Textual complexity adjustments to the English reading comprehension test for undergraduate EFL students

Abstract

It can be challenging for teachers to prepare students for a reading comprehension test. While most research on reading comprehension tests focuses on the interaction between the text complexity and test-taker's ability, this study investigates the interaction between the text complexity and degree of difficulty of the tasks, following each text in an adapted reading comprehension test. The experiment examined the plausibility of adapting a reading comprehension test for university students through textual complexity management. It involved undergraduate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) participants (N = 1000) with English proficiency levels ranging from A1 to C2. A 38-item reading comprehension test with textual complexity adjustment was adapted. Item fit was assessed using the Rasch model analysis. ANOVA was performed to determine which reading comprehension subsamples differed significantly, whether the difficulty level of the test confirmed that of the texts, and what cognitive process contributed the most to test difficulty. The findings generated 32 qualified items, which fit the Rasch model. Participants significantly differed in reading comprehension, indicating the test's ability to differentiate the participants based on their classification. The study carried an implication that the difficulty of reading comprehension test is not solely contingent on textual complexity but also relies on task difficulty. Therefore, teachers must pay attention to both when preparing students for a reading comprehension test.