Investigating the construct measured by banked gap-fill items: Evidence from eye-tracking

McCray

Abstract

This study investigates test-takers’ processing while completing banked gap-fill tasks, designed to test reading proficiency, in order to test theoretically based expectations about the variation in cognitive processes of test-takers across levels of performance. Twenty-eight test-takers’ eye traces on 24 banked gap-fill items (on six tasks) were analysed according to seven online eye-tracking measures representing overall, text and task processing. Variation in processing was related to test-takers’ level of performance on the tasks overall. In particular, as hypothesized, lower-scoring students exerted more cognitive effort on local reading and lower-level cognitive processing in contrast to test-takers who attained higher scores. The findings of different cognitive processes associated with variation in scores illuminate the construct measured by banked gap-fill items, and therefore have implications for test design and the validity of score interpretations.

Citation

McCray. (2016). Investigating the construct measured by banked gap-fill items: Evidence from eye-tracking. Language Testing, 51-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532216677105

• Acceptance Date: Nov 23, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 23, 2016
• Journal: Language Testing
• Print ISSN: 0265-5322
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Pages: 51-73
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532216677105
• Keywords: banked gap-fill, cloze, cognitive processing, eye-tracking, testing reading
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0265532216677105