UNIT 8 – ASSESSING READING

Like listening one cannot see the “process” of reading or cannot observe a specific “product” of reading. Thereby all assessment of reading must be carried out by inference of test-takers. Efficient readers have to know: (1) what their purpose is in reading a text (2) the strategies for accomplishing that purpose (3) how to retain the information.

They also need to master fundamental bottom-up strategies for processing separate letters, words and phrases and top-down strategies for conceptually driven strategies for comprehension.

TYPES (GENRES) OF READING (PP.186-187)

For comprehending the meaning efficiently test-takers must identify the genre, know their purpose to read, use relevant strategies to accomplish. The genre of a text enables readers to apply schemata background information and cultural experience to carry out the interpretations effectively.

MICRO AND MACROSKILLS OF READING (187-188)

Some principal strategies for reading comprehension:

1-identify the purpose

2-apply spelling rules &conversations for bottom-up decoding

3-use lexical analysis to determine meaning

4-guess at meaning when you are not sure

5-skim the text for the main idea

6-skim the text fort he specific information

7-use silent reading techniques

8-use marginal notes, outlines, charts, maps to get information

9-distinguish between literal& implied meanings

10-capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships

1-PERCEPTIVE READING

Perceptive reading tasks involve attending to components of larger stretches of discourse. (Letters, words, punctuation → bottom-up processing is implied)

2-SELECTIVE READING

Reading recognition of lexical, grammatical, or discourse features of language.Stimuli includes sentences, paragraphs, simple charts and graphs.(a combination of bottom-up and top-down)

3-INTERACTIVE READING

In interactive reading test-takers must interact with the text through negotiating of meaning. The focus is to identify relevant features.(lexical, symbolic, grammatical & discourse )

4-EXTENSIVE READING

It is more than a page including Professional articles, essays, technical reports, short stories and books. The process is global understanding of the text.(top-down processing is assumed for most extensive tasks)

DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS

1-PERCEPTIVE: At the beginning level of reading a 2nd language lies a set of tasks that are fundamental & basic: recognition of alphabetic symbols, capitalized and lowercase letters, punctuations, words and grapheme-phoneme correspondences.

A) READING ALOUD

Test-takers see separate letters, words and short sentences then read them aloud in the presence of administrator

B) WRITTEN RESPONSE

The same stimuli are presented and test-takers are supposed to reproduce the probe in writing. Evaluation must be done properly because of the transfer across different skills.

C) MULTIPLE – CHOICE

They are not only the matter of choosing one of four or five possible answer. There is also S/D (same-different), T/R (true-false) and matching tasks for lower levels.

D) PICTURE-CUED ITEMS (192)

Test-takers are shown a picture with written text and are given one of a number of possible tasks.*word identification, sentence identification, T/F identification, matching word identification, MC Picture-cued word identification are possible tasks.

2-SELECTIVE : This part of reading includes testing vocabulary and grammar focusing on formal aspects of language.(lexical, grammatical and few discourse)

A)MULTI-CHOICE (for form-focused criteria- pp.194-196)

The items on page 194 may be improved by providing some contexts within each item such as on page 195.A more contextualized format is suggested by a modified cloze test on page 196.In the last example on page 196 is a context of the story may help learners to respond the items more easily to assess vocabulary / grammar.(comprehending the context is also needed.)

B) MATCHING TASKS (pp.197)

Test-takers respond correctly by making matching an appropriate format. Mostly vocabulary matching is used. The 2nd example on the page appears to have more communicative quality. Matching is an alternative to traditional multiple choice and it is easier to construct as long as the matches has been chosen.(advantage)

C) EDITING TASKS (PP.198)

Editing tasks are widely used test method for assessing linguistic competence in reading. Despite some authenticity problems, this task maintains a construct validity.

D)GAP-FILLING TASKS

That task requires both reading, writing and create sentence completion items rather than word/phrase. Validity may lower and creativity can be problem while scoring.

3-INTERACTIVE:Texts are longer than a paragraph having a combination of form-focused and meaning focused. However, the emphasis is on meaning and top-down processing is preferred.

A) CLOZE TASKS

A sentence with a word left out should have enough context that a reader can close that gap by using linguistic experience (formal schemata), background experience (content-schemata) & competence. It is a type of integrative assessment measuring not only reading but also listening, speaking, writing. Cloze tests are usually a minimum of 2 paragraphs to account for discourse expectancies.

Fixed-ratio deletion: Every seventh word is deleted.(pp.202)

Rational deletion: Choosing deletions according to grammatical /discourse functions of the words.(pp.203)It allows the designer to avoid deleting words that would be difficult predict from the context.

Exact word: Test-takers have to insert the exact word that was originally deleted. In the exact word method scoring is easy and reliable.

Appropriate word: Test-takers insert any word that is grammatically correct and that makes good sense in the context. It takes too much time for scoring.(eg. amazing /gorgeous /spectacular sunset)

“C” set: the second half of every word is deleted and the test-taker must restore each word.(pp.204)

Cloze-edit procedure(pp.204):Test-takers detect and cross out the intrusive(redundant)words. The first drawback of the task is neither the words nor the frequency of insertation appears to have any rationale. Other one is that fast and efficient readers are not adept at deleting the intrusive words.

B) IMPROMPTU READING PLUS COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS(PP.205)

“Read the passage and answer the questions” is undoubtedly the oldest and the most common technique. So every proficiency test uses this format. It covers the comprehension of main idea (topic), expressions, idioms, phrases in context, interference (Implied detail), grammatical features, detail scanning, supporting idea(s), unstated details, and vocabulary in context.

C) SHORT ANSWER TASKS

As MC items are difficult to construct and validate, classroom teachers can use these kinds of tasks as an alternative. Teat-takers read questions to answer one/two sentence(s) according to a reading text. It is also time saving, has validity and washback effect of potential follow-up discussions.

D) EDITING (Longer texts)

Editing passages of 200 to 300 words. Here several advantages are gained in the longer format.

1-Authenticity: Students will read connected prose rather than an unconnected one.

2-Stimulates proof reading: Reading then finding and correcting mistakes.

3-Categories of errors match the content of the course: Content validity is increased.

4-Face validity: As the content validity is high, the face validity increases. Scoring is quick in M.C format.

E) SCANNING

It is a strategy used by all learners to find relevant information in the text. The purpose is to identify important elements quickly. Such a one or two page news article, an essay, a chapter in a book, technical report, a table /chart depicting some research findings, a menu, an application form. Timing should be calculated into scoring.

F) ORDERING TASKS(STRIP STORY)(pp.210)

The activity is receiving little stripes of a paper and each with a sentence, on it and assembling them into a story. It may also be called “strip story” technique. This serves as assessment of overall understanding of story and cohesive devices signally the order of events.

G) INFORMATION TRANSFER : Chats, maps, graphs, diagrams(pp.211)

Transforming non-verbal input comprehensible intake requires not only an understanding of graphic /verbal rules of them but also a linguistic ability to interpret that information to someone else.

To comprehend information test-takers must be able to :

*comprehend specific information/conversations of the various types of graphics

*comprehend labels, headings, numbers and symbols

*comprehend the possible relationships among elements of graphics

*make inferences that are not presented orally.

The example task on page 211 involves retrieving information from either written /graphic and transferring the information to productive performance.

4-EXTENSIVE: Journal articles, technical reports, longer essays, short stories and books fall into this category focusing meaning and using top-down processing . Formal testing within a time constraints and emphasis on writing than on reading may be drawbacks of this category.

A) SKIMMING (pp.213)

This is the process of rapid coverage of reading matter to determine gist or main idea. It gives reader a sense of the topic and the purpose of the text, the organization of the text, the perspective /point of view of the writer. Oral /written responses may be given by test-takers depending on the context. The assessment here is informal and formative. It supplies washback and authenticity.

B) SUMMARIZING AND RESPONDING

In this part, students are supposed to write a summary of the text .There should be a scoring criteria because evaluation is different.(pp.214)

Another technique here is asking a student to respond to a text. These two techniques shouldn’t be confused “summarize” the text or “respond” the text .Prompts should be done clearly. Summarizing requires a synopsis /overview on the other hand responding asks providing test-takers’ own opinion on the text. Scoring should be holistic.(the scale on pp.215)

C) NOTE –TAKING & OUTLINING

A readers’ comprehension of extensive text may be assessed through an evaluation of process of note-taking /outlining .These are the types of informal assessment.

For example, a teacher in one-to-one conference with students can use student notes & outlines as indicators of presence / absence of effective reading strategies.