Reading Assessment

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Reading Assessment
Helen Huntley
Senior English Language Fellow
MOET, Vietnam
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Workshop Goals
To examine the micro- and macro-skills of reading comprehension
To look at the different characteristics of intensive reading
To review strategies for intensive reading
To examine some problem areas in reading
To discuss different types of reading assessments
To evaluate test items for reading
To practice creating test items for reading
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Types of Written Texts
Academic Reading
Reference material (dictionaries etc.)
Technical reports (lab reports, journal articles)
Articles in magazines and newspapers
Textbooks, theses
Essays, papers
Test directions, test content
Curriculum/syllabus documents
Editorials, opinion writing
Internet research
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Types of Written Texts
Job-related reading
Messages (phone messages, memos)
Letters/emails
Reports (job evaluations, project reports)
Schedules, signs, labels, announcements, advertisements
Forms, applications, questionnaires
Financial documents (bills, invoices)
Directories (telephone, office)
Manuals, instructions
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Types of Written Texts
Personal reading
Newspapers, magazines
Letters, emails, greeting cards, invitations
Messages, notes, lists
Schedules (buses, flights, trains)
Recipes, menus, maps, calendars
Advertisements
Fiction (novels, short stories, drama, poetry)
Financial documents (tax forms, loan applications)
Comic strips, cartoons, jokes
Journals, diaries
Internet information
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Microskills for Reading Comprehension
Recognition of letters, words, and spelling
Ability to retain ‘chunks’ of language in short-term memory
Ability to process written text at an efficient speed
Processing of vocabulary and grammatical patterns
Differentiation of word classes (noun, verb etc.)
Recognition of alternate meanings and grammatical forms
Recognition and utilization of textual cohesive devices which indicate relationships between ideas
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Macroskills for Reading Comprehension
Recognition of rhetorical forms of written discourse
Recognition of the purpose and communicative function of a text
Making inferences by using background knowledge
Inferring connections and relationships within a text
Distinction of literal from implied meanings
Appropriate interpretation of cultural references
Use of reading strategies to extract meaning from text
skimming, scanning, guessing, activating background knowledge, detecting discourse markers
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Characteristics of Intensive Reading
Emphasis on the quality of reading
Short texts
Difficult texts (i + 1)
Usually authentic texts
Many tasks to complete after reading
Reading is slow and careful
Need to understand the text in detail
Primarily for language study/testing and reading skills’ development
Teacher/test-driven
Teacher/tester selects texts
(Teacher often intervenes in the reading process)
Teacher/tester determines where and when to read
Reading is usually done in the classroom/test situation

Davidson, P. (2005). Facilitating language learners’ vocabulary development through extensive reading. Assoc. of Teachers of English in Lebanon Journal, 14: 19-25.
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Strategies for Intensive Reading Comprehension I
Preview and make predictions
Identify the author’s purpose and argument
Use graphemic rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up decoding
Use efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension
Skim the text for main idea
Scan the text for specific information
Use semantic mapping or clustering
Guess when uncertain (vocabulary, inference, discourse relationship)
Analyze vocabulary: word part, roots, context




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Strategies for Intensive Reading Comprehension II
Distinguish between literal and implied meanings, fact and opinion
Capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships and organization
Draw inferences from both stated and implied content
Identify pronoun references
Understand the components of nonlinear texts (graphs, charts, diagrams)
Sequencing of ‘events’
Insertion of ‘missing’ sentences into a text
Identify the components of a text summary

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Some Problem Areas…..
Bottom-up and top-down processing
Activation of prior knowledge
Utilization of pre-reading activities
Vocabulary development
Guessing Strategies
Reading Rate
Assessment of reading
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Bottom-up and Top-down Processing
“Research has shown that reading is only incidentally visual. More information is contributed by the reader than by the print on the page. That is, readers understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation and assign it membership to an appropriate group of concepts already stored in their memories… Skill in reading depends on the efficient interaction between linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world”
Clarke, M. & Silberstein, S. (1977). Toward a realization of psycholinguistic principles for the ESL reading class. Language Learning 27: 135-54.
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Activating Prior Knowledge (schema/schemata)?

