This book studies the effect of background knowledge on reading comprehension and investigates the claim from the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) that tertiary level students for whom English is a second language should be given reading proficiency tests in their own academic subject areas. The volume includes a comprehensive overview of recent research into reading, in both a first and second language, an account of the development of the reading subtests for IELTS, a full description of the pilot and main phases of the empirical study, a discussion of the relative importance of language proficiency and background knowledge in reading comprehension, consideration of the study's implications for future test construction and research into reading.
| Introduction | |
| Reading in a first language | |
| Reading in a second language | |
| The development of the IELTS Reading Modules | |
| The pilot study | |
| The main study - Research questions and data collection | |
| The effect of academic subject area on test performance | |
| Reasons for the variation in subtest specificity | |
| Text source and the TMC Rating Instrument | |
| Language proficiency and background knowledge | |
| Conclusion | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780521567084
ISBN-10: 0521567084
Series: Studies in Language Testing
Audience:
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 320
Published: 11th July 1996
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2
x 1.7
Weight (kg): 0.43