1.0 INTRODUCTION Reading skills serves as one of the four mandatory skills in English language.

In monitoring reading skills development among students, an assessment is needed. It would be a quantitative measure to examine reading skills in English language. For this particular English test evaluation, I decided to use a mid-year examination 2011 paper in secondary school. The school, SMK Raja Puan Muda Tengku Fauziah is situated at Kaki Bukit Perlis. It is a rural area school where most of students come from a family with lower economic status or medium economic status. Majority of students are Malay. Thus, based on the socio-demographic data collected, I can assume that students proficiency skills in second language is lower, compared to urban area school. Madam Rosnani, Head of Language teacher has granted her permission for me to get access on this paper. She is also the core person in English department and part of the team in designing the exam paper. This paper is the English Language Paper 2, specifically designed for Form 4 students. It contains 34 questions altogether with four (4) sections, each focuses on different area of language. Section A is about reading comprehension and the form of question is on MCQ (multiple choice question) where 15 marks are allocated, section B is about text comprehension and the question will be a short answer, it worth 10 marks. Section C focuses on passage comprehension and the question is an open-ended question. It worth 25 marks altogether. The final section, section Dfocuses on appreciating literary text where students understanding on literature text will be tested. It worth 25 marks as well and making a total 65 marks. The investigation and evaluation process of this examination paper takes place on every question whereby the exploration of this paper would not only identifying the quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of the question paper. As this investigation goes deeper, this study would also come out with recommendation and comments posted on every section of this paper from the writers point of view. The purpose is to highlight the strength and weaknesses of this examination paper and improve for betterment. Last but not least, the study then wrap up with an overall conclusion.

2.0 READING TEST EVALUATION Section A

Question 1 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension The question demands students comprehension about the advertisement above. In Barretts literal comprehension, it falls under recognition of details. Student should know the vocabularies like annual, warehouse, up to as they are the key information to understand the whole advertisement. Then, student should be able to generate all information provided in the advertisement. In order to choose the right answer, student may infer every option of answer and match it with appropriate information in the advertisement. Only then one manages to decide which option fits correctly within the advertisement. Question 2 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension In literal comprehension, it falls under recognition of sequences where students should identify, locate and recognize the sequence as a pattern of the information flows. The information can be derived directly from the notice. It describes about steps taken when one is trapped in a lift. The word first thing and do not provides cue about the notice. As the question asks for the first step taken in the emergency situation, students should notice the word do not means that one should not put that action, instead choose the other action. All the four answer options but the first option are derived from details above. Any of the option that does not describe first step is not a correct answer.

Question 3 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension The question demands student to recognize the main idea of the message and convey the understanding by selecting one correct answer. It is quite easy to answer
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this as the message is brief and simple. The word Woven Soft is name of a health product. The keywords on the above text should enable student to make connection with those words and convey logical meaning in the message. The distracters however are quite confusing as the answer options are close to one another and student would have their doubt in selecting his preference answer. But definitely, only one answer is accurate. Question 4 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension The recipe above has a list of ingredients and instruction of making Tropical Fruit Smoothie. Based on the details above, student should correctly interpret the details because all distracters are effective distracters. Answer choices provided are almost correct and it can be misleading. To answer this question, student should carefully read the details. The word like must and optional should be well understood by student in order to get the answer correctly. Question 5 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension For this question, the extract of the text becomes quite longer as compared to previous questions and it comprises more details. The question difficulty style has slightly increased its level but still under literal comprehension. It falls under

recognition of details. Before student could drive to a conclusion of a text, they should first understand the main idea of the text and selecting facts from the statement. Thus student should read the whole extract of the text carefully. They are only three answer options thus the chances of having correct answer is higher. All answers options are carefully crafted and they appear as if all was correct. Thus, if a student is careless in reading the options it would cost one answer it falsely. Question 6 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension The extract above is a short dialogue strip derived from Readers Digest. Student should know main idea in this extract by locating the clue in the text. By using
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contextual skills, syntactic clue and discourse markers in reading, student may identify the underlying meaning in the text. The distracters displayed above are good as two of them portray correct information from the text but it is not the accurate answer to explain the statement. Question 7 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension From the advertisement above, it is rich with information. Student should know his purpose of reading the advertisement and it would then determine his reading strategy (to skim and scanning) in order to obtain desirable information. The answer options provided are only three thus increasing percentage of having a correct answer. The choice of answers is quite straight forward and student would find one correct answer by comparing and matching those with data provided in the advertisement. Recommendation: Teacher could make it more challenging by adding another answer option in the list. Student would have more to choose and it consumes their time to decide his final answer. Question 8 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension The information in the advertisement is a simple text with short sentences. By inferring information above and answer selection, one should focus on the literal comprehension. Student is introduced with function of connectors used in the text and four selections above. This question is a direct question and is defined as easy.Based on the cues provided in the text, student may select one accurate answer from the four selections without less difficulty.

