Cloze test review

DEFINITION OF CLOZE TESTS Cloze test is a test of comprehension and grammar in which a language student supplies appropriate missing words omitted from a text.. ● A cloze test also cl

 LET’S ENJOY AN INTERESTING

ACTIVITY

CLOZE TESTS

Group members:

Ngô Thị Khánh HàNguyễn Thị ThànhNguyễn Thị Mai Trinh

Lê Thị Lệ HuyềnPhan Thị Mỹ Trang

Question 1

 Something is absent from a text or a

passage What are they called?

Answer

Question 2

 Besides vocabulary, without it, you

can not make a sentence? What is it?

Answer

Question 3

 We read a passage to understand its

content What do we call the

understanding when reading a

passage?

Answer

Question 4

 Teachers use it to measure students’

ability What is it?

Answer

 I Definition

 II Purposes of cloze tests

 III Types

 IV How to design cloze tests

 V Tips for doing cloze tests

 VI Marking cloze tests

 VIII Conclusion

I DEFINITION OF CLOZE TESTS

 Cloze test is a test of comprehension and

grammar in which a language student

supplies appropriate missing words omitted from a text.

 Some other definitions

● Cloze procedure: a test for diagnosing

reading ability; words are deleted from a

prose passage and the reader is required to fill in the blanks

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

● A cloze test (also cloze deletion test) is an

exercise, test, or assessment consisting of a

portion of text with certain words removed

(cloze text), where the participant is asked to

replace the missing words

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloze_test

● A cloze test is a special type of fill-in exercise

where, for example, every 5th word in a

paragraph of about 150 words is deleted

www.macmillandictionaries.com/glossaries/definitions/a-c/A_C.htm

● A type of gap-filling task in which whole words

are deleted from a text In a traditional cloze, deletion is every nth word

www.testing.ugent.be/glossary.html

(1) coun try is more beautiful than a town

and (2) to live in Many people think so, and go

to the country for the summer holidays though they

cannot live there all the year (3) Some have a cottage (4) in a village (5) they can

go there whenever they can find the time.

1 A article B an C the D no

2 A pleasant B please C pleased D pleasure

3 A round B through C length D whole

4 A build B built C building D builds

5 A because B if C such that D so that

A land of _(1) distances and rich

natural resources, Canada became a

self-governing _(2) in 1867 while retaining (3) to the British crown Economically and technologically the nation has

developed (4) with the US, its (5)

to the south across an unfortified (6) Its paramount political problem continues

to be the (7) of the province of

Quebec, with its French-speaking (8) and unique culture, to the remainder of the country.

II PURPOSES OF CLOZE TEST

 Measure the entire knowledge of

language which the learners have

acquired

 Measure some skills: writing and reading

comprehension

vocabulary and socio- cultural elements

 Some times used in testing listening skill

III Types of cloze tests

II.2 According to Ikeguchi 1995; Weir

1990; Klein-Bralley and Raatz 1984

Cloze tests

Fixed-rate

Deletion

type

RationalDeletiontype

Multiple ChoiceClozetype

ClozeElidetype

C-testtype

II.1.1 Fixed-rate deletion type

(Every n-th word deletion)

- The value of n refers to the distance

between two deletions

- After short lead-in, it is usually every

fifth/sixth/seventh word is removed Ex:

II.1.2 Rational deletion type

(selective deletion type)

- Delete main words that are

supposed to be checked E.g: nouns, verbs, prepositions…

- Aim to check grammar,

vocabulary

Ex:

Fill in the blanks with a suitable word

I’ve lived in the United States (1)

II.1.3 Multiple choice cloze test type

- A combination between cloze tests and multiple choice tests.

- Giving choices for test takers to choose to supply in the

missing word spaces.

Ex: Circle the best answer to fill in the gap.

Can we see (1) the earth is a globe? Yes, we can, when

we watch a ship that sails out to sea If we watch closely, we

see that the ship begins (2) disappeared

II.1.4 Cloze elide type

- Requires test takers to strike out irrelevant or incorrect

words that have been inserted into the passage

 Ex: In the following passage there are two words in each

sentence that does not belong Underline those words in each sentence.