Facilitates comprehension
Unlocks vocabulary before reading
Makes readers more independent
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Activating Prior Knowledge?
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What do we know?

David knew that his son’s operation would be expensive. There was always Aunt Martha. David reached for the telephone book.

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What don’t we know?

Annie heard the ice cream man coming down the street. She remembered her Christmas money and ran into the house. She locked the door…
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Activating Activities
Pre-reading discussion
Semantic maps
Visuals: pictures, photographs, charts
Expectations of rhetorical patterns
Predictions/hypotheses
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The Role of Vocabulary in Reading
Research Studies
Levine & Reeves (1990) cite “lack of adequate vocabulary… as one of the obstacles to text comprehension” and point out that “frequent and numerous recycling should be…emphasized”
Grabe (1991) cites the important role of vocabulary as a predictor of overall reading ability
Nation (1990) emphasizes “ a systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learners”

Learning vocabulary is important for reading!
Focus on most frequent words.


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Extensive Reading = Extensive Vocabulary
Anderson (1996): the average 12th grader knows about 80,000 words in L1; children learn up to 4,000-6,000 new words each year

Miller (1977): children between 6-8 pick up an average of 14 new words a day

Nagy & Herman (1987): children acquire 3,000 words per year between grades 3-12
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Five-Step Guessing Strategy
How successful is guessing?
Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech.
Look at the context (clause, sentence) What word goes with what?
Look at the relationship with other sentences. Are there signal words?
Guess the word.
Check that the guess is correct.
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Increasing Reading Rate

“… fluent reading is rapid; the reader needs to maintain the flow of information at a sufficient rate to make connections and inferences vital to comprehension”

Grabe (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly 25: 375-406
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L1 Reading Rates
Carver, R. P. (1990). Reading rate: A review of research and theory. Academic Press.
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Reading Rate Goal
At the intermediate level:

200 words per minute
+ 70% comprehension
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Slow Reader Problems
These activities slow down reading:
Pronouncing every word while reading
Moving the lips while reading silently
Using a finger or pen to follow the words
Translating
Reading each word individually instead of in chunks
Looking up all or some unknown words
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Reading Assessment
A reading log of material read
Reading rate chart
Reading portfolio
Reading reports/journals
Oral reports
Comprehension questions in a variety of formats
Quizzes/tests
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Texts for Reading Tests
Purpose written, adapted or authentic
Sources: newspapers, magazines, brochures, encyclopedia, Internet
Avoidance of texts with controversial or biased material
Word Count and readability statistics (Flesh Kincaid on MSW)
Addition of line numbers in text

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Designing Assessments for Reading Comprehension
Cloze
Comprehension questions
multiple choice
short answer
Editing
Sequencing
Information transfer
charts, maps, graphs, diagrams
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Cloze Tests (see handout)
Definition

The ability to fill in gaps in a written text using linguistic expectations, background knowledge, and strategic competence
Characteristics
Minimum of 2 paragraphs
Fixed-ratio deletion (every 7th word)
Rational deletion (choosing deletions)
Scoring: exact word or appropriate word
Multiple-choice format
Variations: C-test; cloze-elide procedure
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Cloze: fixed-ratio deletion (every 7th word)
The recognition that one’s feelings of (1)______ and unhappiness can coexist much like (2) ______ and hate in a close relationship (3) ______ offer valuable clues on how to (4) ______ a happier life. It suggests, for (5) ______ that changing or avoiding things that (6) ______ you miserable may well make you (7) ______ miserable but probably no happier.
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Cloze: rational deletion (prepositions and conjunctions)
The recognition that one’s feelings (1) ______ happiness (2) ______ unhappiness can coexist much like love and hate (3) ______ a close relationship may offer valuable clues (4) ______ how to lead a happier life. It suggests, (5) ______ example, that changing (6) ______ avoidi