A pros and cons list for quiz authors.
Benefits of Cloze
- Largely guess-proof
- Tests spelling
- Fewer questions needed for a reliable summative test
- Variable strictness is possible
Drawbacks of Cloze
- Disadvantages dyslexics, EALs and other weak spellers.
- Kids moan at you if there are too many in a quiz.
- Cannot easily distinguish between weak conceptual knowledge and weak spelling.
Benefits of multiple choice
- Students get less stressed.
- Opportunity to introduce new concepts in the distractors, that can then be picked up later in the course.
- Opportunity to add formative feedback statements to distractors.
- Good for reinforcing concepts the students are getting, but have not completely grasped.
Drawbacks of multiple choice
- May introduce fake words or phrases in the distractors that wind up being learned, and increase an already weak student’s confusion.
- Because random guessing can result in a right answer, need a larger number of questions to get a reliable result.
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