Can MCQs test oral and written skills?

This is likely to be the major drawback for colleagues considering incorporating multiple choice questioning in their teaching. MCQs can test much more than knowledge, but they cannot test oral or written skills (although see Quanjel-Schreurs et al (2002) on the possibilities of learning by modelling in skills acquisition). Where the intended learning outcomes of a unit require oral or written skills a multiple choice test cannot form the entire assessment, but it is unlikely that you are reading this with the intention of completely replacing your current assessment strategy with MCQs in any case. You may not be considering using MCQs as part of your summative examination at all. MCQs offer ample scope to test much of the knowledge and skills required by the legal curriculum and can therefore be extremely useful for formative assessment purposes and, where appropriate, as part of summative assessment. Concentrate on what you can test rather than on what you can’t!

Last Modified: 4 June 2010