Um olhar crítico sobre os testes de compreensão de leitura / A critical view of reading comprehension tests / Una visión crítica sobre pruebas de comprensión de lectura

A compreensão de leitura é um construto multidimensional, que envolve processos cognitivos complexos. Embora, os trabalhos científicos tenham apontado a complexidade desse processo, do ponto de vista prático, quando se verifica como a literatura aborda a avaliação da compreensão leitora, há uma tendência a se tratar esse construto como unidimensional, e os testes como equivalentes. O presente artigo pretende discutir criticamente a forma como a área tem abordado a avaliação da compreensão leitora. Apresenta resultados de estudos empíricos que avaliaram a pertinência de três tipos de testes de compreensão de texto para leitura: Cloze, múltipla escolha e recordação. As implicações para pesquisa científica e para prática clínica são discutidas.

Reading comprehension is a multidimensional construct that involves complex cognitive processes. Although scientific studies have pointed out the complexity of this process, from a practical point of view, when one reviews how the literature addresses the assessment of comprehension, there is a tendency to treat this construct as one dimensional and tests as equivalents. This paper intends to critically discuss how the field has approached the assessment of comprehension. It presents results of empirical studies that evaluated the relevance of three types of reading comprehension tests: Cloze, multiple choice, and recall. The implications for scientific research and clinical practice are discussed.

La comprensión de lalectura es un constructo multidimensional, que involucra procesos cognitivos complejos. Aunquelosestudios científicos hanseñaladolacomplejidad de este proceso , desde unpunto de vista práctico , cuando vemos cómolas ofertas de la literatura conlaevaluación de lacomprensiónlectora , hay una tendencia a tratar esto como un constructo unidimensional y pruebas equivalentes. Este artículo tiene como objetivo discutir críticamentecómoel área se ha ocupado de laevaluación de lacomprensiónlectora . Presenta los resultados de estudios empíricos que evalúan la relevancia de los tres tipos de pruebas de comprensión de texto para la lectura: Cloze pregunta y respuesta y recuperación.Se discutenlasimplicaciones para lainvestigación científica y lapráctica clínica.

Online reprint request: search, access, read, and update.

Online reprint request (ORR) is the standard protocol to obtain the reprints (e-print/hard copy) using the internet (author's e-mail address) when the required literature is not available. The problem of higher cost of surface mail for the author and the reader, as well as the time taken to receive postal reprints, is overcome by ORR. This technique has its limitation in message failure, expiration of mail (e-mail decay), or journal not providing author's e-mail address. This article analyzes the available practical solution to overcome these barriers. This process facilitates the exchange of scientific information. In e-mail decay, reprint request can be sent in the following order: a) search and send to author's latest e-mail address, b) co-author's latest or affiliated institution's e-mail address, c) postal reprint request providing the requestor's e-mail address. This protocol can be practiced when library facilities or required literature is not available. Literature can be pooled and used for residency teaching programs, like group discussions, journal clubs, and e-learning exercises (teleeducation), to update the recent advances for practice and research.

The precise time course of lexical activation: MEG measurements of the effects of frequency, probability, and density in lexical decision.

Visually presented letter strings consistently yield three MEG response components: the M170, associated with letter-string processing (Tarkiainen, Helenius, Hansen, Cornelissen, & Salmelin, 1999); the M250, affected by phonotactic probability, (Pylkkänen, Stringfellow, & Marantz, 2002); and the M350, responsive to lexical frequency (Embick, Hackl, Schaeffer, Kelepir, & Marantz, 2001). Pylkkänen et al. found evidence that the M350 reflects lexical activation prior to competition among phonologically similar words. We investigate the effects of lexical and sublexical frequency and neighborhood density on the M250 and M350 through orthogonal manipulation of phonotactic probability, density, and frequency. The results confirm that probability but not density affects the latency of the M250 and M350; however, an interaction between probability and density on M350 latencies suggests an earlier influence of neighborhoods than previously reported.

Orthographic analogies and phonological priming: a comment on Bowey, Vaughan, and Hansen (1998)

J. A. Bowey, L. Vaughan, and J. Hansen (1998, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 68, 108-133) carried out two experiments on 6- and 7-year-old children's use of orthographic analogies in word reading. They reported that, following apparently stringent controls for phonological priming effects, beginning analogies (beak-bean) were more frequent in this age group than rime (beak-peak) analogies. From this, they concluded that beginning readers do not reliably use orthographic rimes in reading, even in the clue word task (p. 129). However, the clue word task was not used in this study. This comment highlights two problems with Bowey et al.'s paper. The first is a theoretical one, and the second is methodological. Firstly, Bowey et al. base their investigation on a misunderstanding of U. Goswami and P. E. Bryant's (1990, Phonological skills and learning to read, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum) claims about the role of rhyme and analogy in beginning reading. Secondly, methodological weaknesses, in particular unintended intralist priming effects, seriously limit the conclusions that can be drawn from Bowey et al.'s booklet analogy task.

The limitations of orthographic rime analogies in beginners' word reading: a reply to Goswami (1999)

U. Goswami (1999, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 72, 210-219) argues that the findings of J. A. Bowey, L. Vaughan, and J. Hansen (1998, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 68, 108-133) are uninterpretable. This paper examines each of Goswami's criticisms of the methodology employed by Bowey et al. (1998). None can explain the differential analogy and phonological priming effects reported by Bowey et al. More fundamentally, none can explain the critical finding of Bowey et al. that, when phonological priming effects are controlled, the size of the end analogy effect is no greater than that of beginning and medial vowel analogy effects. Furthermore, some of Goswami's criticisms cast considerable doubt on the generalizability of findings from her version of the clue word task.

Cognitive inhibition in individuals prone to homophobia.

Individuals scoring either High, Medium, or Low on the Homosexism Short-Form scale (Hansen, 1982) made speeded decisions to neutral (N), mildly provocative (MP), or very provocative (VP) statements regarding issues relating to homophobia. These three groups did not differ on age, education, reading rate, or vocabulary ability. It was predicted that individuals High in homophobia would produce faster reaction times to the VP sentences than those individuals scoring Medium or Low in homophobia. Results indicated the opposite pattern. Individuals scoring High in homophobia actually had slower reaction times to VP sentences than did either the Medium or Low homophobia individuals. Results are discussed within an inhibitory framework related to the High homophobia individuals' overall homophobia schema.