Structural changes in an English as a Second Language (ESL) 30-item reading comprehension test were examined through principal components analysis on a small sample (n=31) of students. Tests were administered on three occasions during intensive ESL training. Principal components analysis of the items was performed for each test occasion. Permutation tests, based on 1,000 replications, were used to test the significance of eigenvalues and loadings. Null factor structures were simulated by randomly and independently permuting the column elements of each data set. The first eigenvalues were significant on all three test occasions. Long reading passage items loaded significantly. The first eigenvalue increased in size over the three test administrations. An appendix contains the source listing of the Statistical Analysis System test used to perform the permutation test. (Contains 4 tables and 13 references.) (Author/SLD)