Preference versus Performance in Taking Oral True-False Tests

Abstract

measure student knowledge as well when presented orally as when presented in mimeographed form.' The results have generally shown that the oral method is as good as the mimeographed method. Student reaction to the oral method, however, is often unfavorable, with the result that class morale or teacher-pupil harmony sometimes suffers if the oral method is used extensively. Students are likely to complain that they do not have a fair chance when the teacher reads the questions to the class and that, if the tests were presented to them on mimeographed sheets, the results would be much more indicative of the knowledge actually possessed. This student preference for the mimeographed method is rather pronounced at the time the first test is presented orally and decreases in amount as more experience is gained in using both methods, but some students are firmly and unalterably opposed to the oral method and persist in classifying themselves as martyrs when they are so tested. The purpose of this article is to report results of an experimental study of the question of student preference and to show the extent to which preference is supported or justified by actual performance. The oral method, as used in this study, consisted first in having each student write on a piece of paper a column of numbers-i, 2, 3, etc.-for the test items to be presented. Then the instructor read each test item aloud to the class twice, and only twice. If a statement was judged by the student to be true, he placed a plus sign