Analysis of TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores for 32,467 graduate school applicants, all nonnative speakers of English, revealed that students in the two key major-field groups, humanities/social sciences and biological/physical sciences, performed better on reading passages related to their own groups than on other passages.…

Analysis of the keyed responses of items in three English-as-a-Second-Language reading comprehension tests focused on the form and source of information and on the frequency with which the information appeared in the text. Analysis of the results found that these facets were differentially related to the item score at different proficiency levels.…

The author discusses the preparation of a test of reading comprehension in Italian as a Second Language for Spanish university students and analyzes the results of the test. The article includes the reading passage and the test. (CFM)

This article reports the results of using a three-layer back propagation artificial neural network to predict item difficulty in a reading comprehension test. Three classes of variables were examined: text structure, propositional analysis, and cognitive demand. Results demonstrate that the networks can consistently predict item difficulty. (JL)

Examined how skilled adult readers assign meaning to sentences. Of particular interest were sentences containing "experiencer" verbs, which describe states or emotions rather than actions. Subjects were university students in Australia. Test items were semantically implausible sentences. (Author/VWL)

The aim of this study was to find ways to improve online reading and vocabulary learning. Various new types of online reading comprehension and vocabulary development programs and tests were compared in this study to consider how useful they may be for guiding individual or classroom L2 vocabulary instruction. It explored how these programs seek…

This study investigated the effect of the language in which a test is administered when assessing second language reading comprehension. Subjects were college students (ages 18-21) enrolled in first-semester (n=27) and third-semester (n=19) Spanish classes. Each group was given a different passage in Spanish to read. Two sets of questions were…

The final project report on development of an advanced Russian language listening and reading proficiency test is presented. It summarizes activities in the second year of the project, including dissemination of summer 1985 test validation results to participating higher education institutions, item analyses, completion of the final test edition,…

The annotated bibliography contains citations of nine references on alternative student assessment methods in second language programs, particularly at the secondary school level. The references include a critique of conventional reading comprehension assessment, a discussion of performance assessment, a proposal for a multi-trait, multi-method…

Because testing comprehension of long (5- to 10-page) second-language texts is more complex than testing shorter texts, an alternative form of second language reading comprehension test is needed. In a guided summary completion test, students are presented with a greatly shortened version of the text (e.g., one-paragraph summary), containing…

Listening comprehension and reading comprehension editions of an experimental test were devised to provide equivalent measures from which raw scores would be directly comparable. The test was designed for a four-place multiple-choice category format. Forms A and B were administered on a rotation basis for the study. The testing population…

An investigation was made of the performance of a sample of British sixth-form pupils on a task requiring them to obtain information from a book. Their performance was correlated with scores on tests of reading comprehension, reading speed in conjunction with recall and comprehension, and intelligence. (Author/RM)

A suggestion is made for solving the problem of testing spoken English. The students were from the Economics Department of a university in Finland. Their needs (practical ones), their courses in spoken English, the form of the test--oral, reading, and writing--and the marking system are considered. (SCC)

Efforts to better the school Leaving Exams in English of a large African state lead to the belief that schools should do away with them completely. Where this cannot be done, a thorough, systematic evaluation of reading comprehension, structure, and usage should be combined with productive integrative evaluation. (SCC)

Two approaches to comprehension are described which attempt to probe the students' real understanding of a prepared passage. In the first method, multiple choice questions were asked based on a 400-word passage; in the second method, a variant of the first, questions are separated into comprehension and phrase vocabulary. (SCC)