How to Write Web-Based Quizzes

In this presentation you will learn to write quizzes which can go on your own Web site or be submitted to Self-Study Quizzes <http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/> or Interactive JavaScript Quizzes <http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/js/> on The Internet TESL Journal's site.

The Actual Handout as GIF Files

• On B4-size paper, front & back
  • handout1.gif - Front
  • handout2.gif - Back
• On B4-size paper, "Write Your First Quiz Today"
  • handout3.gif - Only one side

Further Reading

• Tips on Writing Good Quiz Items (Donna Tatsuki)
• Writing Quizzes for the WWW (Letitia Bradley)
• Online Quizzes - Are they Worthwhile? (Vera Mello)
• See Examples of All Quiz Templates
• The following 2 page are the pages that have always been online explaining how to write quizzes.
  • About the Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students Project
  • About the Interactive JavaScript Quizzes for ESL Students Project

Introduction

• We hope that after learning how to write quizzes for the Web, that you will write some and submit them to the Internet TESL Journal's quiz project where they will be immediately available for your students and students worldwide.
• Depending on which quiz format you choose, the quizzes may be uploaded to your own Web server, if you prefer.
• However, by submitting the quiz to the Internet TESL Journal,...
  • ...you do not need to have a Web site of your own. Teachers without Web sites can also participate.
  • ...the URL will be permanent. Personal Web sites tend to change from one server to another.
  • ...more people will immediately be able to benefit from your work since many students are already using this site. (You can add a direct link to your own quiz from your personal Web page.)
  • ...it encourages others to also submit to the project which in the end benefits us all.

How to Write Quizzes for the Web

1. Writing a Quiz for the Self-Study Quiz Project

• These kinds of quizzes can also easily be put on your own web site.
• Details can be found at http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/project.html.
• There are some utilities online to help you easily write this kind of quiz.

<form>
That is ___ you are poor. 
<br>a. why 
<br>b. that 
<br>c. which 
<br><select><option>Answer 
<option> a 
</select>
</form>

2. Writing the Test Data Using a Word Processor for the JavaScript Quiz Project

• This kind of quiz needs to go on the Internet TESL Journal's Web Site.

1. Download the "sample" template (http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/js/mc-template.txt).
2. Load it into a text editor.
3. Edit the "header" information to show your name, the quiz title, etc.
4. Write the questions.
5. Email it to The Internet TESL Journal.

The data must be in this format.

• 2 RETURNS before each question (one blank line)
• 1 RETURN after each line of the question item.
• Don't use any QUOTES.
  Actually you can use them if you preceed them with a BACKSLASH.
  She said \"good morning\" to me.
  (The \ might not be a BACKSLASH if you are using a non-English font.)
• Anywhere from about 20 questions to 100 questions per quiz is OK.

Line 1 - QUESTION
Line 2 - CORRECT Answer
Line 3 - INCORRECT Answer - At least 1 is required
Line 4 - INCORRECT Answer - The rest are optional.
Line 5 - INCORRECT Answer
Line 6 - INCORRECT Answer

Example:

I ___ a dog.
have
has

I ___ in Japan.
live
living
lives
is living

Let's ___ tennis tomorrow.
play
playing
plays
played
to play

Line 1 - QUESTION
Line 2 - CORRECT Answer
Line 3 - (Another correct answer) Optional
Line 4 - (And another correct answer) Optional

(If there are more than 2 or 3 correct answers, the question is
probably not a good one. However, our JavaScript template can handle 
any number of possible answers. Just remember that the filesize
will grow causing a longer download time.)

Example:

My brother is ___ now. (swim)
swimming

I like ___ with my brother. (swim)
swimming
to swim

Additional Information Needed

title="Assorted Questions - 1"
level="Medium"
category="Grammar"
date="May 4, 1998"
writer="Charles Kelly"
copyright="1998"
bgcolor="FFFFCE"
url="http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~ckelly/"
email="ckelly@ge.aitech.ac.jp"

• If you have no web page, then enter url="".
• If you have no email address (or prefer that it not be included), then enter email="".
• If you don't care what color the background is, just leave the bgcolor="FFFFCE" without changing it.

Quiz Item Writing Checklist

Style and Form (individual items)
___ Is the question stem precisely worded?
___ Does the question stem match the information available in the response choices?
___ Is the question stem a complete sentence?
___ Are the items all worded positively?
___ Are there enough response alternatives for each question stem?
___ Do the response alternatives all seem plausible?
___ Is the indentation and spacing of all items and responses consistent?>

Ethical and legal considerations
___ Was permission granted for the borrowing of another writers' items?
___ Was permission granted to incorporate another authors' text or graphics?

Additional Pages for the Workshop