was the name of the place they were going to?

 

1) Did you understand the passage?

2) How many of these questions were you able to answer?

3) Why were you able to answer some but not others?

4) What has this nonsense exercise shown about writing comprehension questions on reading passage?

2. Analysing test items.There are several problems with each of the items below. Identify each of these problems in the spaces provided. There’s one space per each problem.

  1. Emma knew she was late. It was 3 o’clock and the train to London left at 3.15 p.m. she had to hurry up. Missing the train wasn’t an option.
Choose the correct answer. Each answer is worth one mark.
  1. Emma knew that she would miss the train if she …
A. wasn’t hurrying B. hadn’t hurried C. wouldn’t have hurried D. didn’t hurry

 

  1. According to the text, Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine and stands on the river….
A. Nile B. Amazon C. Dnieper D. Mississippi

 

  1. To what do the underlined words refer?
The event features a giant 8000 m² science exhibition which is being put on at a cost of 1.5 million EUR. This displays will be interactive, full of fun and will enable you to get to know Albert Einstein and his background better. It provides an opportunity to remember that the two great revolutions of the century (relativity and quantum mechanics) stemmed from the same person, a young physicist who worked in a patent office, publishing short papers without credentials, but full of genius.

 

  1. As far as I can recall, he was also a journalist, writing for this popular London evening newspaper, and he was very patriotic. He wanted to write something to give the men on the front a bit of boost, you know, and he came up with this story, The Bowman, which was complete fiction. It was all about how this battalion of British soldiers had been rescued right in the thick of the battle of Mons. (That is Belgium, by the way.) Anyway, I digress… just as our boys were about to be overwhelmed by the Germans, this ghostly battalion of archers from Agincourt appears in the sky. They’re the ones they called the angles of Mons, like. Well, them angels waste no time in showering the Germans with phantom arrows, killing tons of them, as it happens, which gave the Brits time to escape.
1. Where did the archers come from?

 

  1. Police are losing the fight against street crime. Violence, mugging and gun offences are all up and things could get worse. Shocking new police figures show robberies soared by 11 per cent between July and September last year, and muggings increased dramatically, during the same period, from 650 to 997. Violent crime jumped by four per cent, with almost 316,000 incidents in the same three-month period. Last night the statistics sparked angry demands for more police and prisons.
1. A The article that police are losing the fight against street crime. B The article states that violent crime is gradually decreasing. C The article states that robberies increased by over 10 % last year. D The article states that the number of muggings has gone down. 2. How many muggings were there between July and September last year? A Fewer than 997 B Fewer than 316,000 C More than 997 D More than 316,000

 

  1. Read the text below and then attempt the questions.
The bull and the spectacle of bullfighting are an integral part of Spanish culture. Since the first historic bullfight, la corrida, in 1333, bullfighting has inspired some of the world’s greatest artists (Dali, Picasso, Goya) and writers (Lorca, Hemingway). It has also provoked much controversy. In fact it was banned by Papal degree during the reign of King Phillip II. However, the decree had to be recanted in later years. As Fray Luis Leon, an advisor to the recanting Pope, Pope Gregory VIII, said: “The bullfights are in the blood of the Spanish people, and they cannot be stopped without grave consequences.”
    1. What did Lorca do?
2. Which other writer is mentioned in the text?

 

  1. Fill in the gaps using any one corrected word. There is one mark for each correct answer.
The (1) ______ of the Hungarian rovas (2) ______be compared with the (3)______of any other known (4)______. The assumption is that the(5)______created their own (6)______ very early. The (7)______ of the Hungarian (8)______ rovas resemble the Roman (9)______ figures, which seem to point to a (10) ______origin.

 

8. For each of the items below, fill in each gap with an appropriate cohesive marker from the input text. Use each word once only.

 

9. A A new diet. B To lose weight. C None of the diets she had tried before had ever worked. D Too many cakes.

 

10.It was 14$ for a new CD, 38$ for two DVDs and 6.50$ for a poster of her favourite singer, but it didn’t cost Margaret very much at all, as she redeemed a 20$ gift token she had received for Christmas. 1. How much did Margaret pay for her purchases?

 

11.New plans to introduce ‘one-stop-shop’ medical centres in supermarkets, have received stinging criticism. Family doctors will be encouraged to treat patients during their weekly shop but doctors and MPs said there was an ‘in-built conflict of interest’ in working for supermarkets which sold alcohol and fatty foods. 1. How many supermarkets medical centres would initially be set up?

 

4. Formats for testing reading. Fill in the following table.

 

TEST FORMAT PROS CONS
Short answer questions eg ‘How tall are elephants?’ ‘Three metres.’    
Table completion eg ‘Complete the table with information.’ (age/family etc).    
Listing eg ‘list the kinds of food mentioned in the text.’    
True, false, don’t know      
Multiple choice eg ‘John goes out. – a sometimes b rarely c never.’    
Sequencing (texts/pictures) eg ‘listen and put the paragraphs in order.’    
Text completion. eg ‘listen and complete the information about the film.’    
Problem solving eg ‘From the following info work out the people’s names.’    
Word attack eg ‘Work out the meaning of these words from the text.’    
Identify topic (text/paragraph) eg ‘match the title with the text.’    
Linking eg ‘What does the underlined word refer to? It arrived late.’    
Identify linking words in a text eg ‘after/next etc.    
Discrepancies eg ‘Read the text then listen and list the differences.’    
Diagrams/maps/pictures eg ‘Label the places on the map.’