Published Paper Details:

Creating appropriate questions that assess different cognitive subskills of learners in reading and listening is crucial in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, especially in summative assessments. This study examines the differences in question difficulty levels and how the assessed subskills vary in terms of cognitive demand even when the same question format is used. A set of questions developed by the researchers demonstrates how test writers and material developers can modify question difficulty levels to differentiate learners according to their performance. The study also highlights how phrasing and cognitive demand can significantly influence fairness and reliability in classroom assessments. This theoretical study provides practical implications in the field of material creation and test development to ensure appropriateness of tasks used and fairness in the distribution of difficulty level. It further offers a conceptual model that can guide future empirical research on aligning question types with learner performance and additional research in listening and writing skills.