The effects of test characteristics on the hierarchical order of reading skills
Purpose – The study sought to determine the hierarchical nature of reading skills. Whether reading is a ‘unitary’ or ‘multi-divisible’ skill is still a contentious issue. So is the hierarchical order of reading skills. Determining the hierarchy of reading skills is challenging as item difficulty...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Universiti Utara Malaysia Press
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/57342/1/THE%20EFFECTS%20OF%20TEST%20CHARACTERISTICS%20ON%20THE%20HIERARCHICAL%20ORDER%20OF%20READING%20SKILLS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/57342/7/57342_The%20effects%20of%20test%20characteristics_SCOPUS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/57342/ http://mjli.uum.edu.my/index.php |
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| Summary: | Purpose – The study sought to determine the hierarchical nature
of reading skills. Whether reading is a ‘unitary’ or ‘multi-divisible’
skill is still a contentious issue. So is the hierarchical order of reading
skills. Determining the hierarchy of reading skills is challenging
as item difficulty is greatly influenced by factors related to test
characteristics. To examine the interaction between these factors
and item difficulty, and determine the possibility of such a hierarchy,
this study used the multifaceted Rasch approach.
Methodology – In this descriptive study, a 42-MCQ reading test
was administered to 944 ESL lower secondary students, randomly
selected from eleven Malaysian national-type schools in the Federal
Territory of Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor. These student
populations were selected as the development of reading ability was
considered critical at this stage of schooling. The reading test items
were identified according to the following aspects: Reading Skill
Areas (Interpreting information, making Inference, Understanding
figurative language, Drawing conclusions, Scanning for details and Finding word meanings), Context Type (Linear and Non-Linear),
and Text Type (Ads, Notice, Chart, Story extract, Short message,
Poem, Short news report, Brochure, Formal letter, Conversation,
Long passage and weather forecast). Applying the Many-Facet
Rasch model of measurement, the study analyzed student responses
to the test items with the help of FACETS, version 3.7.1.4.
Findings – The findings showed that context types, skill areas, and
text types differed in difficulty (p<.01), with those items that required
understanding and interpretation being more demanding. Test items
based on linear contexts were more difficult than those based on
non-linear contexts. Understanding figurative language was found
to be the most difficult skill followed by Making inference and
Interpreting information. The easiest reading skill was Scanning
for details, followed by Finding word meanings. The reading skill,
Drawing conclusions, was close to the average difficulty level. The
findings also indicated that texts that were longer and had more
information tended to be more difficult.
Significance – This study has also shed new light on the theory and
practice of reading. The findings support the hierarchical nature of
reading skills. Different reading skills were found to exert differential
cognitive demands, and those which required higher cognitive
ability were more difficult for learners to acquire and perform.
Understanding the hierarchy of reading skills will help language
teachers to target their teaching more effectively; course designers
to produce more appropriate teaching and learning materials; and
test writers to develop test items that better meet students’ reading
competencies.
Keywords: Reading hierarchy; reading skills; many-facet Rasch analysis; FACETS. |
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