A Study of Tests in Social Studies Education (III) : On the process of test item writing

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to consider theoretically the procedures of writing test items which produce tests in social studies which are effective instruments of measuring students' academic achievement or of evaluating the outcome of classroom instruction on the students' side. The results demonstrate that there is a tendency for the basic plan of test questions to depend on the structure of the instructional content which item writers have had in mind. The forms of the items depend on the kinds of learning which they have had in mind. In that sense item writers' viewpoint of social studies as a school subject, of contents to be taught, and of students reflect the test questions in social studies.