A Silent Reading Test in Spanish

Abstract

The test is designed to measure achievement in comprehension of the printed Spanish language at successive stages under varying conditions and with varying methods of teaching. It is not based upon any single textbook in Spanish but upon a background vocabu lary which was prepared by the writers to serve as a suggested basis for unstandardized tests in Spanish. This vocabulary included only words of common frequency in a number of lists of Spanish words which were prepared by their several authors after they had exam ined a large number of elementary textbooks in Spanish, tabulating in each case the words common to all of the Spanish grammars and Spanish readers which they had examined. In so far as was possible, the exercises of the standardized test were arranged to include only words found in this word list. In this way, the authors sought to limit the vocabulary of the test to words of com mon occurrence in high-school courses in Spanish. Although there may be more desirable criteria for the validation of test materials than the one used in this study, it is nevertheless true that teaching practice in any subject follows very closely the organization and materials of the available textbooks. This very practical considera tion is held to be a sufficient justification of a test which embodies the materials of common frequency in the books which must be used by students of high-school Spanish. The test was prepared in two forms, now designated as Form A and Form B. These forms originally included many more exercises than were later submitted as a final preliminary form of the test to high-school students. This was considered necessary, since it was 357