The use of cloze tests is beset with problems. The C-Test represents an attempt to develop a measure of general language competence which will avoid these problems. A large number of studies, involving children and adults learning a variety of languages, point to its being a reliable and valid measure of overall language ability. Construct validation has now begun. The principal usefulness of the C-Test is seen to be in selection and placement procedures. It is essential that the test should not be used to make significant decisions without prior statistical evaluation.
Cloze tests and C-Tests are both tests of reduced redundancy based on the theory of general language proficiency. This paper presents the theory and shows first why cloze tests are unsatisfactory operalizations of the theory and the ways in which C-Tests are technically superior. It then reports the various investigations which have been performed in the construct validation of C-Tests and discusses their relevance to the original theory. Four hypotheses are set up relating to linerarity, parallelism, prediction of difficulty and processing strategies. The results obtained with the C-Tests support these hypotheses.
In language testing, the concept of reduced redundancy has been a fruitful approach for the development of major test procedures. The way in which examinees perform under conditions of 'noise' is believed to provide evidence for the level of their current status in overall or general language proficiency. This article reports an investigation comparing the empirical performance of C-Tests with other representatives of the 'family' of reduced redundancy tests -classical cloze, cloze-elide, multiple-choice cloze. The criterion for empirical validity is DELTA, the Duisburg English Language Test for Advanced Students. Overall, the C-Test emerges as the most economical and reliable procedure, it has the highest empirical validity and is shown to be the best representative of the general factor in the battery.
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