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Item type comparisons of language comprehension tests

Department of Special Education, University of Groningen, h.c.lutje.spelberg{at}ppsw.rug.nl

Paulien de Boer

Groningen Regional School Guidance Service

Kees P. van den Bos

Department of Special Education, University of Groningen

Several test procedures are available to measure language comprehension. In this article two tests with different item types are compared. The tests are the Dutch Reynell test - in which the subject has to carry out verbal instructions - and the BELL test - in which the subject has to select which of four pictures best represents a given statement. We studied the contribution of the type of item, and the linguistic features of the item to the prediction of item difficulty. Both tests were administered to 64 Dutch kindergarten children with an average age of 70.3 months. The simple correlation between type of item and item difficulty is relatively high (.40). However, regression analyses indicate that type of item does not contribute significantly to the prediction of item difficulty. The linguistic features of the item, in contrast, do. The two tests cover successive age ranges. The results therefore indicate that the BELL test can be used as a follow up test of the Reynell test for language comprehension.

Language Testing, Vol. 17, No. 3, 311-322 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/026553220001700302


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