The Effect of Intersentential Constraints on Cloze Test Performance on Expository and Narrative Material
Mayer, Patricia Williamson
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69128
Description
Title
The Effect of Intersentential Constraints on Cloze Test Performance on Expository and Narrative Material
Author(s)
Mayer, Patricia Williamson
Issue Date
1987
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Educat.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Reading
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the cloze procedure measures reading comprehension. Of particular interest was whether cloze measures integration across sentences, or intersentential comprehension. If cloze measures intersentential comprehension, then randomly disordering sentences in a cloze exercise should negatively affect cloze performance. The specific questions in this study were designed to assess the effect of order of the sentences, structure of the text, prior knowledge, and age/maturity level on the cloze performance of students. The subjects in this study were fourth grade students, seventh grade students, and adults enrolled in university classes. These subjects were given the cloze tests in their normal classroom settings. Each student was given a cloze test and a multiple choice prior knowledge test on the general topic of the cloze test. The sentences in the cloze tests were either sequential or scrambled, the text structure was either narrative or expository, and the two deletion patterns were initiated at either the first word in the sentence or the third word in the sentence. Every fifth word was deleted, and the first and last sentences were left intact. The same words were deleted in the sequential order and the scrambled order of each version of the cloze tests.
The findings indicate that order was significant in two of twelve versions of the cloze tests. Prior knowledge was significant in five of the twelve opportunities. Students were able to correctly fill in a higher proportion of cloze blanks on the expository form than on the narrative form of the cloze exercises. The trend was for the higher grade and older maturity level student to score a higher proportion of correct responses on the cloze procedure than the younger student.
These results indicate that the traditional cloze test with every n th word deleted may not be a valid test of reading comprehension and in particular of intersentential comprehension. The student's sophistication and facility with language may be more important in a traditional cloze exercise than is the student's comprehension of the gist of the passage.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