Question 13-15 *The questions are about grammar and they are not evaluated. Section B
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Question 16- Question 21 Barrett Taxonomy level: Reorganization This section, there is an article entitled Neem Tree. This level of reading is suitable enough to tap students skills in reading and understanding a full article. There are quite a number of unknown words for student at this level namely blessing , mankind , referred , versatility, counter and miraculous which student might have known the meaning or not. For this, student should rely on compensate strategy in his reading to make sense what those words mean in the text. Student should spend him time in reading carefully the text and underline any unknown words as one go through the reading process. Students should go through every paragraph of the article and identify the useful information by asking himself the WHquestions tag as well as keywords found in every question. It would ensure one can adjust his metacognitive strategy to suit his purpose of reading. For every question (Q16-Q21), there will be only fill in the blanks where student must transfer information from the article to every question. Each is graded with a mark. Thus, it requires student to analyze, synthesize and organize the ideas and information explicitly stated in the text selection. The WH- question tags help to classify certain kind of details needed effectively. Student would find this section quite challenging and when one transfers the information, he has to make sure the answer is brief and the spelling is also correct. Section C

This section focuses on reading comprehension based on two passages provided. Question 26-30 The third section is also about a reading passage in the form of storyline. The article is longer than the previous one and the level of complexity must be higher than the previous reading article. Student should read the passage thoroughly in his first reading to get to know general idea in this passage. In his second reading, he should focus on the details of information he would like to seek. In every question, student is guided with the aids from the question itself. For every question asked, one can refer to the particular paragraph its stated in the question thus on could find his clue to get correct answer. Then one should reorganize the information and transfer it with a
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proper sentence construction. More importantly, student should be able to identify the type of tense used in the reading passage. As this passage is written in past tense, the answer written must be in past tense as well. Question 26 (a) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension Student should able to identify what is the reason for Ali and Zamri to wake up. It is on the first paragraph. Then one should put his answer in a proper sentence to get full mark. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 26 (b) Barrett Taxonomy level: Reorganization Student should able to guess the meaning of dull by using his skills in contextual clues, semantic clues, syntactic clues and compensate strategy in the second paragraph to identify what is the most suitable meaning for the word. The answer must be in a complete sentence. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 27 Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension Student should manage to locate the reason why Anis father and Uncle Daud laugh at her in the seventh paragraph. The mark is two thus it might contain to more than one fact/reason in the answer. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 28 Barrett Taxonomy level: Reorganization Student should identify a factor what make the old boat look cheerful. The answer can be found at paragraph 9. The answer should be in past tense form.

Question 29 (a) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension In paragraph 10, student must be able to find reason why Ali think Uncle Daud is crazy at first. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 29 (b) Barrett Taxonomy level: Reorganization This is another defining vocabulary meaning. Student should able to guess the meaning of wizened by using his skills in contextual clues, semantic clues, syntactic clues and compensate strategy in the second paragraph to identify what is the most suitable meaning for the word. World knowledge about this word would always be helpful. The answer must be in a complete sentence. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 30 (a) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension Student should able to state reason why the old Mercury engine not having an easy task. It could be derived from paragraph 13. The answer should be in past tense form. Question 30 (b) Barrett Taxonomy level: Evaluating iiiStudent must able to locate the answer in paragraph 13. He then must draw an evidence (derived from the same paragraph) to support his answer. This is to ensure that one knows what he is answering. Question 31 Barrett Taxonomy level: Reorganization (summarizing) In this question, students understanding and comprehension about the text will be tested in his ability to draw a summary about the reading passage. He must used paraphrased statements from the selection of important details in the text. The skills
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to use construct the idea by using ones own words and simplified the sentences in the passage is a higher level of reading skills but it is still under reorganization level (second level). Marks will be given based on the criteria fulfilled in writing this summary. Student should write a summary of what the boatman looked like and what Ali saw from the boat. Based on these two points, student should able to identify which form of tense should he use and he must be using past tense because the text passage comes in past tense form. It is emphasized that student use his own words without losing the original meaning of the text. The writing should be less than 130 words including the ten words that has been provided. Also, utilizing materials ONLY from line 26- 53 and begin the summary with the sentence Haji Tuah was the best boatman on this side of. The summary would be graded when one firstly fulfilled the requirement above, proper sentence structure, skills of writing the summary that is precise but rich in information and interesting. It costs 15 worth marks. Section D

This section discusses about literary works and texts. Question 32 (a) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension This question reflects the first level of reading difficulty level. Student should be able to interpret the poets intention and opinion through the clues and information provided in the first stanza of the poem. Question 32 (b) Barrett Taxonomy level: Inferential comprehension This question reflects the third level of reading difficulty level. Student should be able to immerse himself in the girl situation and based on his interpretation of meaning in stanza one, he can infer the information to answer the question. The clue is given in the two last line of the first stanza. Question 32 (c) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension
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Student should be able to directly find the answer because the whole clues are available in the second stanza and he can directly use the line in the stanza as the answer Question 32 (d) Barrett Taxonomy level: Evaluation This question caters the fourth level in Barrett Taxonomy, specifically under judgement of fact and opinion. The question is open to any logical explanation based on the understanding and critical review of the poem. Students understanding and interpretation of the poem would be a resourceful information to aid the student drawing his opinion about the poem. Student should support it with logical reasoning.