Some public libraries have developed ways to personal

capture the attention print and interest of younger

library patrons One library in the United Kingdom has space on its website for can teenagers to write book and music reviews you of library materials and they are

encouraged to participate in the development of library collections.

answer

Some public libraries have developed ways to

personal capture the attention print and

interest of younger library patrons One library

in the United Kingdom has space on its website for can teenagers to write book and music

reviews you of library materials and they are encouraged to participate in the development

of library collections

II.1.5 C-test type

- Instead of deleting the whole

word, the second half only is

deleted.

- Test takers must complete each

truncated word.

II.2 According to Lam at al, 1992

- B ased on the method of word deletion used

Cloze tests

Randomworddeletion

Everyseventhworddeletion

II 3

Cloze tests

Grammar

Cloze Tests type

Lexical cloze

type

IV Design cloze tests

IV.1 Form design

- Give clear instruction

Like this:

“ Fill in the blanks with the correct words in the

box, no choice again”

( There is a “word box”)

Or focus on the specifically testing

“ Fill in the blanks with the suitable preposition“

- The length of the selection: no longer than

300-400 words

Not good

For the first time, ever, she had to move the sun She had it for

an hour, only to annoy the young ones on the beach They had made it

clear, right from the , that she was not welcome; that the was

their playground They reminded her of the mosquitoes that used to

about above the river on summer evening She would the

mosquitoes, determined to finish her journey, longing the feel of

ice-cold water on her She would have put up with these, too, if it for

the sun Now they would that it was they, the sun, that had made

her leave the beach As she ran for a bus, the rain splashing her

legs, or as she fought the wind, she was still Some people believed

that it was the season of the year that showed then at their best

She found it easier to be young , when the little strengths that

remained within her was as an evergreen in an of dying trees The

was a cruel thing, revealing one’s age as it did the dust on At the

of the sea the people sat in folding chairs How it would be to

set her chair among them, its cloth between her the sun They would

accept her as one of them; would let her settle in their But she

dragged pass and made her way towards the benches There was

room for one, right on the very edge It was here that the old people

sat, a long line of them, linked together like a By her side sat an old

woman, her dress at her waist – an old woman, faceted, long and

tough, like a man What are they , she wondered, here in the middle

of nowhere? Were led people greedier they used to be? Her never

went farther than the of the road How disappointed she would have

been if grandmother had ever leaving her world Old people should

stay at home, being quietened before their old fires; guarding treasures

that they had over the years.

Better

Mark twain, the author of the Advantages of Tom Sawyer, is one of

American’s storyteller He grew up

in a small town on the Mississippi

River a young boy, he greatly

admired the pilots of the riverboats

and dreamed about being riverboat

pilot on the mighty river He pursued

his dreamed, and the age of 22, he

himself had become a river pilot Later

in his life, when he became a writer,

many of his stories elements of his

own experiences He wrote many humorous stories and articles about his life on the Mississippi River _ He died in 1901, at the age of 74 Sadly,

Twain had been a new story for

several months before his death, but

he had never finished it Over the year

his death, his boyhood home in

Hannibal, Missouri, has become a

favorite for Americans to visit to

learn about Twain and life on the

Mississippi a the of the century.

- Equal length of the space in a passage.

Ex: Vitamins are very important for the body There

are more than thirteen of vitamins They help the body take energy from foods, help the body grow, help muscles work

correctly

- Should not put more than 3-4 blanks successively

in a sentence, make takers confused

Ex: Without the pharmacists, the practice of

medicine would _ _ _

- Do not show a space for each word of a phrase in

a sentence

Eg: A: Hello, Hoa You don’t look very happy.

_ _ _ _ _ ?

B: Hi, Nam I feel _ I’ve got _ _.

A: Sorry to hear that _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _.

B: Yes That’s great idea Goodbye Nam.

