The Meaning of Cloze Test Scores: An Item Difficulty Perspective

Abstract

of second language proficiency even though the precise abilities required by a given cloze remain in question. The practice of using cloze tests without clear knowledge of what they measure is inconsistent with current objectives of educational measurement: we must know precisely what a test measures for reasons both theoretical (to understand the abilities it requires) and practical (to use appropriately the scores it yields). One means of defining these abilities is to identify the factors affecting test difficulty at the item level (15: p. 153). Applying this principle to students' performance on cloze items, we attempted in this study to understand what cloze tests measure by identifying factors related to cloze item difficulty. Our purpose was to help explain the meaning of cloze test scores and thus provide a firmer basis for developing various types of cloze tests.