Develop Questions

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Recorded Text Testing
Background Research
Intelligibility Interviews
Choose Kind of Test
Choose Test Points
Materials
Obtain a Text
Develop Questions
Create Introduction Text
Assemble Pilot Test
Administer Pilot Test
Select Final Questions
Build Reference Tests
Develop Post-RTT Questions
Administer Text Test Set
Process Scores

A common source of error in recorded text testing is the quality of the questions asked about the text. The quality revolves chiefly around the focus of each question, its translation, and its recording. Click on the links below to learn more.

Identify Semantic Categories

The easiest questions to form about a text will often revolve around only a few grammatical features. Such questions may miss the features that differentiate the two speech varieties that you are testing. Asking questions that focus on a variety of semantic categories and grammatical features will broaden the test and increase the likelihood of discovering barriers to comprehension. Click here to see an example.

Questions to Avoid

Here are some no-no topics.

Form Questions

Clear questions that aim at a specific answer will be the best means of gauging comprehension. Though most poorly formed questions will be filtered out during pilot testing, any that remain will introduce confusion to the results. Click here to see an example.

Translate and Record Questions

Translating a question correctly into the subjects' language helps ensure that their answers reflect comprehension of the text and not the question. Checking the translation helps ensure that the meaning of your intended question is retained.