A: See you later.

sick

a headache What’s the matter with you You’d better go home and have a rest

- In designing fixed-rated deletion of type, the

distance between 2 deleted words: 5 - 7 words

- No use of gaps for blanks equally with the word

box

Ex:

1 Young children _ helping with household tasks.

2 We were stuck in heavy _ for more than an hour

3 I think your don’t _ about your weight.

4 It was two weeks before Christmas and the mall

was _ with shoppers.

worry traffic enjoy crowded

It’s better:

1 Young children _ helping with household tasks.

2 We were stuck in heavy _ for more than an

hour

3 I think you don’t _ about your weight.

4 It was two weeks before Christmas and the mall

was _ with shoppers.

worry traffic enjoy crowded ride learn

IV.2 Content design

- Choose a story or passage on the right level of

testees

- Ignore a passage that is full of proper noun,

numbers, technical words

- Do not pick an article containing a lot of quoted

materials

- To cloze elide type, should be inflexible for

deleted words such as noun, verb, preposition, numbers; subjects, objects

Example:

Heavy _during the night _ all over

the country today Many people _ because

are in flood Some roads in the north-west

are under _ of water The rain _ at the moment, but it’s still and there’s a

_ Because of the bad weather, people can’t

go out to work

verb verb noun

Subject/noun

adjective noun

V Tips for doing cloze tests

 Read the text through trying to

understanding the general meaning

 Look at each missing word gap and try to

imagine the correct should be

 Decide which part of speech (adjective,

noun, gerund, etc.) needs to be used to fill each gap

 Read the text again, trying to fill gap as

you come to it by imagining what the

correct answer should be

 Read the text another time, this time

choose the correct answer from the four (sometimes three) answers given( if it’s a multiple-choice cloze test)

 If you are unsure of any given answer, try

reading the sentence with each of the four possibilities

 Try to eliminate two of the obvious false

answers (usually two relatively false

answers are given) When stuck between two answers, go with the one that sounds right.

 Do not stop to answer questions on your

first reading

 Always think about the overall meaning of

the text (i.e., whether the text is negative, positive, etc.) to make sure that your

answer choice fits the context

 Trust your intuition If you feel a word is

right instinctively, it probably is correct

VI Marking cloze tests

2 common methods using to score a cloze test:

1 The exact word scoring method:

 Only the word which exactly matches the one

deleted from the original text is counted as

the correct answer

 Any other word which the testees might

supply is not accepted

 Each correct answer receive 1 point, while any

answers receive no points.

2 The contextually appropriate

scoring method ( The acceptable

scoring method):

 Any word supplied by the testees which is

appropriate to the context is accepted as the correct answer

 The correct answer can be not the same as the

original word deleted from the text

 There may be several different answers which

are all considered as correct.

I wanted to make myself a sandwich I

walked to the store to _(1) some bread When I got to (2) _ store, I realized that I didn’t (3) _ enough money.

Keys:

 According to the exact word method:

1 buy 2 the 3 have

 According to the acceptable method:

1 buy/get 2 the 3 have/take

 One specific case of the acceptable scoring

method is Synonym scoring, whereby any word which is considered as the synonym

of the deleted word is counted as correct.

Ex:

“ I don’t _ what he does “

- “Know” (the exact word)

- “understand” (the acceptable word) might to

be taken as a correct synonym of “know”

is also accepted.

General guidelines for contextually appropriate

scoring method:

in the original text, it is marked correct.

+ Check if the answer fits the immediate

surrounding context; whether or not it violates any local constrains in the same sentence or

surrounding phrases.

+ Also check if it is consistent with all of the

preceeding and subsequent text.

+ If the answer passes all these checks, it is marked

correct, otherwise it is considered incorrect.

 C-test and the multiple-choice test:

use the exact word method to mark.

 Other types of cloze test: use either

the exact word or the contextually appropriate method to evaluate.

Exact word method vs contextually appropriate method

Exact word method Contextually

appropriate method

Quicker and easier to score

because there is only one

accepted answer

More difficult to apply because makers may be confused when considering carefully all the

answers supplied by testees.

Tends to conceal differences in

ability between testees:

* All the testees have to find

out the only exact answer.

Seems to be fairer to testees:

* There may be different answers depending on different testees.

Exact word method Contextually

appropriate method

 Answers that equally

appropriate are not

marked as correct.

 Testees are not

affirmed for their

collocational

competence.

 Testees can supply appropriate answers on their own although

they don’t know the exact words in the original text

 Testees have more chance to get higher result.

 With native speakers: little difference in

reliability and validity between 2 marking method.

 With ESL contexts (English as Second

Language): the contextually appropriate scoring method is superior to the exact word scoring method.

 It’s important for markers to:

• Determine which marking method to use

• Seriously consider both advantages and

disadvantages of 2 methods.