An Empirical Study Of Negative MC Questions In English Language Assessment

It is generally appreciated that multiple-choice is a useful and traditional format for numerous tests.Its limitations are also well-acknowledged.For instance,it has been criticized to have led to a narrowed curriculum and may encourage possibility of guessing on one hand.It is widely accepted that multiple-choice(MC)test is not enough to measure the full range of the abilities we intend to measure for real life purposes(Darling-Hammond & Adamson,2014).However,due to the temporal existence of scoring system in China,this format is unlikely to be abandoned by either large-scale assessments or classroom assessments.However,a quick glance at the testing practices across the world clearly displays that MC item remains a key element in large-scale educational assessments(e.g.,SAT and PARCC in the US;CLT in UK)as well as in classroom assessments(Martinez etal.,2009).One improvement to counterbalance these limitations is to use negative MC questions and to change the corresponding form.This is possibly due to the advantages of MC items such as high reliability and objectivity.(Haladyna,1989a).However,for examinees whose native language is not English,how can negative MC questions affect their information processing strategies and final scores?Starting with the research objective,the study will explore the impact of negative MC questions in one variety of situation,namely for an English grammar test.One unmarked and three marked test forms are used to compare the impact of sorts of negative MC questions.In the study,in-service English teachers and English majors are taken as the research objects to explore their views and attitudes towards negative MC questions in English assessment,the feasibility of negative MC questions,and its influence on the students’ cognitive information processing.Specifically,the study mainly intends to solve the following three research questions:(1)What do Chinese EFL teachers and students view negative stems?(2)How do students process the negative information in the MC stem? Are negative MC questions always more demanding than their positive counterparts?(3)What is the best way to present the negative words in English tests to Chinese EFLs if needed?In the study,quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in order to solve the research questions.The purpose of quantitative data is to provide the key data source for the conclusion of research problems,while qualitative analysis provides background information and verification for the quantitative results.Teaching test,survey method(questionnaire),interview method and other research methods are adopted in the study.Quantitative data is mainly composed of questionnaires in the survey method and relevant information on the test paper,while qualitative data consist of interviews and classroom observations.The subject of survey are 158 in-service English primary and secondary school teachers and 41 college English major students at home and they are interviewed.Initially based on the teaching objective,the research design employs four sets of test paper in the equivalent content difficulty but distinctive perspectives of questioning for test-takers,namely,capital A(negation),italic B(negation),underlined C(negation),unmarked D.Test-takers’ final scores,frequency of notes-taking,number of negative words circled in the stem,number of items marked to be difficult and number of items whose answers changed are counted respectively.Based on the statistical result of quantitative data,subjects’ information processing strategies are investigated and inspected.The findings in the study imply that negative MC questions in English assessment are frequently adopted by teachers and seem acceptable to students,especially for the advanced learners,which acquire no more demand than the positive counterparts.Negative stems won’t affect test scores and the identical final score may not reflect the same cognitive challenges to students.Negative MC item attracts students’ attention and contributes to extra alertness and marking in their performance.Nevertheless,it may not affect the final score especially for the advanced learners.Capital letters is the best way to present negative words to Chinese EFLs.With the growing number of Chinese EFLs at present,the thesis explores the feasibility of negative MC questions in English assessment,discusses implications to test development,computer-based testing as well as teaching deeply and provides a new perspective for people to comprehend and correlative guidance in practice further.