T-Master - A tool for assessing students' reading abilities CSEDU (original) (raw)
Related papers
T-MASTER– A tool for assessing students' reading abilities
We present T-MASTER, a tool for assessing students' reading skills on a variety of dimensions. T-MASTER uses sophisticated measures for assessing a student's reading comprehension and vocabulary understanding. Texts are selected based on their difficulty using novel readability measures and tests are created based on the texts. The results are analyzed in T-MASTER, and the numerical results are mapped to textual descriptions that describe the student's reading abilities on the dimensions being analysed. These results are presented to the teacher in a form that is easily comprehensible, and lends itself to inspection of each individual student's results.
Computer-based assessment of reading skills
Computers in Psychology …, 2000
In this paper, we present a recently developed and computer-based instrument for the detailed assessment of reading skills. The theory underlying its construction is van strategy model of text comprehension. The target group of the instrument are adults with a presumably high level of reading ability, for instance university students. Therefore, we do not intend to assess difficulties in reading or achievement in learning to read. Apart from that, the subtests refer to basic cognitive processes of reading but not to metacognitive strategies or standards of comprehension. The instrument is designed for research purposes; we are planning to use it for the measurement of covariates in experiments on text comprehension (see Christmann, Groeben, Flender, Naumann & Richter, 1999). We begin with a short discussion of some advantages and disadvantages of presently available methods for the assessment of reading skills. Next, we will argue that it is reasonable to ground the diagnostic efforts on a hierarchically structured model of component processes of reading like van Dijk and Kintsch's strategy model. Following a brief sketch of the strategy model, we will explain the structure of the instrument we have recently developed and illustrate its subtests by item examples. Finally, we shall report some empirical results concerning the psychometric properties of the instrument, that is its reliability and validity.
A Reading Evaluation Method for English as a Foreign Language Learners Based on Reading Performances
IGI Global eBooks, 2011
In this chapter, the authors examined reading evaluation methods for foreign language learners based on learners' reading processes. The goal of this chapter is twofold. The first is to evaluate text reading, and the other is to evaluate sentence reading. First, the authors assessed a text reading test to evaluate reading proficiency based on reading process, that is, effective reading speed, which is a complex measure of reading speed and comprehension rate. Statistical analysis confirms the adequacy of our effective reading speed test. Next, they propose a reading time model for evaluating reading proficiency at the sentence level. Their reading time model predicts sentence reading time based on the linguistic 42 A Reading Evaluation Method for English as a Foreign Language Learners Based on Reading Performances properties of a sentence and a learner's proficiency. Linguistic properties consist of lexical, syntactic and discourse properties. Learners' proficiency is defined using their score on the Test of English for International Communications (TOEIC). Their reading time model resulted in high prediction accuracy. From these results, they conclude that the reading process-based evaluation method is a promising test for foreign language reading proficiency.
A framework for analyzing reading test characteristics
1978
In order to provide a structure for describing different approaches to testing, five dimensions along which tests may differ are identified. The dimensions are (1) test uses, (2) item generation, (3) item revision, (4) assessment of precision, and (5) validation. Within each dimension, variations are described reflecting Buros' (1977) distinction between differentiation and measurement. These dimensions are used to profile representative tests from the area of reading comprehension. Only standardized, norm-referenced achievement tests, whose uses (dimension 1) emphasize differentiation, were found to have an inference system (dimension 2 through 5) consistent with those intended uses. No tests were found having inference systems consistent with such intended uses as certifying competence, diagnosing strengths and weaknesses, and tracking progress-uses which emphasize the measurement function of tests. Tests constructed using a domain-referenced approach would yield such an inference system and fill some gaps in the array of currently available measures of reading comprehension.
A Reading Comprehension Formula of Reader and Text Characteristics
Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 1999
Readability formulae predict reading outcomes relying on text characteristics but they do not consider reader abilities. This paper describes ways of formulating a reading comprehension formula which includes reader and text characteristics. An experiment embracing 124 subjects and 48 texts serves to demonstrate the mechanisms through which the formula is developed. The applicability of the formula, its degree of precision, and power of predictability are discussed.
The Potency of 'READS' to Inform Students' Reading Ability
RELC Journal, 2012
This paper shares an initiative conducted in Malaysia in terms of knowledge to gauge students' Reading Age and to inform teachers of their students' reading progress and learning. Ensuring teachers understand the needs of students' reading ability and preparing students to read and comprehend texts are the two most fundamental parallel tasks in today's classroom setting. Consequently, determining students' Reading Age has become an important endeavour in recent years by many education authorities throughout the world. This study aims at incorporating the Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS), to ascertain students' Reading Age and comprehension skills at macro and micro levels. This study employed a stratified sample of high school students who were in Secondary 1 through Secondary 5. Data was gathered through a generic standardized reading comprehension developed test. With a precise Reading Matrix, ESL teachers can appraise their students' reading ability at any level by referring to the Performance Standards to distinguish whether their students are at Meet Reading Age, Below Reading Age or Above Reading Age status. Subsequently, teachers can refer to the Descriptors of Students' Reading Abilities to find out what the students have achieved so far and what the struggling readers lacked. Accordingly, ESL teachers will be well informed of their students reading ability and accordingly can focus on reading skills development of their students. The ripple effects of READS may enhance students' reading ability as teachers are now better informed of their students' reading abilities and thus teachers will be able to prepare reading lessons appropriately according to their students' reading needs.
2010
In this series of studies, we investigated the technical adequacy of three curriculum-based measures used as benchmarks and for monitoring progress in three critical reading-related skills: fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. In particular, we examined the following easyCBM measurement across grades 3-7 at fall, winter, and spring time-points: internal consistency of the reading comprehension measure, construct and criterion-related validity, and practical utility for classifying student level performance. Data were analyzed both as an aggregated grade-level sample (approximately 3700 students per grade) and within ethnic background, achievement quartile, special education eligibility, and English Language Learner (ELL) status subgroups. easyCBM Technical Adequacy
Readability indices for the assessment of textbooks: a feasibility study in the context of EFL
Pascual Cantos Gómez, Ángela Almela Sánchez Lafuente, 2019
Readability indices have been widely used in order to measure textual difficulty. They can be useful for the automatic classification of texts, especially in language teaching. Among other applications, they allow for the previous determination of the difficulty level of texts without the need of reading them through. The aim of this research is twofold: first, to examine the degree of accuracy of the six most commonly used readability indices, and second, to present a new optimized measure. The main problem is that these readability indices may offer disparity, and this is precisely what has motivated our attempt to unite their potential. A discriminant analysis of all the variables under examination has enabled the creation of a much more precise model, improving the previous best results by 15%. Furthermore, errors and disparities in the difficulty level of the analyzed texts have been detected.
On the Theory and Measurement of Reading Comprehension. Technical Report No. 91
1978
The minimal comprehension principle asserts that the act of comprehension must entail an interaction between an incoming linguistic message and the reader's world knowledge. An analysis of current tests of reading comprehension indicates that test passages are likely to draw broadly from knowledge of the world, so that some of the variability in test performance must to attritutatle to differences in prior knowledge rather than to differences in reading skill. Most tests of reading camprehension currently in use do not distinguish between these two sources of variability. This does not affect their usefulness as predictive instruments but greatly restricts the use of the tests for diagnosis of reading., difficulties or assessment of educational gains. Optimal tests for these purposes would reduce variability due to prior knowledge or reasoning ability. Various suggestions for achieving this control are in need of empirical verification. (AA)