IELTS Research Reports

An empirical investigation of the process of writing Academic Readingtest items for the International English Language Testing SystemItem writingJane Anne William ElizabethI think I make a decision fairlyearly on about which tasktype I will useHeadings are difficultI decided this particular textwas suitable for certain tasktypesIn other papers you choosea text with one tasks type –IELTS needs a text that willwork with three: sometimesthis is quite difficult: it doesn’twork as easily with the thirdtaskWith discrete information youcan make it work with thatMultiple choice questions fitbest with an opinion textTrue-false is usually quiteeasyI don’t like dong the diagramtype ones or flowchartsQuite often in articles you geta little diagram, but it’s toocomplex or guessableI read a lot oftexts and cutthem down before I decidewhich one to use.My first main thing is howwell the tasks fit that text.Chooses tasks that ‘leap outfrom the text’Not something that could beanswered by someone whoknows the subjectConsiders which tasks paymore, which are worth theeffort and so avoids MCQ ifpossible.Factual information you cantest with true false not givenWe need to cover the wholetext – every paragraph istestedA text ought to lend itselfto having a topic in eachparagraph that can becaptured in a headingI think the paragraphsoverlapped in this caseMCQ: coming up with fourplausible opinions which arewrong is difficult: the dangeris that you are pushedinto testing somethingthat is trivial.. they shouldall be important pieces ofinformation or opinions orfunctionsFlow charts are eithera sequence that can beguessable or it’s a false wayof presenting the information– it’s not really a flow chartI work on items at an earlystage and will dump a textafter ten minutes if I feel it willnot work.I think multiple choice canwork across a range of textsincluding at a more basicfactualA diagram or even a flowchart can be more personalthan you realise. I made adiagram from one text thatfailed because it was myidea and it didn’t reflect otherpeoples ideasI often write notes on textsbefore deciding which oneto use.IELTS Research Reports Volume 11293