Trade Publication Article

uestion your questioning

Worley, Peter

2017

Overview

(Quick clarification: a closed question is not the same as a leading question, where one strongly implies or states the answer being looked for in the question asked.) So d) is both open and closed, but this makes sense only with a distinction between two kinds of open and closed question: grammatical and conceptual. [...]having considered the question aspect of open and closed questions, now I'd like to address the psychological dimension. \"What is the longest month of the year in the UK?\" is testing the same knowledge as \"In which month do the clocks go back?\" but the satisfaction of a correct answer is much greater. An important quiz-writing technique is to load a question with clues - even if the clues are sometimes very subtle - and the challenge for the contestant is to identify and use the clues to have a good stab at the answer. Make every word count - don't put in information that doesn't point towards the answer or give useful context, but try very hard to put in information that does help steer someone in the right direction. A related point is to use extra information to eliminate ambiguity. Is there some level of edutainment to be had from the facts in the question? A quiz question is for the contestant, not for the writer, so it is vital to watch how people respond to them, as this helps you to understand better what works and what doesn't. Inexperienced quiz writers often have...

• Publisher: TES Global Limited
• Subject: Economic structure / Lesson Plans / Poetry / Rhyme / Teachers / Unemployment