It is a sample of students' projects in constructing English language tests considering possible item types for measuring subskills in English

1. Islamic Azad University
Tehran Central Branch
Department of English Language
Samples of Testing English Language SubSkills
Supervisor
Dr. Forouzan Dehbashi Sharif
By
Nadia Nazari Nokani
December 2022

2. Samples of Testing Grammar
1.gap filling
One correct response:
Ex. He arrived late, _______ was a surprise. (which)
Two correct response:
Ex. He displayed the smile______ had charmed so many people before. (which,
that)
Rejected:
Ex. _______ let her cry. She’ll stop in the end. (Just, I’d. Well, Then, etc.)
2.Paraphrase
Ex: It is six years since I last saw him.
I ________________________ six years.
3.completion
Ex. Cole wants to apply for a job in Gilbert’s company so Gilbert interviews Cole.
Gilbert: Good morning, Cole. Please come inside and it down. Now let me see.
Which school _________________?
Cole: Whitestone College.
Gilbert: And when ___________________?
Cole: In 1972, at the end of the summer term.
4.Multiple choice
Ex. They left a seven. They _______ be home by home. (must, should, may, could,
might, will)
Ex. A. They left at seven. They _______ be home by now.
B. Yes, but we can’t count on it, can we?
a. can b. could c. will d. must

3. Samples of Testing Listening
A. Multiple choice
Examples:
Too complex:
When stopped by the police, how is the motorist advised to behave?
a. He should say nothing until he has seen his lawyer.
b. He should give only what additional information the law requires.
c. He should say only what the law requires.
d. He should in no circumstances say anything.
Better examples would be:
Understanding request for help
I don’t suppose you could show me where this goes, could you?
a. No, I don’t suppose so.
b. Of course I can.
c. I suppose it won’t go.
d. Not at all.
Recognizing and understanding suggestions
I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we call Charlie and ask for his opinion?
Response:
a. Why is this opinion?
b. What is the point of that?
c. You think it’s his opinion?
d. Do you think Charlie has called?
Multiple choices can work well for testing lower level skills, such as phoneme
discrimination.
Example:
The candidate hears bat
and chooses between pat mat fat bat

4. B.Short Answer
This technique can work well, provided that the question is short and
straightforward, and the correct, preferably unique, response is obvious.
C. Gap Filling
This technique can work well where a short answer question with unique answer is
not possible.
Example:
Woman: do you think you can give me a hand with this:
Man: I’d love to help but I’ve got to go round to my mother’s in a minute.
The woman asks the man if he can _______________ her but he has to visit his
__________.

5. Samples of Testing Vocabulary
Testing recognition ability
Recognize synonyms – choose the alternative (a, b, c or d) which is closest to the
word on the left.
Ex. Gleam a. gather b. shine c. welcome d. clean
Recognizing definition
Ex. Bill is someone I loathe.
a. Like very much b. dislike intensely c. respect d. fear
Testing production ability
A.pictures
B.definition
A ___________ is a person who looks after our teeth.
C.gap filling
Ex. I r_ _ _ _ _ to have to tell you

6. Samples of Testing Reading
Gap filling
Complete the following, which is based on the paragraph below.
'Many universities in the Europe used to insists that their students speak and write
only ________ . Now many of them accept _________ as an alternative, but not a
_______ of the two.'
Short Answer
The best answer questions are those with a unique correct response, for example:
In which city do the people described the 'Urban Villagers' live?
The response may be a single word or something slightly longer (e.g. China and
Japan; American women).
Multiple choice
The candidate provides evidence of successful reading by making a mark against
one out of a number of alternatives.

