Literature testing aims to assess students' comprehension and interpretation of literary works. It can be done through oral or written formats, evaluating skills like reading, writing, speaking and listening. Common test questions evaluate students' literal comprehension, ability to reorganize information, make inferences, evaluate aspects of the work, and appreciate its emotional and aesthetic elements. Objective questions include multiple choice, true/false, and matching, while essay questions assess outlining, summarizing, character analysis and judgments of the work. Scoring rubrics consider both the content of students' responses as well as the language and form used to convey their understanding and analysis of the literary text.

1. LITERATURE
TESTING
Presenter:
Jerra Niña L. Puracan

2. • Literature testing aims to institutionalize certain
concepts and facts which are part of the literary
learning and to direct attention to the relatively more
important literary skill (Tenbrink, 1998).
• Stern (1987) in her article, “Expanded Dimensions to
Literature in ESL/EFL: An Integrated Approach,”
stressed the great influence of literature to language
learning.
Rationale of Literature Testing

3. Why should we test literature?
 to develop literary competence
 to bring a literary piece of art to students'
intellectual and emotional baggages
 to develop decision-making and
meaning-making

4. Formats of Literature Tests
The format of literature tests addresses specific
language skills. It may be oral or written.
• Oral literature tests challenge the speaking and
listening skills of the students.
• Written tests demand skills in reading and
writing.

5. Common Types
of Literature Tests
 Multiple Choice
 True or False
 Gap-Filling
 Essay Test
 Knowledge Question
 Oral Test

6. Testing literature has been influenced by theories of
reading, literary theories and criticism, and
teaching styles.
Questions fall into two main categories:
 questions that do not require contact with the text
 questions that do require contact with the text
Literature tests are categorized into two:
 tests of literary information
 tests of literary interpretation

7. • According to the Taxonomy of Cognitive Questions,
questioned are classified, according to
complexity, as follows:
1. literal comprehension
2. reorganization
3. inferential comprehension
4. evaluation
5. appreciation

8. Examples of
Literature Tests

9. 1. Testing Literal Comprehension
- includes recall of details, main ideas, sequence,
comparisons, cause and effect relationships
and character traits
a. Objective Type
• Recall of details: Identify the characters who said
the following lines in the story.
• Sequence: Rearrange the order of events
below as they happened in the story.

10. b. Essay Type
• Comparisons: What are the contrasting
characteristics of the protagonist and the
antagonist as described by the author?
• Character traits: Cite incidents in the story that
show the strained relationship between the
couple.

11. 2. Testing Reorganization
- entails classifying, outlining, summarizing, and
synthesizing ideas
a. Objective Type
• Classifying: Select the item that does not
belong to the group.
• Synthesizing: From the choices given, select the
statement that expresses the theme of each of
the following selections.

12. b. Essay Type
• Outlining: Construct a topic outline of the essay
providing at least three main heads and a
number of sub-heads.
• Summarizing: Write a one-paragraph summary
of the plot of the story.

13. 3. Testing Inference
- Inferential tests require students to use information
explicitly stated in the text along with personal experience
and knowledge in order to conjecture and to form
hypothesis.Tests include:
• inferring supporting
details
• main idea
• sequence
• comparisons
• cause-and-effect
relationships
• character traits
• author's organization
• predicting outcomes
• interpreting
figurative language

14. a. Objective Type
• Interpreting figurative language: Choose the best
interpretations of the following figurative lines within the
context of the poem.
• Inferring character traits: Match the adjectives that best
describe the traits of the character as shown by his/her
actions.
b. Essay Type
• Predicting outcomes: What do you think is in store for
Lumnay as the symbols at the end of the story portend?
• Inferring author's organization: Why did Nick Joaquin
use three generations in his story?

15. 4. Testing Evaluation
- Evaluation tests require students to compare
information and ideas in a text with material presented
by the instructor or other authorities and with the
student's own knowledge and experience in order to form
judgements of various kinds.
Tests include judgements of:
• reality and fantasy
• fact or opinion
• adequacy and validity
• appropriateness
• worth
• desirability
• acceptability

16. a. Objective Type
• Judgment of fact or opinion: Write O if the following
statement expresses an opinion of a reader on the
story, F is the statement is stated by the author in the
story.
b. Essay Type
• Judgments of reality and fantasy: Do the events in the
story depict real-life situations or are they just product
of the author's imagination? Explain.
• Judgment of acceptability: Are the actions of the hero
acceptable from the moral point of view? Why or why
not?

17. 5. Testing Appreciation
- Appreciation tests require students to articulate
emotional and aesthetic responses to the text based on
personal and professional standards of literary forms,
styles, genres, theories, critical approaches.
Tests include:
• giving emotional response to the text
• identifying with characters or incidents
• reacting to author's or speaker's connotative
and denovative use of language
• reacting to imagery

18. a. Objective Type
• Reacting to author's connotative use of language: Select
the best connotative meaning of the underlined word in
each statement lifted from the story.
b. Essay Type
• Identifying with character or incidents: Which
character in the story can you identify most? What are
your similarities?
• Responding emotionally to the text: How do you feel
towards Hamlet? Do you symphatize with him?
Why or why not?

19. Evaluating Literature Tests
Objective Type
• easy to evaluate
because there are ready
answer keys to the
questions.
Essay Type
• difficult to assess
because the evaluation
focuses on both content
(substance of the
response) and form
(language of the
response).

20. Literal Comprehension &
Inference Test
Evaluation and
Appreciation Tests
• Content should be assigned
more weight than form.
• Assessment should be based
on its consistency with the
literary text.
• Assessment should consider
grammar and diction.
• Depends on the student's
ability to expound his/her
ideas; the more proficient in
language the student is, the
more chances he/she has of
getting good ratings.

21. THANK YOU!