Hi folks,
I've got to compose a diagnostic academic reading test for one of my papers on a masters degree. With it being a diagnostic test i need to draw up a list of skill components involved in reading academic discourse (identifying the construct) , so i used a list composd by Grabe i.e vocabulary and structural knowledge, discourse knowledge etc, and then related that list to features common to acadmic reading (target language use) i.e inversion, use of passive voice. Next I intend to write the test items based on a series of short academic texts and then pilot the test.
What do you think are important considerations in designing an academic reading test, am i missing any vital ingredients ? Have you got any experiences you could share?
Cheers
Diagnostic academic reading test
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
Have you checked out the academic reading tests currently available on the market?
The most famous, perhaps, is the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT). There's also the Grey Oral Reading Test (GORT). I think you might want to look at those two, at least, before designing your own. They're not made for ESL students, but you can get some ideas about how to ask assessment questions and how to score, etc.
In your post you seemed to indicate you were only looking at passage comprehension abilities. Would you like to make your test more comprehensive and cover things like word ID, word attack, rapid automatic naming, phonological awareness, etc? Just an idea. Yes, it would complicate your project...
Good luck,
-EH
The most famous, perhaps, is the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT). There's also the Grey Oral Reading Test (GORT). I think you might want to look at those two, at least, before designing your own. They're not made for ESL students, but you can get some ideas about how to ask assessment questions and how to score, etc.
In your post you seemed to indicate you were only looking at passage comprehension abilities. Would you like to make your test more comprehensive and cover things like word ID, word attack, rapid automatic naming, phonological awareness, etc? Just an idea. Yes, it would complicate your project...
Good luck,
-EH
Many thanks for that, have downloaded some information and it looks very interesting. Not quite sure if testing the phonological aspect of reading is appropriate for my diagnostic test but i suppose it would assess whether the students would be able to discuss the texts and concepts they have read about thereby entering the 'academic discourse community'. Cheers
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Pink Piggy
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:11 pm
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Reading Diagnotics
You've probablly purused the TOEFL aleady, but they have some features that I think are actually interesting, particularily for testing the "bottom-up" items (as oppossed to discourse questions where you can simple have a multiple choice for main idea).
I like the 'insert a sentence' questions in particular, because they test both global comprehension (top-down) and structural knowledge (like recognizing pronoun antecedents).
The Canadian version of the CanTest has a CLOZE section in which blanks are left in a text and vocabulary options are given (multiple choice style). That's a very difficult exercise for students, but it tests knowledge of collocations.
Then there is the question of whether you are interested in going beyond simple multiple choice. The new TOEFL asks students to paraphrase a text in the context of answering a question based on the text, but which integrates opinion, or other knowledge which must go beyond the test. Much more 'real world', but obviously tricky to mark.
I'd also recommend questions that involve making inferences. Students find those extremely challenging, as they tend to either over-infer, or be unable to make inferences logically at all.
There are so many factors to consider! Maybe you could give us some more details about the type of test you will be constructing. What limits do you have? How long will it be? Must it be multiple choice? Short answer? Can the text be used in a short writing task (integrated)?
Good luck with it!
-Sharon in Winnipeg
I like the 'insert a sentence' questions in particular, because they test both global comprehension (top-down) and structural knowledge (like recognizing pronoun antecedents).
The Canadian version of the CanTest has a CLOZE section in which blanks are left in a text and vocabulary options are given (multiple choice style). That's a very difficult exercise for students, but it tests knowledge of collocations.
Then there is the question of whether you are interested in going beyond simple multiple choice. The new TOEFL asks students to paraphrase a text in the context of answering a question based on the text, but which integrates opinion, or other knowledge which must go beyond the test. Much more 'real world', but obviously tricky to mark.
I'd also recommend questions that involve making inferences. Students find those extremely challenging, as they tend to either over-infer, or be unable to make inferences logically at all.
There are so many factors to consider! Maybe you could give us some more details about the type of test you will be constructing. What limits do you have? How long will it be? Must it be multiple choice? Short answer? Can the text be used in a short writing task (integrated)?
Good luck with it!
-Sharon in Winnipeg