This paper advocates the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for Q-matrix specification in cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) of language comprehension. We propose that integrating EFA results into Q-matrix specification improves the psychometric quality of CDA classification results with reference to Q-matrices based solely on human…

Although the generalized deterministic inputs, noisy "and" gate model (G-DINA; de la Torre, 2011) is a general cognitive diagnosis model (CDM), it does not account for the heterogeneity that is rooted from the existing latent groups in the population of examinees. To address this, this study proposes the mixture G-DINA model, a CDM that…

In this investigation, we examined differences in performance on the Texas state-mandated reading assessment for Emergent Bilingual students by their economic status (i.e., in poverty, not in poverty). Archival data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for Grade 8 students for the two…

Background: While highlighting is one of the most common strategies to enhance reading comprehension, little is known about how highlighting behavior and its relationship with performance varies across cultures. Our purpose was to examine whether the use and the success of highlighting prevalence, quantity, and task relevance vary internationally.…

Background: Theoretical frameworks excel in conceptualising reading literacy, yet their value hinges on their applicability for real-world purposes, such as assessment. By combining diverse theoretical frameworks, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 designed an assessment framework for assessing the reading literacy of…

Personalizing text is known to support learning from text. The present study extends evidence of the personalization effect by investigating whether elementary school students' reading comprehension benefits from reading narratives personalized by using the reader's name for the narrative's protagonist. Additionally, this study examined the…

Today's language models can produce syntactically accurate and semantically coherent texts. This capability presents new opportunities for generating content for language assessments, which have traditionally required intensive expert resources. However, these models are also known to generate biased texts, leading to representational harms.…

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has served as one of the most reliable proofs of people's English language proficiency. There have been rumors about the discrepancy in difficulty between the two modules of IELTS, namely Academic (AC) and General Training (GT); however, there is little empirical evidence to confirm such a…

Although learning approaches are designed to enhance individuals' ability to store and retrieve information, not all of them are considered effective. The goal of the present study was to experimentally compare the test performance as well as the accuracy of metacognitive judgements of a multiple text reading group, rereading group, and single…

Words read correctly per minute (WCPM) is the reporting score metric in oral reading fluency (ORF) assessments, which is popularly utilized as part of curriculum-based measurements to screen at-risk readers and to monitor progress of students who receive interventions. Just like other types of assessments with multiple forms, equating would be…

Giving quizzes to get students to read may continue to be misunderstood, even grossly undervalued. Using a quiz to encourage (enforce) reading plays a significant role not only in students learning content of their chosen field, but also as the critical first step toward an awakening of the mind--or, at the very least, the mind being more…

Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are a common way to assess reading comprehension. Every MCQ needs a set of distractor answers that are incorrect, but plausible enough to test student knowledge. However, good distractors are hard to create. Distractor generation (DG) models have been proposed, and their performance is typically evaluated using…

An efficient assessment cycle is a necessary component of early literacy instruction. To support student growth, educators must screen, diagnose, and monitor student progress. Diagnostic assessments provide critical information that can empower educators to address student needs. Using information from diagnostic assessments requires educators to…

This study proposes and identifies two levels of word reading at which good comprehenders can obtain a similar understanding of written and spoken narrative texts: The oral-written matching functional and efficient thresholds. These thresholds are compared with the level of word reading over which a relationship between listening comprehension and…

The purpose of this study was to validate a novel reading comprehension assessment for college students named MOCCA-College. A random sample of college students (N = 63, average age of 22.5) were recruited from various education programs (e.g., first-year courses, TRIO, SONA) and completed MOCCA-College Online and were later recruited to complete…