Evaluating the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test as a measure of reading comprehension and vocabulary for South African grade eight learners.
Date
2010-05-28T06:15:09Z
Authors
Catto, Deborah Diane
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Abstract
One of the needs of assessment practitioners in South Africa is for the adaptation or revision
of current psychological and educational tests to justify their use in the South African
context. The South African Department of Education called for the re-evaluation of all
standardised tests used in the South African context (Department of Education, 1997). The
Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) is an English language proficiency test that is
useful in measuring reading comprehension. The fact that English is the language of
instruction in most South African schools makes the SDRT a valuable measure for South
African assessment practitioners. This study evaluated the SDRT as a measure of vocabulary
and reading comprehension for South African Grade Eight learners on the basis of home
language and gender. Two subtests (Auditory Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension) of
the Brown level of the SDRT were administered to three consecutive years of Grade Eight
learners. Of 631 subjects, all of who had received at least five years of English medium
education, 279 were English First Language (EFL) learners and 352 were English Additional
Language (EAL) learners. There were 316 male subjects and 315 female subjects. The results
showed that the EAL learners performed significantly below the EFL learners on both the
Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension subtests of the SDRT. There was also a significant
difference in performance between male and female learners on the Comprehension subtest
but not on the Vocabulary subtest. Both the Vocabulary and the Reading Comprehension
subtests demonstrated adequate internal consistency. However, the validity of these subtests
was questioned because a number of items appeared to demonstrate bias against EAL
learners.