HOW TO DESIGN MATCHING QUESTIONS A CONTRIBUTION FOR TEACHERS

2. WRITTEN TESTS
BRIEF
SHORT
ANSWER
BROAD
ANSWER
True or False
Multiple
Choice
MATCHING
Completion Essays or
Compositions Oral
quizzes
Reports

3.  There should be two columms: The left one is called Premises
where the statements are and the right one is called Responses
where the possible answers are .
 The Premises and responses must be supported in a previous
input which could be reading or listening
 The right column with the answers should have a bigger number
of answers than the left one with the premises (distractors)
 Based on the desiging some premises could have two
responses and viceversa

4. Here is a poorly executed matching question:
Match the description from Column A with its corresponding name in Column B:
 1. One of the Great Lakes ( ) a. Hoover Dam
 2. Nicknamed"The City of Broad Shoulders“ ( ) b. Erie
 3. River separating Mexico and Texas ( ) c. Chicago
 4. Located on the Colorado River in Nevada ( ) d. Rio Grande
In this case, the information in the matching question is not related in a clear
way. while all of the items deal generally with American geography, each
statement addresses a different aspect of geography. This question would be
relatively easy to answer without actual knowledge of the content. In addition,
there are an equal number of statements in both columns, making the question
easier to solve by process of elimination.

5. This is an example of a well executed matching question
Directions: On the line next to each children's book in Column A print the letter of the
animal or insect in column B that is a main character in that book. Each animal or
insect in Column B can be used only once.
Column A Column B
______ 1. Chralotte´s Web A. Bear
______ 2. Winnie the Pooh B. Chimpanzee
_______3. Black Beauty C. Cricket
__ 4.Tarzan D. Deer
__ 5. Pinocchio E. Horse
__ 6. Bambi F. Pig
G. Chicken
H. Elephant

6.  Matching items are generally easy to write and score when the
test content and objectives are suitable for matching questions
 It is not too stressful that students answer to them, because they
are simple to solve.
 The student has contact with the written form of information in
short summaries which are given by the statements in the left
column called premises, which have to be connected with the
right column called responses.
 In basic levels students only match them with lines.
 In basic levels, where students cannot read yet, the teacher may
use pictographic reading.
 If this type of questions are well design the presence of
distracters could help teacher obtain reliable information on how
well students got the knowledge.

7.  Poor student handwriting or printing.
 Students' being able to guess correct answers through the
process of elimination.
 The teachers take matching as a tool to evaluate only
vocabulary and not the reconstructions of information based on
the given input.
 Teachers do not design correctly this kind of questions, because
they need a huge an significant input.
 If the questions are not very well designed, students have the
possibility of just guessing the correct answers.
 Sometimes the teacher evaluate in a general way, without taking
into account the goal that he/she wants to get from students.