http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/talkaboutenglish/2009/04/090427_ tae_al.shtml (pag 33) higher.

Good multiple-choice questions are not easy to make and often they are more difficult than they should be. This is because the wrong choices must seem possible and not stupid. If they are possible then they might be partly correct. 1. A fixation (a) takes about two-tenths of a second (b) is about one word long (c) is the opposite of a regression (d) is longer in Finnish than in English 5. Sentence completion. The learners complete sentences by the empty spaces to show that they understand the reading passage. The sentences come after the reading passage. There are four different types of sentence completion. filling (i) (ii) (iii) The sentences are exact copies of sentences in the passage. The missing words can be found in the passage. The sentences are not exactly the same as the sentences in the passage although they talk about the same idea. The missing words are not in the passage so the learners must use their knowledge of vocabulary to the empty spaces. (iv) fill fixations fixations A skilled reader makes about A skilled reader makes around per 100 words. per minute. The learners are helped if there is a short line for each letter of the missing word, if the letter is given and so on. first 6. Information transfer. The learners complete an information transfer diagram based on the information in the text (Palmer, 1982). Chapter 9 provides examples of information transfer diagrams. 7. Translation. The learners must translate the passage into another language. Although translation is often a special skill, it can also show areas of difficulty that the learners have in reading. It also shows clearly where the learners do not have any difficulty. It is a very searching test of understanding, but it includes other skills besides reading. 8. Prcis. After the learners read the passage they write a short composition about one-quarter of the length of the passage containing all the main ideas that are in the passage. This is called a prcis. It can be done as group work. The learners are divided into small groups. Each group makes a list of the main ideas in the passage. Then the class as a whole discusses the main points and the teacher writes them on the blackboard. Then each group writes the prcis (Forrester, 1968). (pag 34) There have been several schemes to describe the possible focuses of comprehension questions (Tollefson, 1989; Day and Park, 2005). Typically they cover the following: 1. Literal comprehension of the text. This involves understanding what the text explicitly says. At their easiest, such questions could be answered by quoting parts of the text. These questions would be more demanding if the learners were not allowed to look at the text while answering the questions. 2. Drawing inferences from the text. This involves taking messages from the text that are not explicitly stated but which could be justified by reference to the text. This can involve working out the main idea of the text, looking at the organisation of the text, determining the writers attitude to the topic, interpreting characters, and working out cause and effect and other conjunction relationships which might not be explicitly stated. 3. Using the text for other purposes in addition to understanding. This involves applying ideas from the text to solve problems, applying the ideas in the text to personal experience, comparing ideas in the text with other ideas from outside the text, imagining extensions of the text, and fitting the ideas in the text into a wider as in a review of the literature. 4. Responding critically to the text. This involves considering the quality of the evidence in the text, evaluating the adequacy of the content of the text, evaluating the quality of expression and clarity of language of the text, expressing agreement or disagreement with the ideas in the text, and expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the text.

Nation, I.S.P.. Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2008. p 47. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/asulib/Doc?id=10258167&ppg=47 Copyright 2008. Routledge. All rights reserved.