Task sub-type: FILL

In the last section, the three most typical interactions used for the task sub-type FILL were named as Text Entry, Inline Choice and Gap Match.

The Text Entry interaction is probably the interaction which is most frequently used for the well-known “gap-fill” exercise. In a Text Entry interaction, candidates are presented with a text which contains gaps, which they are asked to fill. They are not given any information about what should go in these gaps. The example given below is a short text, with gaps, about Holland.

A Text Entry interaction used for a FILL task

The Inline Choice interaction is based on the same idea as the Text Entry interaction - a gap-fill exercise - but this time each gap has a drop-down menu, and candidates have to choose the word or phrase from this menu which they think best fits the place in the text. The example given below is repeated from Part 1 of the course. In this question, candidates are asked to fill in the names of the members of English pop group 'The Beatles'.  

A typical Inline Choice interaction

The Gap Match interaction is the third possible interaction which can be used for FILL. Here, candidates are also presented with a text which has gaps in it. Like the Inline Choice interaction, they are given a choice of words or phrases to insert into the gaps. This time, however, the words and phrases they can choose from are presented as a list, made up of the words/phrases taken out of the text, in random order. (The list can include some superfluous options to serve as distractors.) In the example below, candidates are asked to fill in the missing words in a poem by the French poet Baudelaire.

A typical Gap Match interaction