Another Look at Passage Correction Tests

Abstract

0 A passage correction test (PC) is a measure used to determine the ability to identify and correct errors that have been systematically inserted into a prose passage. Earlier studies of such tests have made use of two basic formats: the insertion of irrelevant words as distractors (e.g., Bowen, 1978; Davies, 1975) and the substitution of grammatically unacceptable forms for acceptable ones (e.g., Arthur, 1980). Performance on PCs of the former type has been shown to correlate significantly with other measures of EFL ability (Mullen, 1979), and the format used in Arthur's study produced somewhat similar results. Other research (Abraham, 1983; Kaplan & Shand, 1984) suggests the value of editing tasks similar to PCs for the study of cognitive style and affective variables in second language learning. PCs that are constructed through the substitution of ungrammatical forms for grammatical ones have been investigated less; however, they may be more valuable for the study of how some aspects of language develop, for example, how much the ability to edit one's writing grows along with other abilities. While PCs constructed through the insertion of irrelevant words are a promising tool for some types of research, they do not so closely resemble the everyday task of editing one's writing, since they only require individuals to detect forms randomly dispersed among acceptable structures. The purpose of the study reported here was to examine in detail some characteristics of PCs as measures of editing skills. Specifically, its aims were (a) to show that success on a PC constructed by substituting unacceptable forms correlates significantly with a rather different type of language test, Harris and Palmer's (1970) Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT); (b) to show that sensitivity to different types of errors correlates significantly with the CELT; and (c) to show that correlations among different types of PC items can distinguish patterns of developing awareness of forms and meanings in EFL.