Changes in the Responses to an English as a Second Language Reading Comprehension Test.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the patterning of the responses of English as a Second Language (ESL) students to a reading comprehension test would change over time due to the restructuring of the subjects ESL reading comprehension competence as they increased their overall ESL proficiency. In this context, restructuring refers to the reorganization of existing knowledge, the reallocation of processing resources, or the transformation of one kind of knowledge structure into another. A 30-item reading comprehension test was administered to the same subject pool of 31 intensive. ESL students at three different strata of proficiency. The responses were submitted to principal component analysis, which identified the single best summary of linear relationships in each data set. The results indicate that the linear relationships manifested in the responses from the first administration did not change significantly during the two subsequent test administrations. It may be the case that no evidence of change was seen in the linear relationships in the responses because the subjects had not reached a point in their ESL reading comprehension competence sufficient to produce a patterning change. Another possible explanation is the use of a recognition format reading comprehension test to explore change. (Contains 2 tables and 26 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Changes in the Responses to an English as a Second Language Reading Comprehension Test Kyle Perkins and John T. Pohlmann Summary The purpose of the study was to determine if the patterning of ESL students' responses to a reading comprehension test would change over time due to the restructuring of the subjects' ESL reading comprehension competence as they increased their overall ESL proficiency. In this context, restructuring refers to the reorganization of existing knowledge, the reallocation of processing resources, or the transformation of one kind of knowledge structure into another. A 30-item reading comprehension test was administered to the same subject pool of intensive ESL students at three different strata of proficiency. The responses were submitted to principal component analysis which identified the single best summary of linear relationships in each data set. The results indicated that the linear relationships manifested in the responses from the first administration did not change significantly during the two subsequent test administrations. It may be the case that no evidence of change was seen in the linear relationships in the responses because the subjects had not reached a threshold in their ESL reading comprehension competence at which point their comprehension capacity had increased enough to produce a significant change in their pattern of responses to the test items. Another possible reason to account for the absence of change in the linear relationships of the responses is the use of a recognition format reading CO Csi qzt CD comprehension test as the elicitation instrument. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY