چکیده:
This paper examines the effect of gender and type of stem on Iranian test takers‟performance on the grammar section of a nation-wide language proficiency test. In so doing, the scores of 2931 examinees (1107 female and 1824 male) who sat Tarbiat Modares English proficiency test were obtained. The examinees‟ scores on three types of MC grammar items with different kinds of stems (i.e., blank filling, error recognition, and cloze) were compared to see if the type of stem has any effect on performance. Grammar scores of males and females were also compared to see if there is an effect for gender on the examinees‟ performance on the grammar test in general and on its three item types in particular. The results indicated that test takers performed better on cloze items than the other two types. It was also found that females outperformed males on both the whole test, and also on items with blank filling and cloze types of stems. Due to the particularity of the context and the small effect sizes found, the study calls for more research to be conducted on this topic.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Score Variation in Multiple-Choice Tests of Grammar: On the Effect of Gender and Stem Type Mohsen Shirazizadeh* 1, Gholam Reza Kiany2 1 English Department, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran 2 English Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran *Corresponding author: m.
The present study intends to examine different types of stems as well as test takers’ gender as two possible sources of variation of multiple-choice grammar test scores.
In fact, the focus on the response part of the item has resulted in losing sight of the importance of the stem in some studies investigating the effect of test format (In'nami & Koizumi, 2009; Rodriguez, 2003).
In the present study, we will, therefore, focus on the effects of different types of stems on test takers‟ performance on multiple- choice grammar items.
In view of the fact that tests of grammatical ability have not been sufficiently investigated in terms of the effect of item format and gender, this study breaks new ground by examining how the format of the stem as well as test takers‟ gender influence performance on a multiple- choice test of grammar.
74 2931 One-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the test takers‟ scores on the multiple-choice grammar items with different types of stems.
Discussion The findings of the analyses regarding the first research question showed that, in multiple choice items of grammar, type of stem had a significant effect on the test takers‟ scores."