Automatic item generation may supply many items instantly and efficiently to assessment and learning environments. Yet, the evaluation of item quality persists to be a bottleneck for deploying generated items in learning and assessment settings. In this study, we investigated the utility of using large-language models, specifically Llama 3-8B, for…

This study investigated the relational reasoning capabilities of older adolescents and young adults when the focal assessment was a verbal and more schooled measure than 1 that was figural and more novel in its configuration. To achieve this end, the verbal test of relational reasoning (vTORR) was constructed to parallel the test of relational…

Performing routines in interlanguage is vitally important for EFL learners since it can cause embarrassment between speakers from different cultures. The present study aims to 1) investigate the reliability and validity of an interlanguge pragmatic competence test on routines in a Chinese EFL context with multiple choice discourse completion task…

Discusses two studies that explore the possibilities of adopting the C-Test (which involves the deletion of the second half of every other word in the text, leaving the first and last sentence intact) for testing Hebrew. Suggests the test be used with the cloze test for assessing similar things. (SED)

Describes an International Reading Association award-winning dissertation designed to determine the construct validity of the cloze procedure on paragraph reading of science and social studies materials. (RB)

Four conceptually different variables in reading: (1) knowledge gained (new information), (2) amount comprehended (degree of understanding), (3) reading aptitude (differences between individuals), and (4) reading improvement (within individual changes as a result of treatment) are discussed. Existing measures of reading comprehension are evaluated…

To determine if cloze items are sensitive to constraints across sentences, sequential and scrambled-type tests were given to native English speakers and Japanese adults studying ESL. Results showed cloze items embedded in prose are sensitive to discourse constraints ranging beyond the immediate limits of a sentence. (CHK)

This report describes research in progress at Duisburg University on a modification of the cloze principle in language testing. Four problem areas in classical cloze tests are isolated and discussed, namely, text selection, test construction, scoring, and interpretation. The "C-tests" in the process of development use the theoretical…

The paper reviews the ways in which the cloze testing procedure measures the reading comprehension skills of students in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The construction and scoring of the test and the interpretation of the scores are discussed and the reliability and validity of the cloze procedure for testing reading skills…

To analyze the validity of W. L. Taylor's cloze testing methodology, this paper first examines three areas contributing to Taylor's thinking: communications theory, the psychology of speech and communication, and the theory of dispositional mechanisms--or nonessential words--in speech. It then evaluates Taylor's research to determine how he…

This study presents a new version of the cloze procedure used as a placement test for foreign students enrolled in an English language program for non-native speakers. Called the New Cloze Test (NCT), the test was administered to 136 foreign students who were beginning college students and who had not been in the United States longer than one…

In considering the development of language arts tests, a distinction can be made between statistical issues and ontological matters involving the objective existence and adequate characterization of the phenomenon being measured. Careful examination of standardized, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests in the areas of reading and…

Two multiple choice forms of two cloze reading tests were developed from responses to the cloze forms by college undergraduates. These tests were investigated using the original keys, empirical keys, and option weighted keys. Reliability and validity data are reported. (Author/JKS)