Outline and work distribution for presentation

Group members :
Alice Juan, Jessica, Erin, Jennifer
 Principles for testers
A. The definition of reading
B. The nature of reading
C. Variables that affect the nature
of reading
D. Implications for test design
E. The formats of reading test
 The Definition of reading
Reading Assessment Advisory
Committee (RAAC) recommended a
definition of reading:
Reading is a dynamic process in which
the reader interacts with the text to
construct meaning. Inherent in
constructing meaning is the reader's
ability to activate prior knowledge, use
reading strategies and adapt to the
reading situation.
(http://www.pasd.k12.pa.us/PSSA/Readi
ng/rahand7.htm )
 The Nature of Reading
Reading can be summarized by explaining
a number of processes:
1. Perceptual processing
2. Word recognition
3. Syntactic processing
4. Semantic processing
5. Metalinguistic processing
6. Comprehension
The Nature of reading(2)
Reading was seen as a linear, almost
mechanical process that started with readers
processing each letter, combining letters into
words, looking up the meaning of these
words in lexical memory, storing meanings
briefly in short-term memory, and finally
combining word meanings to form first,
sentence meaning, and then meaning for
larger portions of the text. (Reynolds)
 Variables that affect the
nature of reading
Reader variables
The reader’s background and subject/topic
knowledge, their cultural knowledge and their
knowledge of the language in which the target texts
are written. The reader’s ability to process printed
information is clearly crucial.
Text variables
Linguistic features of text clearly affect readability of
text and reader’s comprehension, and text type,
organization and so on as well as text topic influence
how well readers can process meaning. Many
features of text need to be considered in the design
of tests of reading.
 Implications for test design
1. Reading might be tested within a content-
focused battery: texts that carry meaning
for readers, that interest them, that relate
to their academic background, leisure
interests, intellectual level and so on, might
motivate a deeper reading than the
traditional, relatively anodyne or even
contentless texts.
2. Students should be tested on a range of
relevant skills and strategies, with the
results possibly being provided in a
diagnostic, profile-based format.
 Implications for test design
3. Background knowledge should be recognized
as influencing all comprehension, and
therefore every attempt should be made to
allow background knowledge to facilitate
performance.
4. Tests should be open to the possibility of
multiple interpretations.
5. Test designers need to consider to what
extent their tests reflect and build upon what
recent research into reading suggests about
the process, not just the product.
Formats of Reading Assessment

1. Cloze test
Cloze Tests are reading passages with
the blanks representing words that are
deleted from the original text; the
blanks are to be filled in by the reader
(Taylor 1953)
 Types of Cloze Test
a. Fixed Ratio Cloze or Nth word deletion
Words are deleted systematically by counting off,
regardless of the part of speech.
b. Rational Deletion Cloze
Words are deleted by part of speech or content area
vocabulary.
c. Maze Technique
Three word choices are provided at each missing
word interval.
d. Limited Cloze
Word choices (one per blank) are provided all
together in a word bank at the top or bottom of the
page.
 2. Multiple Choice Test
Multiple-choice questions are a common
device for testing students’ text
comprehension. They allow testers to
control the range of possible answers to
comprehension questions, and to some
extent to control students’ thought
processes when responding. ( Example )
 3. Matching
One alternative objective techniques for
the testing of reading is multiple
matching. Here two sets of stimuli have
to be matched against each other as,
for example, matching headings for
paragraphs to their corresponding
paragraph, titles of books against
extracts from each book, and so on.
(Example)
4. Ordering tasks (Strip stories)
Candidates are given a scrambled set of
words, sentences, paragraphs or texts
and have to put them into their correct
order. The ordering tasks can offer the
possibility of testing the ability to detect
cohesion, overall text organization.
(Example)
 5. Editing Tests
Editing tests consist of passages in
which errors have been introduced,
which the candidate has to identify.
These errors can be in multiple choice
format, or can be more open, for
example by asking candidates to
identify one error per line of text and to
write the correction opposite the line.
(Example)
 6. The C-test
The C-test is based upon the same
theory of closure or reduced
redundancy as the cloze test. In C-tests,
the second half of every second word is
deleted and has to be restored by the
reader.
 7. Short-answer tests
Test-takers are simply asked a question
which requires a brief response, in a few
words, not just Yes/No or True/False. The
justification for this format is that it is
possible to interpret students’ responses to
see if they have really understood, whereas
on multiple-choice items students give no
justification for the answer they have selected
and may have chosen one by eliminating
others.
 8. The free-recall test
In free-recall tests (sometimes called
immediate-recall tests), students are
asked to read a text, to put it to one
side, and then to write down everything
they can remember from the text. The
free-recall test is often held to provide a
purer measure of comprehension, since
test questions do not intervene
between the reader and the text.
 9. The summary test
Students read a text and then are required to
summarize the main ideas, either of the
whole text or of a part, or those ideas in the
text that deal with a given topic. It is believed
that students need to understand the main
ideas of the texts, to separate relevant from
irrelevant ideas, to organize their thoughts
about the text and so on, in order to be able
to do the task satisfactorily. (Example:
Gapped Summary)
10. Information-transfer test
The students’ task is to identify in the
target text the required information and
then to transfer it, often in some
transposed form, on to a table, map pr
whatever.
 Reference
Alderson, J. Charles. Assessing Reading. Cambridge
university Press, 2000.
The FEC Trainer ( http://www.flo-
joe.co.uk/fce/students/tests/tsindex.htm)
Assessment for Language Minority
Students(http://wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us/ESL/assessment
.htm)
Reading Assessment Handbook
(http://www.pasd.k12.pa.us/PSSA/Reading/r
ahand7.htm )
Reynolds, Ralph E. Understanding the Nature of
Reading Comprehension
(http://www.fmls.nu/sprakaloss/reinolds_englich.htm
Evaluation for JCEE and CEEC
A. Background information of JCEE and CEEC
B. Evaluation of JCEE
C. Evaluation of CEEC
D. Comparison
Background Information
JCEE

