Abstract
The article summarizes the results of the comparative study of Reading comprehension texts used in B2 level tests: Unified (Russia) State Exam in English (EGE) and Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE). The research conducted was mainly focused on six parameters measured with the Coh-Metrix, a computational tool producing indices of the linguistic and discourse representations of a text: narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, referential cohesion, deep cohesion, Flesh Reading Ease. The research shows that the complexity of EGE texts caused by lower than in FCE texts cohesion is balanced with a simpler than in FCE texts syntax and higher narrativity thus resulting in about the same text complexity of the two sets of texts studied. EGE and FCE texts demonstrate correspondence to grade six and very similar Means of Flesh Reading Ease (FCE Mean is 71.06; EGE Mean is 78.25) which fit the band FAIRLY EASY.
Highlights
Reading as a key element in EFL testing research is typically studied with the focus on one of the three interacting factors that make the reading comprehension process more or less challenging: reader characteristics, text characteristics, and characteristics of the activity of reading.Characteristics of the texts used in standardized tests remain a fairly neglected area in Language assessment research and publication
The research conducted was mainly focused on six parameters measured with the Coh-Metrix, a computational tool producing indices of the linguistic and discourse representations of a text: narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, referential cohesion, deep cohesion, Flesh Reading Ease
The research shows that the complexity of EGE texts caused by lower than in First Certificate in English (FCE) texts cohesion is balanced with a simpler than in FCE texts syntax and higher narrativity resulting in about the same text complexity of the two sets of texts studied
Summary
Reading as a key element in EFL testing research is typically studied with the focus on one of the three interacting factors that make the reading comprehension process more or less challenging: reader characteristics, text characteristics, and characteristics of the activity of reading. Characteristics of the texts used in standardized tests remain a fairly neglected area in Language assessment research and publication. Responding to this effective gap in the literature, the present research is geared towards the lack of a systematic approach to parameters of the texts used in language assessment. The main objective of the research presented is to find out in which way the text characteristics used in reading multiple choice parts of Unified (Russian) State Exam in English (EGE) differ from those of Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE) by comparing their narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, referential cohesion, deep cohesion, Flesh Reading Ease. Our side objective in highlighting such differences is to provide textual information that may facilitate the work of non-native English item-writers and offer some direction for reading materials selection and modification
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