Writing Quizzes for the WWW

Letitia Bradley

A sub-page of How to Write Web-Based Quizzes.

Introduction

I first became interested in writing quizzes for the WWW in order to give my students a confidence building, yet controlled EFL web experience. In this article I will present a brief discussion on the types of web based quizzes available with suggested points and possible pitfalls, plus the problems to bear in mind when writing and using them.

The Different Types of Web Based Quizzes

Self-Study Quizzes

If you use Kelly's HTML Quiz Writer http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~ckelly/hc/, generating different kinds of quizzes for the web using a Macintosh computer is easy. The following types can all be written using this HyperCard stack. The Kelly's HTML quiz writer is a straightforward quiz writing tool with step by step, easy to follow instructions.

Interactive Java Script Quizzes

The Internet TESL Journal staff will translate a plain text file into the Java Script data statements needed for the multiple-choice and fill in the blanks quizzes, therefore it is unnecessary to learn Java Script or HTML in order to start writing quizzes.

To read about how to write the data for the Java Script quizzes go to http://a4esl.org/q/j/project.html

To see samples of all the quiz templates, on both of the Internet TESL Journal's quiz projects, go to http://a4esl.org/q/h/tour.html

Choosing the Quiz Base

There is an infinite range of topics that can be used as a basis for a quiz. These topics can be broadly divided into the following three groups:

Things to Consider When Writing a Quiz

How will the quiz be used?

The intended use of the quiz often will affect the style in which it is written. For example, if the quiz is to be used as a grammar consciousness-raising activity (whereby the students will have to use their inductive reasoning skills) the questions will be written to support the intended grammatical point. On the other hand, a quiz designed to give addition practice or to reinforce a pre-taught point will incorporate a broader range of questions, possibly including some which are exceptions to the rule.

Whether to use the quiz online or use it printed out might also affect the final format selected. For example, a quiz which requires students to scroll up or down the screen to find the correct answer, can be both time consuming and confusing, and therefore, is not the best on-line format. However, the same quiz printed out for homework can be quite successful.

What is the presumed level of the learner using the quiz?

It is important to choose a level of difficulty and then keep all the questions, instructions and vocabulary broadly within this level. This not only helps the students see their progress, but ensures that the point of the quiz is not lost and that the students don't give up through frustration. It is all too easy with some quizzes to have a long and complicated question just to practice the usage of the determiner "A" or "An".

What is the educational goal of the quiz?

This can be two-fold, such as giving information about an area as well as the more obvious say, grammar practice. It is often more successful and less confusing, however, to choose one main goal and remember that throughout the quiz.

What are the needs, interests and preferences of the target users?

Consistency in the topic and theme of the quiz is also important, so that the interest of the student is held throughout the quiz. This extends through to the language standard used. Whether the language standard chosen is American English or British English, it is important to keep the spelling, grammar and usage consistent.

What form should quiz answers take?

A pool of words is one option so that when the quiz is finished all the words will have been used. However, since most of these quizzes are for self-study, with little or sometimes no feedback on why an answer may be wrong there are obvious benefits to showing the correct usage of all the possible answers.

Ambiguous answers can cause a certain amount of confusion for learners and are best avoided when ever possible.

There are also different ways of wording the questions which will in turn affect the answer. Below is an example of this.

What are the differences between writing easier and more difficult quizzes?

If the quiz is designed to be "easy" then it is important not to use similar words among the choice of answers as it can lead to confusion. At a higher level the use of similar but subtlety different words usually works well.

Often, shorter quizzes with a smaller pool of word choices work better for lower levels. It also works better for lower levels, if the questions gradually increase in difficulty.

Higher levels students are also better served by gradually increasing the difficulty of the questions and a larger and more diverse word pool is also beneficial. Based on feedback that I have received from teachers and learner who have used my quizzes it seems that a series of alphabetized quizzes on a subject works well with higher level students. Their self-confidence and desire to learn means that they will systematically work through a whole series. Some higher level students have also found this kind of comprehensive quiz to be a good reference source.

Links to Sites with Quizzes

Most web sites with quizzes related to ESL/EFL are listed on the following page. http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Quizzes/

Quizzes I have written can be found at
http://a4esl.org/q/h/lb.html

A sub-page of How to Write Web-Based Quizzes.