Testing Literature

2. Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of the discussion, the students
should:
a. identify the different type of literary testing;
b. prepare sample tests in literature using
different types and formats; and
c. recognize the value of literature tests to
language learning.

3. What is LITERATURE?
Literature – is a humanistic subject, but it is part of
the most language programs of schools.
- focus of the curricula of bachelor’s degrees in
arts and education major in English.

4. Linguistically, literature can help
students master the vocabulary and grammar
of the language as well as the four language
skills. It can help promote reading
comprehension by presenting special
challenges to readers that demand their
learning to put into practice specific reading
strategies. It provides the subject matter, the
context, and inspiration for numerous written
and oral activities so that a single literary
work becomes the central focus of a
classroom study unit.

5. 1. Testing Literary Background
-may include tests on historical background or
literary devices.
-do not entail active use of language skills.
2. Testing on Reading Selections
-may be categorized according to the type of
questions asked in a literary class.
 literal comprehension
 reorganization
 inferential comprehension
 evaluation
 appreciation

6. -addresses specific language skills, may be
oral or written.
 challenges the
speaking and listening skills of the students
 demands skills in
reading and writing.

7. Both tests:
-may use the objective or essay format.
-can be used in testing literal comprehension
but essay tests can evaluate better the other
categories of literature testing.

9. a. Objective type
 Recall of details
*Identify the characters who said the following
lines in the story.
b. Essay type
*What are the constructing characteristics of
the protagonist and the antagonist as described by
the author?
*Cite incidents in the story that show the
strained relationship between the couple.

10. -reorganization skills entail classifying, outlining,
summarizing, and synthesizing ideas.
a. Objective type
*Classifying. Select the ite3m that does not
belong to the group.
*Synthesizing. From the choices given, select
the statement that expresses the theme of each up to
the following selections.

11. b. Essay type
*Outlining. Construct a topic outline
of the essay providing at least three main
heads.
*Summarizing. Write a one-
paragraph summary of the plot of the
story.

12. -require students to use information explicitly
stated in the text along with personal experience and
knowledge in order to conjecture and from
hypothesis.
Includes inferring for:
 supporting details
 main idea
 sequence

13.  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.
*Interfering character traits. Match the
adjectives that best describe that traits of the
character.

15. b. Essay type
*Predicting outcomes. What do you think
is in store or Lumnay as the symbols at the end
o the story portend
*Inferring author’s organization. Why did
Nick Joaquin use three generations in his
story?

16. -require the students to compare
information and ideas in a text with material
presented by the instruction or other
authorities and with the students own
knowledge and experiences in order to form
judgments of various kinds.

17. Includes:
 judgment of reality and fantasy
 fact or opinion
 adequacy and validity
 appropriateness
 worth
 desirability and acceptability

18. a. Objective type
*Judgment of fact or opinion. Write O if the
statement expresses an opinion of the reader on the
story, F if the statement is stated by the author in the
story.
b. Essay type
*Judgment of reality and fantasy. Do the
events in the story depicts real-life situations or are
they just product of the author’s imagination?
Explain.
* Judgment of acceptability. Are the action
of the hero acceptable from the moral point of view?
Why or why not?

19. -require students to articulate emotional and
aesthetic response to the text based on personal and
professional standards of literary forms, style, genres,
theories, critical approaches.
Includes:
 emotional response to the text
 identifying which characters or events
 reacting to author’s or speaker’s connotative use of
language
 reacting to imagery

20. a. Objective type
*Reacting to speakers use of connotative
language. Select the best connotative meaning of
the underlined word in each statement lifted from the
story.
b. Essay type
*Identifying which 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 sympathize with
him? Why or why not?

21. -Objective type of literature tests is easy to
evaluate because there are ready answer keys to the
questions.
-Essay type of test is difficult to assess because
the evaluation focuses on both content (consistency
of the literary text) and form (grammar and diction).

22. -For literal comprehension and inference tests,
content should be assigned more weight than form.
-Evaluation and appreciation tests elicit opinion
answers, and the substance depend on the students
ability to expound his/her ideas.