Text Complexity and Reading Comprehension Tests: Dissertationsschrift (Linguistic Insights: Studies in Language and Communication, Band 85) - Softcover

Castello, Erik

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3039117173 ISBN 13: 9783039117178

Verlag: Peter Lang Group AG, International Academic Publishers, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Based on the analysis of a specially compiled corpus of internationally recognized English as a foreign language (EFL) reading tests at different levels of proficiency, this volume explores the relation between the complexity of written texts and the difficulty of reading comprehension tests. It brings together linguistic investigations into the text-inherent complexity of the tests and a study of the data derived from their administration to groups of Italian university students. The study of text complexity draws on corpus linguistics, text linguistics and systemic functional linguistics. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are carried out on the language used in the reading texts and in the related tasks that make up the corpus of tests. The assessment of test difficulty, on the other hand, is informed by research on language testing, and, in particular, by findings and methodologies of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory. Relevant aspects of these theories are used to analyze and interpret both the data obtained from the administration of the tests and the data collected by means of feedback questionnaires completed by test takers. The application of such diverse methodologies and the subsequent comparison of the results of the analyses has brought out interesting correlations between text-inherent complexity, perceived test difficulty and actual test difficulty.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

The Author: Erik Castello is a tenured researcher in English Language and Translation and teaches English at the University of Padua, Italy. He holds a doctorate in English linguistics and his research interests include corpus linguistics, systemic functional linguistics, language testing, and discourse analysis.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Peter Lang Group AG, International Academic Publishers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 3039117173
• ISBN 13: 9783039117178
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 350
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland