Reading Assessment

 To review strategies for intensive reading To examine some problem areas in reading  To discuss different types of reading assessments  To evaluate test items for reading  To pract

Reading Assessment

Helen Huntley Senior English Language Fellow

MOET, Vietnam

 To review strategies for intensive reading

 To examine some problem areas in reading

 To discuss different types of reading assessments

 To evaluate test items for reading

 To practice creating test items for reading

Types of Written Texts

Academic Reading

 Reference material (dictionaries etc.)

 Technical reports (lab reports, journal articles)

 Articles in magazines and newspapers

Types of Written Texts

Job-related reading

 Messages (phone messages, memos)

 Letters/emails

 Reports (job evaluations, project reports)

 Schedules, signs, labels, announcements, advertisements

 Forms, applications, questionnaires

 Financial documents (bills, invoices)

 Directories (telephone, office)

 Manuals, instructions

Types of Written Texts

Personal reading

 Newspapers, magazines

 Letters, emails, greeting cards, invitations

 Messages, notes, lists

 Schedules (buses, flights, trains)

 Recipes, menus, maps, calendars

 Advertisements

 Fiction (novels, short stories, drama, poetry)

 Financial documents (tax forms, loan applications)

 Comic strips, cartoons, jokes

 Journals, diaries

 Internet information

Microskills for Reading

Comprehension

 Recognition of letters, words, and spelling

 Ability to retain ‘chunks’ of language in short-term

memory

 Ability to process written text at an efficient speed

 Processing of vocabulary and grammatical patterns

 Differentiation of word classes (noun, verb etc.)

 Recognition of alternate meanings and grammatical forms

 Recognition and utilization of textual cohesive devices which indicate relationships between ideas

Macroskills for Reading

Comprehension

 Recognition of rhetorical forms of written discourse

 Recognition of the purpose and communicative function of

a text

 Making inferences by using background knowledge

 Inferring connections and relationships within a text

 Distinction of literal from implied meanings

 Appropriate interpretation of cultural references

 Use of reading strategies to extract meaning from text

skimming, scanning, guessing, activating background knowledge,

detecting discourse markers

Characteristics of Intensive Reading

 Emphasis on the quality of reading

 Short texts

 Difficult texts (i + 1)

 Usually authentic texts

 Many tasks to complete after reading

 Reading is slow and careful

 Need to understand the text in detail

 Primarily for language study/testing and reading skills’

development

 Teacher/test-driven

 Teacher/tester selects texts

 (Teacher often intervenes in the reading process)

 Teacher/tester determines where and when to read

Strategies for Intensive Reading Comprehension I

 Preview and make predictions

 Identify the author’s purpose and argument

 Use graphemic rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up decoding

 Use efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension

 Skim the text for main idea

 Scan the text for specific information

 Use semantic mapping or clustering

 Guess when uncertain (vocabulary, inference,

discourse relationship)

 Analyze vocabulary: word part, roots, context

Strategies for Intensive Reading

Comprehension II

 Distinguish between literal and implied meanings, fact and opinion

 Capitalize on discourse markers to process

relationships and organization

 Draw inferences from both stated and implied content

 Identify pronoun references

 Understand the components of nonlinear texts

(graphs, charts, diagrams)

 Sequencing of ‘events’

 Insertion of ‘missing’ sentences into a text

Some Problem Areas…

Bottom-up and Top-down

Processing

“Research has shown that reading is only incidentally visual More information is

contributed by the reader than by the

print on the page That is, readers

understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation and assign it

membership to an appropriate group of concepts already stored in their

memories… Skill in reading depends on

the efficient interaction between linguistic

Activating Prior Knowledge

(schema/schemata)?

 Facilitates comprehension

 Unlocks vocabulary before reading

 Makes readers more independent

Activating Prior Knowledge?

From Sayers, D.(1967) Murder must advertise

The innings opened briskly Mr Barrow, who was rather a showy hat, though

temperamental, took the bowling at the

factory end of the pitch and cheered the

spirits of his side by producing twos in the first over Mr Garrett, canny and cautious, stonewalled perseveringly through five balls

of the following over and then cut the

leather through slips for a useful three.

What don’t we know?

Annie heard the ice cream man

coming down the street She

remembered her Christmas money and ran into the house She locked the door…

Activating Activities

 Pre-reading discussion

 Semantic maps

 Visuals: pictures, photographs, charts

 Expectations of rhetorical patterns

 Predictions/hypotheses

The Role of Vocabulary in

Reading

Research Studies

Levine & Reeves (1990) cite “lack of adequate vocabulary…

as one of the obstacles to text comprehension” and point out that “frequent and numerous recycling should be…

emphasized”

Grabe (1991) cites the important role of vocabulary as a

predictor of overall reading ability

Nation (1990) emphasizes “ a systematic and principled

approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the

learners”

Learning vocabulary is important for reading!

Focus on most frequent words.

Miller (1977): children between 6-8 pick up an average of 14 new words a day

Nagy & Herman (1987): children acquire 3,000 words per year between grades 3-12

Five-Step Guessing Strategy

How successful is guessing?

1. Look at the unknown word and decide

its part of speech

2. Look at the context (clause, sentence)

What word goes with what?

3. Look at the relationship with other

sentences Are there signal words?

4. Guess the word

5. Check that the guess is correct

Increasing Reading Rate

“… fluent reading is rapid; the reader needs to maintain the flow of

information at a sufficient rate to

make connections and inferences vital to comprehension”

Grabe (1991) Current developments in second language reading research TESOL Quarterly 25: 375-406

L1 Reading Rates

Carver, R P (1990) Reading rate: A review of research and theory Academic Press.

