Towards Identifying the C-Test Construct

Die Reihe "Language Testing and Evaluation" veröffentlicht theoretische The aim of the "Language Testing and Evaluation" series is to provide a und empirische Forschung zum Testen und Evaluieren im Bereich des Lehrens forum for publishing theoretical and empirical research in all areas of und Lernens von Sprachen. Die Absicht ist, einerseits zur Verbesserung der language teaching and learning. The series' focus is on research on internationalen wissenschaftlichen Diskussion beizutragen sowie language tests and assessment tools as well as on programme evaluation andererseits Forschungsergebnisse und neue Entwicklungen sowohl den in der in which emphasis is placed on the characteristics of the instruments Praxis Tätigen als auch einem breiteren interessierten Publikum zugänglich themselves. Furthermore the intention of the series is to enhance the zu machen. possibilities for international scholarly debate among experts.

What do C-Tests really measure? This book describes the history and the theoretical background of C-Tests and gives a survey of research into C-Test validity, which leads to the central question: How much context do test takers need to process when they take a C-Test? The author answers this question on the basis of extensive material and data from over 800 subjects. It turns out that the C-Test construct is fluid: Test takers have to take extended context into account, but not everybody to the same extent. The book discusses the implications of the fluid construct phenomenon for language testing practice and research.

Autorentext

The Author: Günther Sigott started his career by working as a teacher and translator for general and specific purpose French and English. Soon afterwards, he started teaching French and English linguistics at the universities of Graz and Klagenfurt. In his teaching he has covered a broad range of subjects ranging from practical language training to semantics, lexicology, text linguistics and discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, research methodology and language testing. He is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the English Department of Klagenfurt University. His research interests are in all areas of Applied Linguistics and particularly in Language Testing and Evaluation.

Inhalt

Contents: Historical perspectives - C-Test validation: The state of the art - Identifying item types - Item type and difficulty - Context reliance and proficiency - A critical appraisal.