Teach english new edition r

B Good tests (pages 167-168)
Comment on the suitability of the following test items for students of general English, 
a 
Write a composition about the importance of DNA research in not more than 500 words.
b
I didn’t enjoy the book. I found i t .............................difficult.
a very b terrible c un- 
d rather
c
Write ten words you have learnt recently. This is the only task for today’s test.
d
Write a poem about happiness.
e
Complete the following sentences.
Before I am thirty I .....................
I have never .................................
f
The human brain is ( a ) .....................sensitive to any and (b ).......................event: we cannot
complacently (c ).....................it as an article (d ).......................faith that it will (e )............
. . . . inviolate and that ways ( f ) .....................learning and thinking will (g ).......................
constant. A new idea (h ).....................that there is room ( i) ...................... improvement. So-
called transhumanism, ( j) .....................as the world’s most (k ).......................idea’, promotes
the ability (I).....................science and technology to (m ).......................beyond the ‘norm’
(whatever (n ).....................is) for physical and (0 ).......................human enhancement.
226
Jeremy Harmer 
How to Teach English
© Pearson Education Limited 2007
PHOTOCOPIABLE

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Task File
C Test types (pages 168-172)
1 Write multiple-choice items to test whether students know the following collocations.
a clench + fist 
b heavy + traffic 
c shrug + shoulders
What level could your test items be used with?
2 Use the following passage for a 
cloze
test. Try it first deleting every sixth word, regardless of 
what word it is. Then do it again, deleting 
roughly
every sixth word, but don’t stick rigidly to 
the rule - e.g. you can select more appropriate words to delete if you want.
a Which is better? Strict cloze (every sixth word) or 
modified cloze
(you choose the words), 
b What level could you use this passage with?
When you read a book, the author usually takes you by the hand and you travel from 
the beginning to the m iddle to the end in a continuous narrative of interconnected 
steps. It may not be a journey with which you agree, or one that you enjoy, but none 
the less, as you turn the pages, one train of thought succeeds the last in a logical 
fashion. We can then compare one narrative with another and, in so doing, start to 
build up a conceptual framework that enables us to evaluate further journeys, which, 
in turn, w ill influence our ind ivid ualised framework. We can place an isolated fact in 
a context that gives it a significance. So traditional education has enabled us to turn 
information into knowledge.
3 Write transformation exercises to test whether students know the relationship between the 
following words:
a divisive division 
c honestly honesty
b explain explanation 
d inform information