Reading

Process Components Processing Target Words Per Minute

Scanning Lexical accessing 600

Skimming Semantic encoding 450

“Rauding” Sentence

Learning Idea remembering 200

Memorizing Fact rehearsing 138

Reading Rate Goal

At the intermediate level:

200 words per minute + 70% comprehension

Slow Reader Problems

These activities slow down reading:

 Pronouncing every word while reading

 Moving the lips while reading silently

 Using a finger or pen to follow the words

Reading Assessment

 A reading log of material read

 Reading rate chart

Texts for Reading Tests

 Purpose written, adapted or authentic

 Sources: newspapers, magazines,

brochures, encyclopedia, Internet

 Avoidance of texts with controversial or biased material

 Word Count and readability statistics

(Flesh Kincaid on MSW)

 Addition of line numbers in text

Cloze Tests (see handout)

Definition

The ability to fill in gaps

in a written text using

Cloze: fixed-ratio deletion

(every 7th word)

The recognition that one’s feelings of

(1) and unhappiness can coexist much like (2) and hate in a close relationship (3) offer valuable

clues on how to (4) a happier life

It suggests, for (5) that changing

or avoiding things that (6) you

miserable may well make you (7) miserable but probably no happier

Cloze: rational deletion

(prepositions and conjunctions)

The recognition that one’s feelings (1)

happiness (2) unhappiness can coexist much like love and hate (3)

a close relationship may offer

valuable clues (4) how to lead a

happier life It suggests, (5)

example, that changing (6)

avoiding things that make you miserable

C-test procedure

The recognition th_ _ one’s feel_ _ _ _ of

happ_ _ _ _ _ and unhap_ _ _ _ _ _ can

co_ _ _ _ much li_ _ love a_ _ hate i_ a

cl_ _ _ relati_ _ _ _ _ _ may of_ _ _ valuable

cl_ _ _ on h_ _ to le_ _ a hap_ _ _ _ life I_

suggests, f_ _ example, th_ _ changing o_

avoiding thi_ _ _ that ma_ _ you

mise_ _ _ _ _ may we_ _ make y_ _ less

mise_ _ _ _ _ but prob_ _ _ _ no hap_ _ _ _.

on how to lead a happier with life It

suggests, for example, that changing or avoiding my things that make you

miserable may well make you less

miserable ever but probably no happier

Multiple Choice Format for

Reading

Distinguish between main ideas and

supporting details

 JR (just right): Correct or best answer

 TG (too general): Option too broad

 TS (too specific): Focus on one detail

 OT (off topic): Idea not reflected in text or does not reflect main idea

Multiple-choice question types 1

Main idea

 What is the topic of this passage?

 What is the main idea expressed in this passage?

 Which title best reflects the main idea of the passage?

Multiple-choice question types 2

Factual Questions

 According to the passage, why did…

 According to the information in

paragraph 2, where did…

 Which of the following is true, according

to the author?

Multiple-choice question types 3

Negative factual questions

 According to the information in paragraph 3,

which of the following is NOT …

 The author mentions all of the following in the passage EXCEPT …

 In the passage, the author does NOT provide a specific example of …

 Which of the following is LEAST likely?

Multiple-choice question types 4

 Which of the following could best be

substituted for the word _ in line 9?

 In the last paragraph, the author suggests that…

 It can be inferred from the passage that …

 It is probable that…

 It can be concluded from the information in paragraph

2 that…

 In paragraph 4, the author implies that…

 Which of the following can be inferred from the

passage?

Multiple-choice question types 6

Author’s purpose

 Why does the author mention _ in

paragraph 2?

 Why does the author give details about _?

 The author refers to _ to indicate that…

 The author’s main purpose in paragraph 3 is to

…

 The author refers to _ to indicate that …

Multiple-choice question types 7

Author’s attitude

 What is the author’s opinion of _?

 Which of the following most accurately reflects the author’s opinion of _?

Multiple-choice question types 8

Sentence restatement

 Which of the following best expresses

the essential information in the sentence below?

Multiple-choice question types 9

Reference questions

 The word _ in line 4 refers to …

 The pronoun “it” in line 5 refers to …

 The phrase _ in paragraph 4 refers to…

 The word is a reference to …

Short-Answer Tasks

 Test-takers construct own answers

 Range of answers might be acceptable

Open-ended reading questions

 What do you think the main idea of this passage is?

 What would you infer from this passage about …?

 What two ideas did the writer suggest for

…?

 Why do you think that…?

Sequencing tasks

 Overall global understanding of a text

 Use of cohesive devices

 Useful for relatively short texts

Put the following sentences in the correct order:

A it was called “the Last Waltz”

B the street was in total darkness

C because it was one he and Richard had learned at

school

D peter looked outside

E he recognized the tune

F and it seemed deserted

G he thought he heard someone whistling

Information transfer

reading>graphic OR graphic > writing, speaking

Learners need to:

 comprehend conventions of graphic types

 comprehend labels, headings, numbers, symbols

 understand relationships among elements of graphic

 make inferences

Your Turn: Reading Text

Evaluation

Partner Activity

Analyze the reading texts and questions

 Read the text and evaluate the content, context, and language

 Analyze the (multiple choice) questions

 Identify the reading skills being tested

 Identify areas of strength or weakness

 Correct errors and make improvements where necessary.

Your Turn: Creating a Multiple Choice Reading Test

Partner Activity

 Read through the sample text(s)

 Create 5-10 multiple choice test items that relate to the reading(s)

Words of Reading Wisdom

The sagacious reader [is one]

who is capable of reading

between these lines what

does not stand written in

them, but is nevertheless

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe