Multiple-Choice CLOZE Test in The Evaluation of English Reading Comprehesion: A Study with Master's Students from Health-Related Courses

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present partial results from a master’s research aimed at assessing English reading comprehension among 69 master’s students enrolled at five health-related graduate programs by means of a multiple-choice cloze test. The cloze test is used for assessing reading comprehension at several levels of education and its acceptability among researchers has been demonstrated in many national and international publications (KLEIMAN, 1983; SANTOS 2005, 2009; OLIVEIRA 2009; BROWN, 2002, among others). Reading comprehension through the cloze technique involves, among other variables, the capacity of developing appropriate associations between the previous knowledge and the printed information (inferential and lexical comprehension). The possibility of using the cloze test for measuring English as a Second Language proficiency is old and has been considered by many people an effective and practical means of assessing reading comprehension. Thus, we intend to show how this test was elaborated and applied to our participants. We will also show the strengths and limitations of this technique for assessing reading in English.