Test taker—graduate students of senior

high/ vocational school
Testing time— July 1~3 (89 for
example )
How many—about 13 million students
Subject— 4 groups
History— After 1984, testing before
choosing an ideal school
Authority— 大學聯合招生委員會
Background Information
CEEC
Test takers–graduate students of senior
high/vocational school
Testing time— January 24-25, make-up
exam on April 12-13 (91)
How many— 14 million students
Subject— Chinese, English, Math,
Science, Society
History— one year (91)
Authority—大學入學考試中心
89 JCEE
Reading Test
Example 1 (Chapter 2)

Example 2 (Chapter 4)
Item Analysis
Example 1
1. Use Negative Sentences
bad to human minds thinking
45.Which of the following is NOT
true?
47.Which of the following is NOT a
function of tear?
2. Controversial issue
“We know that animals also
experience emotion— fear,
pleasure, loneliness— but they do
not shed tears.”
 Item Analysis
Example 2
Ex: a poem
Tricky ways of testing
 Not the real purpose of test
reading comprehension
55. In the poem, which of the
following words was used to
rhyme with “rain”?
(A)Wings(B)Pain©Again (D) Spring
Pain & Plain:
The only difference is “l”.
General Analysis

1.Face validity
At the first sight, we know
that what it is going to be
tested.
2.Test the main idea of
the article
 The questions are mainly
about the general concept. It is
easy to get the keys from
reading, not much details.
3. Too many negative
questions
The real purpose is to test
how much students
comprehending the reading,
not to test “What is NOT true?”
in the text.
4. Short options
(1) advantage:
reduce time to comprehend the
meaning of the answer
(2) disadvantage:
Can these answers really test
reading comprehension ability?
 91 CEEC
Reading Test

Item analysis
General analysis
 Question 41-43
41. How long had Tim and Dom
been at sea when their boat
was hit by a fishing boat?
question of simple calculation /
vocabulary of months
 Question 44-46
44. People enter the world of
fantasy for the following
reasons EXCEPT that…
 memorization
 Question 47-50
There are too many figures to
distract test-takers’ attention.
47. According to this passage,
what did Marian Anderson
do between 1917 and 1929?
 General
analysis
1. Content validity :
-- non-empirical
commonsense,no difficult
topic, ex. Science
-- used in achievement test
and criterion test
2. No tricky distractors.
-- All the answers are easily
to be found in the text, no
need of much time to think
or to infer the answers.
3. Test ability of memorization
more than reading
comprehension.
-- ex. “EXCEPT”
“Questions of time”
4. The texts conform to
current tendency. For example,
the issue of racism, hot
movie – Harry Potter.
Comparison
JCEE & CEEC

Format- a piece of Format- a booklet

paper
Using more negative Using less negative
sentence ex. Not True sentence
The description of the The description of the
answer is shorter answer is longer
The range of the topic The range of the topic
is more professional ex. is more related to daily
Poem, Science life, common sense ex.
Harry Potter