7. Samples of Testing writing
Grammar and Structure
Multiple-choice items
Ex: The car was full of __.
A. Petrol B. a petrol C. the petrol D. some petrol
· If you want to concentrate on a certain area of grammar, put the item into a
short two-line dialogue.
Ex: __ a pen and a piece of paper.
A. I like B. I’ll like C. I’d like D. I’m liking
Error-recognition items
1. It was a terrible accident at an airshow held in West Germany yesterday.
A B C D
2. One of the aircraft was crashed into two other aircraft during display.
A B C D
Re-arrangement
This type of item is useful for testing an awareness of the order of adjectives, the
position of adverbs, inversion and several other areas of grammar.
1. She was wearing a
New/ jacket/ leather/ red/ lovely
2. Susan...
The phone/ when/ already/ rang/ suddenly/ finished/ had
A. However, we decided to set out and try to climb the mountain.
B. This time we had better climbing equipment and were determined to succeed.
C. Several people in the group had tried this before but no one had managed to
get to the top.
D. There was a strong wind and it was raining very heavily
Controlled Writing
Transformation
1. No other living plant grows so tall and so fast as bamboo.
Bamboo______________________________________.
2. A stalk of Japan’s commonest bamboos has grown over a metre in only
twenty-four hours.
It has taken ___________________________________.

8. It is also possible to get students to do similar task by giving them a word in
brackets instead of the beginning of the new sentence. The use of the word given
will automatically involve rewriting sentence.
Ex: 1. It is not necessary to answer all the questions. (need)
2. his angry outburst was completely unexpected.(took)
Broken sentences
Ex:
Dear Cindy,
Thanks/ lot/ your letter/ which/ arrive/ yesterday
Congratulations/ pass/ your entrance exams.
You/ work/ very hard/ past/ year/ but now/ it/ all/ be/ worthwhile.
Sentence and paragraph completion
Ex:
Most of the students in my class were rather lazy and did not enjoy the course.
Some even stayed away from school quite often. Pauline, however,
______________________________________________________.
Free Writing
The only satisfactory way to assess a student’s ability to write is by means of a
composition test. Setting composition exams is reasonably straightforward
provided that you remember a few basic principles.

9. Samples of Testing Speaking
Format 1: Interview
A. Questions and requests for information
“Can you explain to me how/why..? and
“Can you tell me what you think of….?
B. Request for elaboration
ü Such as What exactly do you mean? Can you explain that in a little more detail?,
What would be a good example of that? Tell me more.
C. Appearing not to understand
ü The interviewer may say, I’m sorry, but I don’t quite follow you.
D. Invitation to ask question
· Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
E. Interruption
· To see how the candidate deals with this.
F. Interrupt change of topics
· To see how the candidate deals with this.
Pictures
Role Play
such as:
A friend invites you to a party on an evening when you want to stay at home and
watch the last episode of a television serial. Thank the friend (played by the tester)
and refuse politely.
Interpreting
Prepared monologue
Reading Aloud

10. Format 2: Interaction with fellow candidates
a. Discussion
b. Role play
Format 2: Responses to audio or video-recordings
a. Described situations
For example: You are walking through town one day and you meet two
friends who you were sure had gone to live in the USA. What do you say?
b. Remarks in isolation to respond to
For example: The candidate hears, “I’m afraid I haven’t managed to fix that
cassette player of yours yet. Sorry.”
Or “There’s a good film on TV tonight.”
c. Simulated conversation
For example: The candidate is given information about a play which they are
supposed to want to see, but not by themselves. The candidate is told to talk to a
friend, Ann, on the telephone, and ask her to go to the theatre and answer her
questions. The candidate hears:
Ann: Hello. What can I do for you?
Ann: Hold on. What’s the name of the play, and who’s it by?
Ann: Never heard of it. When’s it on exactly?
Ann: Sorry to mention it, but I hope it isn’t too expensive.
Ann: Well which night do you want to go, and how much would you like to
pay?
Ann: OK. That’s all right. It’ll make a nice evening out

11. Section 1
1. You have 5 minutes to read the task and think about what you want to say.
2. there is anything which you don’t understand, please ask the teacher who is
with you.
3. You can make a few notes, if you want to. The examiner will not look at them.
4. After this 5minutes preparation time, you will go into the exam room and talk
about the subject with a teacher. The examiner will listen.
TASK 3
What makes a good friend?
You are going to talk to the teacher about what you value in your friends.
Look at the suggestions below:
Kindness
fun to be with ..
Support
a shoulder to cry on’
other ..
Honesty
Do you think it’s better to have one or two really close friends, or a wider circle of
less close friends?
What are the qualities in yourself that you think your friends value?
There is an English saying, “Blood is thicker than water”, meaning that family
relationships are more important than relationships with friend. Do you agree with
this?

