Multiple Choice Questions: A Powerful Formative Tool?

"Surely we cannot return to multiple choice questions in a post-COVID, hybrid-learning, wellbeing-focused world!"

I know! As an English language and literature teacher, the very thought of creating a multiple choice test makes my stomach churn and my throat tighten. I was born of the quality assessment model: give me an essay question with a good conceptual hook and I'll show you what's what...

My summer reading has forced me to reconsider my preferred assessment model.

In the first chapter of 'Making Good Progress? The Future of Assessment for Learning', Daisy Christodoulou quotes the powerful Dylan Wiliam when outlining that formative assessment happens when teachers “use evidence of student learning to adapt teaching and learning, or instruction, to meet student needs” (19). She continues to explore the importance of formative assessment strategies and urges schools to implement progression models that make assessment practices clear for all stakeholders. It's a truly great read and I suggest that you stop now, go to Amazon, and order it with Prime delivery.

I was surprised to find that, in her contribution to 'The ResearchED Guide to Assessment: An Evidence-Informed Guide for Teachers', Ruth Powley refers to Christodoulou's book, restating her warning that "the complexity of many exam questions makes it hard to make accurate diagnostic formative inferences" (68). I had clearly chosen my readings well: page after page, chapter after chapter, the power of formative assessment became clear.

A section of Daisy's book that rang especially true for me (and opened the door to multiple choice questions) came in chapter 4 when she outlined that "if a pupil is struggling with a complex task, it can be hard to work out exactly why they are struggling, and therefore hard to provide them with specific and useful feedback" (90). I reflected upon all of the times when I struggled to provide feedback on knowledge and understanding due to the glaring grammatical errors of a formative writing task, or when colleagues could not determine the level of scientific knowledge due to a student's unwillingness to record a Flipgrid video. There must be a better way! There must be an answer to choose from... (See what I did there?)

When creating formative assessments, Christodoulou urges us to "break down the skills and tasks that feature in summative assessments into tasks that will give us valid feedback about how pupils are progressing towards that end goal” (73). Normally, my instinct would be to break down the skills element of a task and hope that knowledge and understanding embeds itself in the mind of every student through a process similar to osmosis; however, I reflected on a previous page which suggested that "a question which focuses on just one small part of a subject can be very helpful” (69). It's true: how often does a simple warm-up question turn into a 20 minute debate and the scrapping of a lesson plan? I reminded myself that, when teachers are intentional with the questions they ask and the concepts the explore, students' ability to grapple with knowledge and understanding is greatly enhanced. I wonder how we could maximize the potential of the formative questions we ask? I bet there are multiple ways... (See what I did there?)

My interest was piqued around page 165 when Christodoulou made the case that multiple choice questions, when designed effectively, "require the same kind of thinking as essay questions" and "compared to essays, they are quick to answer and to mark." I sat up on my sun lounger at this point and grabbed a pencil. Daisy continued: "they make it easy to give meaningful feedback" because teachers can predict where students may go wrong and "prepare feedback in advance based on the distractors" (169). I was sold. As a school, we are looking for ways to maximize time, reduce teacher workload, and enhance the quality of feedback given to students; I felt like I had discovered what Mitchell Whitehead (@twitamitch) once referred to as "the new, old way of teaching". He was much more philosophical in his presentation at a recent IB conference, but I still feel like multiple choice quizzes can repurpose traditional pedagogy.

Nevertheless, my practical brain was whirring and I have many scattered notes ready for the academic year ahead. I'll provide just a few applications that may be of interest:

• This adds power to Kahoot quizzes and allows them to be integral parts of a progression model, rather than just crowd-pleasers. Group feedback can be given based on the answers chosen. Teachers can make a 'quick note' of distractor questions that were chosen by a majority (or a large minority) and adapt direct instruction for the following lessons.
• This can enhance starters and/or plenaries. Platforms like Google Forms can be used to gain insight into students' understanding in a way that reduces anxiety. This information can then be used to adapt future learning experiences.
• This is bound to enhance collaboration between teachers. The development of appropriate distractor questions will lead to discussions that are focused on the underlying concepts and essential knowledge of the subject area. Teachers will compare student choices and develop support materials that can be shared across teaching teams.

In a world where terminal examinations are being questioned and student well-being is at the forefront of every educator's mind, it is important that we re-evaluate the tools we use for assessment. The use of multiple choice questions as a formative tool could be one way for us to reimagine our practice.

I will draw this to a close by quoting Claire Hill from her contribution to 'The ResearchED Guide to Assessment: An Evidence-Informed Guide for Teachers'. She wrote that "a granular approach to assessment through multiple-choice quizzes can offer a more effective way to identify what we reteach and practice with out students, whilst also reducing workload for the teacher" (38). Her sentiment ticks a lot of boxes at the core of formative assessment and provides teachers with quite a few choices; isn't that what we all need?

I'm off to revisit the notes of a PD session offered to us by Kate Jones (@KateJones_teach) about Retrieval Practice and how to design effective multiple choice questions. My work has just begun, but I'm energized for the year ahead...

Sources

Christodoulou, D. 'Making Good Progress? The Future of Assessment for Learning'. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Donarski, S. & Bennett, T. 'The ResearchED Guide to Assessment: An Evidence-Informed Guide for Teachers'. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd., 2020.