Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Language Testing in Austria: Towards a Research Agenda Dr Helen Heaney Department of English University of Vienna

Chapter outline Introduction The reading construct Operationalizing skimming and scanning items Issues arising when testing expeditious reading Results of the expeditious section of my test Expeditious reading and major testing organizations Conclusion Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt 19.10.2018

The reading construct Black: original CEFR descriptor Red: initial change to CEFR descriptor Orange: CEFR descriptor added at a later point Turquoise: new descriptor element Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt 19.10.2018

Prototypical skimming item Skim1: 126 words 19 secs Which chapter heading from this children's history book fits best? Living standards in Medieval Britain Medieval Britain's population Towns in the Middle Ages Living and working in the Middle Ages Almost fifty seven million people live in Britain today. In the Middle Ages, the population was much smaller (three to six million). Towns, though they grew in importance during the Middle Ages, were small. The largest city was London. In the year 1300, only 60,000 people lived in the city, compared with about seven million today. Fire was a great danger in the towns, where wooden houses and workshops were crammed close together. People threw their rubbish straight out of the windows so the narrow streets were dirty, smelly and often swarming with rats and flies. Shops had workshops behind them where craftsmen worked. Streets were named after the shops in them, such as Leather Lane or Bread Street. Many towns still use these street names. Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt 19.10.2018

Issues with expeditious reading items Cambridge CPE, IELTS, TOEFL Part of construct in test specifications but rate of reading not controlled for Effect of text length on reading process Meaningful reading rates for L2 readers at various levels Operationalizing reading efficiency Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt 19.10.2018

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