Reading comprehension as a complex phenomenon. An approach based on assessment, inference, and foreign language

Abstract

As foreign language teachers, we have observed that reading comprehension is a complex phenomenon worth studying. Here, we address reading comprehension from the point of view of several disciplines: education (for assessment), logic (for inference), and linguistics (for foreign language), within an experimental framework. Our goal was to analyze and compare whether the properties of a test (say length, complexity, and inference) and the attributes of a test-taker (say test taking strategies, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, and academic fields) have an effect on reading comprehension performance in native (Spanish) and foreign language (Italian). A quantitative cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 35 students from a foreign languages centre; we used generalized linear mixed models to analyse the data. We found that the attributes of the test had an effect on performance in both languages, while the attributes of the test-takers had an effect only in foreign language.