The Construct Validity of a Reading Test Based on Narrative Texts

Abstract

Abstract-The study examines the construct validity of a reading test based on narrative texts. It aims to evaluate the extent to which the test tasks target the narrative macrostructure and microstructure elements in both the text passage and the test questions as well as the extent to which the order of test questions is sensitive to the narrative story line. The study uses 40 test items randomly selected from the DR Congo English state examination (ESE). The results indicate that the construct validity of the ESE based on narrative texts is threatened by the inclusion of a limited number of episodes in the narratives, the absence of some elements of episodic structure, the use of truncated narratives that fail to include coherence elements, the failure to examine all the critical aspects of the narrative construct, the inclusion of some test items that require examinees' abilities that are irrelevant to narrative story grammar, and the ordering of information requested by the test items that does not relate to the way information is ordered in the narratives.

Marcadores sintáticos no reconto oral de escolares disléxicos

“…In this study, we used three narrative texts selected from didactic books and three expository texts were elaborated (1) with appropriate syntactic complexities for each of the investigated school years (Flesch index I and frequency of occurrence of words II , number of words and sentences in the text, sentences per paragraph, type/token III , incidence of content words IV , incidence of pronouns, number of pronouns by phrase V , and number of connectives VI ). In addition, all narrative texts respond to the grammar of the stories containing settings and episodes divided in: initiating event, internal response, planning, execution, consequence, and reaction (25) . The expository texts were elaborated containing themes related to the educational content of school years ahead of those of the children evaluated, with the intention to restrict the influence of their prior knowledge on the reading comprehension.…”