The passage looks to be a part of literary piece and it is written in past tense

Testing Techniques

A ‘Testing Technique’ is a device used to elicit language behavior of the candidate. For instance, a picture shown to the candidate at an interview will help the tester to elicit spoken language of the candidate, which can be used to make judgment on his speech performance: thus picture description is a productive technique of testing oral skills. English language testers use many techniques to judge different skills of the candidates – matching, completing, Multiple Choice Questions, Binary Choice Questions, Summary cloze, Cloze tests, Dictation, Labeling, Ordering, Questions etc.

A good testing technique should possess several vital characteristics:

1. 
   The technique should help tester to elicit adequate language within short period. This means the technique must be economical in terms of time and effort.
   
2. 
   The technique should help the tester to elicit valid and reliable sample of candidate’s language.
   
3. 
   It must be easy to score.
   
4. 
   It should test not only candidate’s ability to recognize the correct use or form, but also his ability to use the correct form.
   

5. 
   Subjective vz Objective test items
   

The test items can basically be viewed as subjective or objective according to the way they are marked. Objective test items require no special judgment of the examiner. Only one possible answer is given in the marking scheme. In binary choice test items, candidates are required to mark whether the given statement is true or false. Only one answer is correct. This is an example of objective test items.

Even if two examiners mark the objective test items, the marks will be more or less the same. Therefore, if objective test items are included in a test paper, a higher degree of reliability can be expected.

Subjective test items, on the other hand, require judgment of the examiner. For example, an essay in a test paper is a subjective test item: it requires examiner’s logical judgment for offering an appropriate mark. In the case of subjective test items, two examiners are likely to offer marks differently: their judgment could be different. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect perfect reliability if the test paper includes subjective test items. It is in this case that the tester must take appropriate strategies to maintain reliability of a test paper.

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