Discuss the essay questions as used in learning R.E

They require learners to give lengthy answers by a narrative on a given topic and knowledge and
attitudes acquired. The learners are expected to organize ideas or show creativity through
writing. There are two types of essays extended (open-ended) and restricted response (structured type).They is also known as long and short essays respectively.87

Characteristic of essay questions.
Essay questions have these qualities:
- They require students to organize their work logically and express themselves clearly in
their own words.
- They consist of a few questions which require lengthy answers.
- They are relatively easy to prepare and too hard to mark accurately.
- Their quality depends on the skill of the setter and the scorer.

When to use essay questions?
They can be used when:
- The group is small.
- The teacher wishes to encourage the fullest development of the learner’s skill in the
written expression.
- The teacher wants students to organize ideas or to show their creativity.
- The evaluator is more interested in exploring the learner’s attitudes than in measuring
achievement.
- The assessor is more confident of his/her proficiency as critical leader
- The time available for test preparation is shorter than the time available for scoring.
- Evaluation complex or controversial areas of a subject.
- When learners are expected to apply the acquired knowledge to novel situations.
Guidelines for constructing essay questions.
These guidelines could be useful to an essay test constructor:
1. Define the learner’s task as completely and clearly as possible.
2. Write the items clearly and specifically in order for the learners to know what is expected
of them.
3. The expected responses from the students should relate to significant content and
behaviour as indicated in the table of specifications and objectives.
4. Restrict the subject matter to be covered by the question.
5. The area of the emphasis for the question should be indicated either by underlying,
writing in italics, or in bold.
6. The questions should be interesting and challenging enough.
7. Structure the questions in such a way that an overall understanding of the learners can be
assessed.
8. Each question should be easy to follow from the learners point of view
9. Avoid vague terms that could elicit contradictory responses from the learners.
10. Avoid the practice of allowing for optional questions because each learner should take
the same test as any other student if the scores are to be compared.
11. Try to set questions which test specific skills that the learners have been undergoing.
12. Check the adequacy of the question by seeing whether you and other experts can agree on
an ideal answer.
13. Provide generous time limit for the test depending on the number of complexity of the
questions.
14. Have a common basis for evaluation by preparing a marking scheme based on a valid
criterion.
15. Ensure that it measures the intended objectives.
Examples of essay questions.
1. Explain Jeremiah’s teaching on the new covenant (extended).
2. Discuss the social evils in Israel during the time of prophet Amos(extended)
3. Discuss the importance of Hadith (extended).
4. Explain the spread of Islam in East Africa (extended).
5. a)Define the term covenant(2marks)
b) Briefly explain three characteristics of a covenant (6marks)

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c.) Identify two examples of covenants today (6marks)
d) Explain the importance of God?s covenant with Abraham to Christians today
(10marks).
6. Explain the meaning of Tawheed (5marks)
7. Highlight the attributes of Allah (5marks)
b) State the significance of Tawheed (5marks)
c) Explain the relevance of Tawheed in your life (6marks)
Advantages of essay questions.

1. They provide opportunities for the learners to demonstrate the degree to which
they can analyze a given problem.
2. They enable the learners to creatively select relevant information related to
question by the discussion.
3. They can provide good measure of learners understanding of any given area of
knowledge.
4. They enable the learners to organize answers in a systematic (logical) and
comprehensive manner.
5. They help the learners to improve their writing skills.
6. They help provide the learners with an opportunity to demonstrate as much as
possible, how much they know on a given item since there is no absolutely wrong
or right answer.
7. They give students opportunity to express themselves using their own phrases,
words and expressions and with minimum restrictions.
8. They measure more complex high levels of understanding e.g analysis, synthesis
and evaluation.
9. By analyzing the learner’s responses to an essay,an instructor becomes aware of
the learners approach to problem solving.
10. They are easy to set and leave no room for guessing.

Disadvantages of essay questions.
Essay questions though useful in Religious Education assessment, they have a number of
limitations.
1. They suffer from content unreliability and inadequate sampling of items because the
teacher can assess on only a limited sample of content covered and on very few items
(questions), given the lengthy answers (responses) expected.
2. There is lack of consistency in judgment because scoring depends on the physical and
mental state of the scorer.
3. Scoring is highly subjective because the evaluator can at times be impressed with the
literacy skill and handwriting of the learners. This can seriously impair the validity of
marks awarded in essay test.
4. Grading calls for expert judgment because they produce responses which can only be
effectively graded by a competent examiner.
5. Learner’s performance in a given item can influence the scorer in other items. The scorer
gives more or less marks depending on the first performance of the student.
6. Suffers from reliability where option questions are allowed. Students answer questions of
different content, thus making the results unreliable because the scores cannot be of
different contents, thus making the results unreliable because the results cannot be
compared.
7. They are time-consuming for students because a lot of time is spent thinking and writing,
and for the teacher when grading because one is expected to understand and interpret the
students mind as the work is marked.
8. They encourage bluffing since the students are encouraged to express themselves freely.
9. They have low reader –reliability because some students do better on some questions and
poorly on others depending on how questions are constructed.
Suggestions for improving essay questions limitations.

Limitations could be reduced if the following suggestions are taken into consideration.
- Restrict essay tests to objectives that are best achievable through this type of testing e.g
analysis, synthesis and evaluation
- Avoid vague terms that would elicit contradictory responses from learners.
- Structure items in such away that the overall understanding of the learners can be
assessed. This can be achieved through the use of questions such as explain why
analyze how and give reasons for.
- Score one question at a time for all who attempted it for consistency and flow of your line
of thought.
- Score every objective that is to be measured independently.
- Mark an essay test when you are physically sound and mentally alert.
- Make sure the environment in which you are marking in is free from distractions.
- Prepare a marking scheme based on a valid criterion

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Titany answered the question on November 2, 2021 at 10:28