Cloze Testの難易度に影響を与える要因について

Abstract

This study investigates the factors that determine the difficulties of a doze test for Japanese learners of English. A total of 196 Japanese university students who were studying English in Japan were chosen for this study. The passage used in this study was consisted of 220 words. Every 7th word from the beginning was deleted and this passage was made into a 31-item doze test. The participants were asked to fill in the blanks with appropriate words, and their responses were scored based on the exact-answer scoring method. The results of this study indicate high reliability estimates (Cronbach α= .78, KR-21= .78) and high criterion-related validity. Correlation coefficient between the doze test and the TOEIC[○!R] scores is .82. Each item is analyzed based on Item Response Theory, and the results show that six items are too difficult to be included in the test and one item is excluded from the analysis because no participant answered it correctly. The article concludes with discussion of the implications of these findings.