Question 33 (a) Barrett Taxonomy level: Literal comprehension Student should be able to identify the answer based on the syntactical clues provided in the text because it is the main clue to answer the question. The change of present tense sentence to past tense sentence tell about what had happened to Miss Broome Question 33 (b) Barrett Taxonomy level: literal comprehension Student should be able to make sense of what the phrase means in that particular paragraph. it can be done by identifying the semantic clues on the first line in second paragraph. It means that he quickly understand what had happened to Miss Broome. Question 33 (c) Barrett Taxonomy level: literal comprehension At this level, student should be able to identify the supporting details in the passage and by that knowledge and understanding, one should able to draw the answer. The

clue is on the fourth line, third paragraph. it directly gives the answer for that question Question 33 (d) Barrett Taxonomy level: Inferential comprehension This question tests students comprehension of this story as a whole than one need to make an inference based on supporting details provided on the last sentence in the third paragraph. Student should quote the sentence that she was old misery. By understanding the whole story of this short story, student can tackle this question pretty easy. Question 34 Barrett Taxonomy level: Appreciation This question caters the highest level of Barret Taxanomy whereby student should express his appreciation and preference in a summary. One would choose his favourite/best character in the drama. Student needs to write a summary on a drama entitled Gulp and Gasp. In order to write the summary, student should be able to understand the whole story really well and grasp the main idea what the story is all about. Besides that, one should also remember the characters in the story and their roles and relation to one another. As on the instruction given, one should describe the best character found in the drama. Guidelines for writing this summary: Brief introduction about the drama Choose the best character in the drama that one has most information with Introduce the character, his name (must be spelled correctly), the role in the drama The development of the character in the drama What are the features/quality the character possess to be chosen as students best character Evidence to support the statement Conclusion # grammatically correct sentences is important
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3.0 COMMENTS & RECOMMENDATION Section A (1-8) The question is suitable as it is considered as easy. This is the right way of starting the level of difficulty where it always starts with an easy question and further increase the level as the number for question becomes higher. The relevance of providing a simple, low difficulty level type of question is that it is important to tap students interest to answer the examination paper till the end and also to motivate them that they are good and capable to answer this paper. Besides that, the choices in MCQ are likely to help students a lot. If they stumble in answering one particular question, one can make intelligent guess by referring to the choice of answer given. Maybe the teacher would want to add varieties on this section. Instead of just focusing on simple advertisement or dialogue, the teacher can insert idioms, synonym or antonym on the list of question. Overall, its a good section. Section B (16-25)

The first reading passage provided has adequate length of text, unknown words (vocabularies), and has simple language use in the text. The text caters equal interest of both genders. But the passage, in my point of view is not really capture high interest for students to read it. The short answer questions tackle a slightly higher difficulty. Adequate knowledge about the language would help students to answer the questions.

The selection of text should be a topic that is much more interesting to read. A vocabulary list could be provided for 3-4 unknown vocabularies if it is suitable with the content of the text and the text difficulty.

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Section C (26-31) The second passage is much longer. The questions are quite difficult. It has open ended questions as well as summary writing about the text. This section will be quite challenging for students in low level as well as intermediate level.

Teacher might want to lower the difficulty of the question in this section to cater the students ability in this language because mostly rural school students are not really proficient in English language.

Section D (32-34)

The questions on literary text are like the standard that always used in other examination paper. In order for students to score well in this section, they must know well all the poems, short stories and drama storyline as well as the characters etc. if they manage to tackle all the literary works taught in class, it would be an advantage to get full marks in this section. For the summary, teacher should prepare students in writing the summary. Adequate practice and guidelines provided would prepare students writing a good summary about short stories and drama. On the other hand, students should monitor their grammatical error and ensure it is least to occur the writing. Overall, because the standard of this section is always the same, this section is a good set and can be replicated by teachers for the next exam or test either for this school or the other school.

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4.0 CONCLUSION As the evaluation process on every questions take place, I found that the set of examination paper caters all the five level of Barrets Taxonomy in reading skills. It is heavily focus on first level which is the literal comprehension. Next, there are also several number of questions that fit the second level that is reorganization. The proportion likely to be the same as the inferential comprehension level. However, the least number of questions are focus on the third, fourth and fifth level and they are only be founded at Section C and D. here is the simple summary distribution of questions according to the level: Bil. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 Level of Barret Taxonomy Literal comprehension Reorganization Inferential comprehension Evaluation Appreciation Number of question 15 10 2 2 1

Overall, this set of paper has balance in proportion and cater the need of all range of students ability in this language. From this finding and analysis, it also indicates that the set of question paper is valid and reliable to be used again in the future or as a replication for the future test paper construction.

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