Cognitive Processes as Predictors of Item Difficulty Klaus Siller Ulrike Kipman

Background Part of construct validation study E8 Standards Baseline Reading Test RQ: What are the key cognitive features that contribute to item difficulty in the E8-Baseline Reading Test?

Methods Identification of 4 potential cognitive predictor variables from the relevant literature (e.g. Khalifa and Weir 2009) Subjective quantification Statistical analyses To find out which variables have a significant impact on item difficulty (simple and multiple regression analyses) To look for differences between groups (ANOVAs) Khalifa, H., and C. J. Weir. Examining reading: Research and practice in assessing second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Results Significant predictors? Significant differences? Processing operations (β= .568, p= .000) Metacognitive activities (β= .325, p= .036) Explained variance: 36,9%

Processing operations Metacognitive activities

Conclusions Teaching learners different ways of approaching (metacognitive activities) and decoding (processing operations) texts Reading tasks that (are supposed to) elicit different types of reading and target both lower-level and higher-level cognitive processes Further research: What do good / weaker readers actually do when they try to solve the same reading tasks?