12. Section II
You have 5 minutes to read the task and think about what you want to say.
2. If there is anything which you don’t understand, please ask the teacher who is
with you, DON’T start talking with your partner yet.
3. You can make a few notes if you want to. The examiner will not look at them.
4. After this 5 minute preparation time, you will go into the exam room with your
partner.
5. The teacher will start your discussion with you and will then leave the room. He
or she will join your conversation later for a further 5 minutes. The examiner will
listen.
TASK 1
Whether you have a mobile phone or not, many people have opinions about them.
Look at the statement below. Tick the ones you agree with.
“I hate it when phone rings at the theater or cinema.”
“If you have a mobile phone you never feel alone.”
“It’s really dangerous to drive and phone at the same time.”
“I feel safer with a mobile phone.”
“I hate them- people look stupid walking around talking on the phone.”
Exchange your ideas about mobile phone s with your partner. Talk about the
reasons why people have them. What advantages do they have over conventional
phones? Are there any disadvantages?
When the teacher returns, tell him/her about your discussion. S/he will then ask you
what limits (if any) should be put on when mobile phones can be used.
In what ways, for better or worse, it technology changing how we communicate
with each other? What about future development?
https://sites.google.com/site/evaluationandlanguagetesting/testing-the-language-
skills

13. Samples of Testing Pronunciation
Recognitiogn
Stress Recognition
Example:
Tom’s at the library.
A B C D
Ph o t o gra phy
A B C D
(Farhadi, Jafarpour and Birjandi, 2016,p190)
Example:
Which word has the first syllable stressed?
Avoid
Myself
Cotton
Which word has the first syllable stressed?
Remain
Beautiful
beyond
www.esl-lounge.com

14. Testing Overall Ability
Selected deletion cloze
Example:
Ecology
Water, soil and the earth’s green mantle of
plants 1.____________________
Make up the world that supports the animal life
of 2.____________________
The earth. Although modern man seldom
remembers 3.____________________
The fact. He could not exist without the plants that
Harness the sun’s energy and manufacture the basic
Foodstuffs he depends 1. ______ for life. Our attitude
2. ______ plants is a singularly narrow 3.______. If we
Conventional cloze
Example:
Family Reunion
Mother: I love that dress, Mum.
Grandmother: Oh, it’s S and M.
Mother: is it?
Grandmother: yes, five pounds.
Mother: My goodness, it’s not, Mum.
Grandmother: But it’s made of that T-shirt stuff, so I don’t it’ll wash very
1.______. You know, they go all…… sort 2._______...I know the kind, yes.
Mini cloze item
Example:
A: what time is it?
B: _______ a quarter to three.
A: You look tired.
B. Yes, I stayed ______ really late last night. Had to finish that book.

15. The C test
Example:
There are usually five men in the crew of a fire engine. One o__ them dri__ the
eng__. The lea__ sits bes__ the dri__. The ot__ firemen s__ inside t__ cab o__ the
f__ engine.T__ leader kn__ how t__ fight diff__ sorts o__ fires.S__, when t__
firemen arr__ at a fire, it is always the leader who decides how to fight a fire. He
tells each firemen what to do.
Mini-partial-dictation items
The student sees:
A: when can I see you again?
B: how about _______ Thursday?
And hears:
When can I see you again?
How about a week on Thursday?
https://sites.google.com/site/evaluationandlanguagetesting/testing-the-language-
skills

16. References
https://sites.google.com/site/evaluationandlanguagetesting/testing-the-language-
skills
‫عبدالجواد‬ ‫دکتر‬ ،‫فرهادی‬ ‫حسین‬ ‫دکتر‬ ‫نوشته‬ ) ‫ها‬ ‫کاربرد‬ ‫و‬ ‫ها‬ ‫(نظریه‬ ‫انگلیسی‬ ‫زبان‬ ‫در‬ ‫آزمون‬ ‫کتاب‬
‫کتاب‬ ‫کد‬ ،‫سمت‬ ‫انشارات‬ ،‫بیرجندی‬ ‫پرویز‬ ‫دکتر‬ ،‫جعفرپور‬
111
.
www.esl-lounge.com