Learners ought to know that the Cloze Test Passage:
- Cloze Test Passage tests the candidate’s exposure to English: does he or she know how English strings itself together to grammatically communicate an idea or ideas?
- Cloze Test Passage is about exposure to the language. Learners must have a good ‘amount’ of English in them to manage correct responses in cloze passages.
- Cloze Test Passage is usually topical; don’t be surprised to find cloze passages on Covid-19 ‘trending’.
- Cloze Test Passage tests one’s understanding of:
•
words
classes (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.)
•
collocations
(e.g. We look forward to something, not *for something,
hardly…when, not hardly…than)
• rules, e.g. capitalization within sentences is only for proper nouns and the personal pronoun ‘I’, sentences begin with capital letters e.t.c.
The learners ought to do the following while tackling a Cloze Test Passage.
- Read the whole passage from the beginning to the end before attempting to fill in any of the gaps. This helps you to:
- Recognise the tense that has been used.
- Get some idea of the context and message of the passage.
- Connect the meaning of each sentence to the one before it, the one after it and the whole passage.
- Get the general flow of thought.
- Get the topic or message, therefore the best words to use so as to remain within that topic or message.
*Important: As you read the passage the first time when you come to the gaps, do not say anything aloud or in the mind (Some people say ‘dash’ or ‘aha’). Pause slightly then continue reading. The slight pause allows your brain to generate an answer/response.
7. Read the passage a second time while
pencilling in the answers you think might be correct. Do this for the whole
passage.
8 . Now read the passage with the answers you have pencilled in, checking whether each of the answers makes sense in that particular sentence and for the passage as a whole. Make corrections where necessary.
8 . Now read the passage with the answers you have pencilled in, checking whether each of the answers makes sense in that particular sentence and for the passage as a whole. Make corrections where necessary.
Sample Cloze Passage
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is ___________ (1) infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. ___________ (2) people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory ___________ (3). Such people will go on to recover ___________ (4) special treatment. It is different, ___________ (5), for older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and cancer. In such people, coronavirus is more likely to ___________ (6) into a serious illness. The way to prevent ___________ (7) slow down its spread is to be well informed about the virus; how ___________ (8) spreads and the disease it causes. The virus spreads ___________ (9) through droplets or discharge when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you practice respiratory etiquette for example, by coughing or sneezing into a ___________ (10) elbow.Sample Cloze Passage with Answers
Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is __an__ (1) infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. __Most__ (2) people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory __illness__ (3). Such people will go on to recover __without__ (4) special treatment. It is different, __however__ (5), for older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory illness, and cancer. In such people, coronavirus is more likely to __develop__ (6) into a serious illness. The way to prevent __or__ (7) slow down its spread is to be well informed about the virus; how __it__ (8) spreads and the disease it causes. The virus spreads __mainly__ (9) through droplets or discharge when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that we practice respiratory etiquette, for example, coughing or sneezing into a __bent__ (10) elbow.Feedback to Learners on responses to Sample Cloze Passage
Where more than one answer comes to mind, pick the one
that sounds best. There must only be one word per gap.
Gap 2. The response must begin with a capital letter. After sentence-final punctuation (full stop, question mark, exclamation mark), whatever comes next ought, to begin with, a capital letter.
The parts of speech and vocabulary in the responses to the close test are:
Noun: 3. illness/sickness/problemsPronoun: 8. it
Verb 6. develop/advance 10. flexed/bent
Adverb 5. however 9. mainly/primarily/mostly/majorly
Adjective 2. Most/Many
Preposition: 4. without
Conjunction: 7. and/or
Articles: 1. an
Vocabulary: 6. transmission 10. bent/flexed/folded