Argues for the usefulness of merging experimental and correlational approaches in the study of expository prose comprehension. Reviews studies in recent years. Shows that the correlational approach yields results similar to the experimental literature, and that the vast databanks associated with multiple-choice tests allow exploration of some of…

In this series of studies, we investigated the technical adequacy of three curriculum-based measures used as benchmarks and for monitoring progress in three critical reading- related skills: fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. In particular, we examined the following easyCBM measurement across grades 3-7 at fall, winter, and spring…

Discusses the difficulty of objectively testing comprehension in English. (RB)

Examines the relation between question characteristics and awareness of comprehension. Finds that readers have great confidence that their answers to thematic questions in both short-answer and multiple-choice formats are correct, even when they were wrong. Suggests that readers of challenging, inconsiderate texts are unaware of gross…

This study investigated the validity of having English-as-a-Second-Language test-takers select from a checklist the strategies they believe they use when answering multiple choice reading comprehension questions. Results suggest that the self-report checklist discussed above exercised to an unknown extent an instrument effect on the readers who…

The effects of typeface and item options arrangement on comprehension as indicated by multiple-choice test performance were investigated. Copies of the Ability to Interpret Reading Materials in the Social Studies, SRA Iowa Tests of Educational Development, Form X-4 were prepared in four typefaces: elite, pica, proportional, and script. For each…

Studies showing that even though certain factual questions are directly related to information in passages they are also easier to answer without reference to the passage are the basis for this study which attempted to define qualities of relationship which might be responsible for the ease of answerability. Three Tests of Acquisition of…

The results of a series of factor analyses of a new test of literal comprehension using a multiple-choice cloze format are summarized. These analyses were conducted in the validation of a test design to measure for the most part a factor of literal comprehension independent of IQ and inferential reading processes, yet marked by certain related…

The reading comprehension items for the Nelson Reading Skills Test, a revision of a widely used standardized reading test, were administered to several hundred fourth- and sixth-grade students in order to determine whether the student's ability to answer correctly actually depended on his comprehension of the accompanying passage. All the…

Discusses a reading test using chunked" items -- groups of meaningfully related words in which certain groups are changed in meaning from the original passage. (Author)

Explains the construction and use of three advanced-level English-as-a-foreign-language reading comprehension exercises, using a combination of multiple choice and cloze formats. (EKN)

Certain kinds of multiple-choice reading comprehension questions may be answered correctly at the higher-than-chance level when they are administered without the accompanying passage. These high risk questions do not necessarily lead to passage dependence invalidity. They threaten but do not prove invalidity. (Author/CP)

The authors investigated absolute and relative metacomprehension accuracy as a function of verbal ability in college students. Students read hard texts, revised texts, or a mixed set of texts. They then predicted their performance, took a multiple-choice test on the texts, and made posttest judgments about their performance. With hard texts,…