C-tests are gap-filling tests mainly used as rough and economical measures of second-language proficiency for placement and research purposes. A C-test usually consists of several short independent passages where the second half of every other word is deleted. Owing to their interdependent structure, C-test items violate the local independence…

As measures of general language proficiency, C-tests are ubiquitous in language testing. Speeded C-tests are quite recent developments in the field and are deemed to be more discriminatory and provide more accurate diagnostic information than power C-tests especially with high-ability participants. Item response theory modeling of speeded C-tests…

Cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) have received sustained attention in educational settings because they can be used to operationalize formative assessment to provide diagnostic feedback and inform instruction. A large number of CDMs have been developed over the past few years. An important component of all CDMs is a Q-matrix that specifies a…

Cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) have recently received a surge of interest in the field of second language assessment due to their promise for providing fine-grained information about strengths and weaknesses of test takers. For the same reason, the present study used the additive CDM (ACDM) as a compensatory and additive model to diagnose…

Testing organizations are faced with increasing demand to provide subscores in addition to the total test score. However, psychometricians argue that most subscores do not have added value to be worth reporting. To have added value, subscores need to meet a number of criteria: they should be reliable, distinctive, and distinct from each other and…

Cognitive Diagnostic Models are a class of multidimensional categorical latent trait models which provide diagnostic information by reporting examinees' mastery profiles on a set of predefined skills. CDMs provide fine grained information concerning examinees' strengths and weaknesses in the subskills and subprocesses which constitute a larger…

In this paper we tried to demonstrate the validity of C-Test using construct identification approach. In this approach to construct validation the factors which contribute to item difficulty are identified. The assumption is that the factors which make items difficult are actually the construct underlying the test. For the purposes of this study,…

This article attempts to present emotioncy as a potential source of test bias to inform the analysis of test item performance. Emotioncy is defined as a hierarchy, ranging from "exvolvement" (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic) to "involvement" (inner and arch), to emphasize the emotions evoked by the senses. This study…

In this study the cognitive correlates of reading comprehension in English as a foreign language were studied. The Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of cognitive abilities was used as the theoretical grounding for the study. We examined the relationship between fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, verbal analogical reasoning, and speed of…

In many reading comprehension tests, different test formats are employed. Two commonly used test formats to measure reading comprehension are sustained passages followed by some questions and cloze items. Individual differences in handling test format peculiarities could constitute a source of score variance. In this study, a bifactor Rasch model…

In this study the magnitudes of local dependence generated by cloze test items and reading comprehension items were compared and their impact on parameter estimates and test precision was investigated. An advanced English as a foreign language reading comprehension test containing three reading passages and a cloze test was analyzed with a…

C-tests are gap-filling tests widely used to assess general language proficiency for purposes of placement, screening, or provision of feedback to language learners. C-tests consist of several short texts in which parts of words are missing. We addressed the issue of local dependence in C-tests using an explicit modeling approach based on testlet…

The purpose of the present study is to compare the psychometric qualities of canonical single-response multiple-choice items with their double-response counterparts. Thirty, two-response fouroption grammar items for undergraduate students of English were constructed. A second version of the test was constructed by replacing one of the correct…

This study aims to examine the relationship between reading comprehension and lexical and grammatical knowledge among English as a foreign language students by using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). There were 825 test takers administered both a second-language reading test and a set of psychometrically validated grammar and vocabulary tests.…

This study aims to develop and validate a multidimensional scale of willingness to communicate in a foreign language. Multidimensional random coefficient multinomial logit model was employed to analyze the scale. Likelihood deviance test and information criteria showed that a three-dimensional model fits significantly better than a two-dimensional…