Relating a concordance-based cloze test to the model of communicative language ability: a verbal protocol study

The literature of empirical studies on the concordance-based cloze test (ConCloze) is far and few between. This is despite the fact that it has a potential for item writing without the aid of native speakers and for making use of corpus-based technology in task design. This article explores the test-taking processes and strategies of a ConCloze item variant. The aim is to investigate the substantive aspect of the construct validity for the item type and increase the generalizability of the findings in the universe of admissible observations. The sample consists of 14 non-native English users who are in higher education and engage with 3 test tasks each, totaling 42 verbal reports. The sampling method is purposive sampling, in which their first language profiles are maximized in terms of heterogeneity for increased power of generalization. It is found that Reading concordance lines and recognizing clue words inside is a major process, and Assessing item components and testing a meaningful compatibility of a word in context a secondary one. A model of communicative language ability is used to provide a context for task use in this study, where strategic competence is represented in ConCloze substantive validity.

TINGKAT KETERBACAAN BUKU SEKOLAH ELEKTRONIK (BSE) PELAJARAN BIOLOGI KELAS X SMA/MA

This research was aimed to determine the readability of Biology School Electronic Book (BSE) for 10th grade. The research was conducted in MAN 13 Jakarta. The method of this research was descriptive. Population of this research were all biology BSE of 10th SMA/MA and all student of 10th MA in South Jakarta. Sampling was done by purposive sampling. Book sample found only one title of biology BSE class X SMA/MA which is used in MA of South Jakarta. The researched texts were texts which had been studied in 1st to 5th chapter. One chapter was represented by one text, so it was gotten five texts. Student samples were taken by MA which used biology BSE that was MAN 13 Jakarta. The measurements of readability used cloze test propositions and formula of fry graph. The results of analysis showed that readability biology BSE based cloze test proposition were all of the texts included to high level. And the results of readability based on the fry graph showed that one text was appropriate for class 10th SMA/MA, the two texts were too easy and two texts were too difficult for class 10th SMA/MA. This research showed the quality of textbooks in terms of readability, in order to be consideration for teachers and students in selecting high quality textbooks. ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui keterbacaan Buku Sekolah Elektronik (BSE) pelajaran Biologi Kelas X. Penelitian ini dilakukan di MAN 13 Jakarta. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode penelitian deskriptif. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah seluruh BSE Biologi kelas X SMA/MA serta seluruh siswa kelas X MA di Jakarta Selatan. Pengambilan sampel dilakukan dengan purposive sampling. Sampel buku hanya ditemukan satu BSE Biologi kelas X SMA/MA yang digunakan di MA Jakarta Selatan. Teks yang diteliti adalah teks yang telah dipelajari pada materi bab 1 sampai bab 5. Satu bab diwakili oleh satu teks, sehingga didapat lima teks yang diteliti. Sampel siswa diambil berdasarkan MA yang menggunakan BSE Biologi yaitu MAN 13 Jakarta. Pengukuran keterbacaan dilakukan menggunakan tes rumpang proposisi dan grafik fry. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa keterbacaan BSE Biologi berdasarkan tes rumpang proposisi adalah seluruh teks termasuk kategori tinggi. Serta hasil keterbacaan berdasarkan grafik fry adalah satu teks termasuk cocok untuk kelas X SMA/MA, dua teks terlalu mudah dan dua teks terlalu sulit untuk kelas X SMA/MA. Penelitian ini menunjukkan kualitas buku teks dari segi keterbacaan, agar menjadi pertimbangan bagi guru dan siswa dalam memilih buku teks pelajaran yang berkualitas baik.

Readability Level of Arabic Language Textbook of the Sixth Grade in the State of Kuwait

The current study aimed to identify the level of readability of the sixth-grade Arabic language textbooks in the State of Kuwait from the viewpoint of Arabic language teachers, and in light of the students 'performance in reading the Cloze test of these books. For the current study, a tool was prepared that was applied to a sample of (200) male and female Arabic language teachers in the middle stage. The reading Close test was applied to a sample of (320) male and female sixth-grade students. The results of the study revealed that teachers' estimates of the level of readability of reading textbooks prescribed in the book entitled "My Arabic language" were of a moderate degree, with relative weight (57.8%). The results also showed that most of the students were distributed within the depressive level of readability, with a percent of (76.9%) and (16.6%) within the educational level, and (6.5%) within the independent level. It is also showed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean individuals of the sample of both sexes on the reading Cloze test in favor of females and that there were no differences based on the educational Zone. In light of the study results, a set of recommendations was presented. Received: 18 March 2021 / Accepted: 5 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

The Use of Cloze Test To Test Reading Comprehension of Non-English Department Students

This research aimed to describe the result of the non-English department students’ reading comprehension tested by using cloze test and the effect of using cloze test on non-English department students’ achievement on reading comprehension. This research is classified into pre-experimental research that used one group pre-test and post-test design. The population of this research is the non-English department students in the academic Year 2020/2021 with a total number of 107 students. The researcher used non-probability sampling type purposive sampling technique and there were 44 students taken as samples. The test is the instrument in this research. Data are taken from the result of pre-test and post-test then analyzed by using statistical technique. The analysis is used to find the significant difference in the students’ reading comprehension ability before and after the use of cloze test. In this research, the researcher used paired sample t-test through SPSS 17.0 to analyze the data. Based on data analysis, the mean score of the pre-test was 46.86 categorized as poor whereas the mean score of the post-test was 65.61 categorized as average to good. The mean score of the pre-test 46.86 smaller than 65.61 mean scores of the post-test. It meant that there was a difference mean score of students’ reading comprehension between the pre-test and post-test. This finding showed there was a different score before and after giving treatment. The result of paired samples t-test analysis showed the significance value Sig. (2-tailed) < alpha (0.000 < 0.05). Therefore, the alternative hypotheses which stated that there is an effect of using cloze test on improving non-English department students’ reading comprehension is accepted. It is concluded that there was an effect of cloze test on improving non-English department students’ reading comprehension.

ANALISIS KESESUAIAN BUKU TEKS BAHASA ARAB BERBASIS KETERBACAAN MENGGUNAKAN KETENTUAN FOG INDEX

This study discusses the general description of the textbook and then the description of the level of readability based on the readability formula and the reader's response. The method used is the descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The general description of the textbook based on the results of studies of the profile and anatomical structure is very good. Even though there is some lack in its anatomical structure, this is very reasonable considering the textbooks are presented as needed. The level of readability based on the Fog Index theory shows that textbooks are classified as very easy, while based on the reader's response through the Cloze Test the textbook is at the instructional level. This the researcher can judge that the book is suitable for use in learning. In practice the teacher's role is still needed in modifying the presentation of the material also requires the guidance of the teacher in the learning process.

Syntactic predictability modulates parafoveal processing of inflectional morphology: evidence from word n+1 in Russian

We present the first investigation of parafoveal syntactic predictability modulation of inflectional morphology. Earlier eye-tracking studies with boundary-change manipulations have established that highly expected (78% Cloze test score) morphologically related preview have been integrated into the message level sentence stream as the related preview yielded preview cost over both the identical (no-change grammatical but less expected (22% Cloze test score)) and nonword previews (Stoops &amp; Christianson, 2017; 2019). The current study reversed the syntactic expectations for the identical (94% Cloze test score) and related (ungrammatical 0% Cloze test score) previews and found only word-level facilitation of the ungrammatical related preview. Both frequentist and Bayesian linear mixed-effect models revealed that the related preview did not differ from identical in any of the measures and yielded a preview benefit over nonword previews in the total time. Further work is needed to understand the role of syntactic predictability on parafoveal processing in reading.