Lesson Eleven Cloze Contents o What is cloze

Lesson Eleven Cloze

Contents o What is cloze procedure? o Two kinds of cloze o Four types of blank o Examples of types of blank o How to score a cloze test o How to make a fixed-ratio cloze test? o C-tests

What is “cloze procedure”? o Definition n “the practice of measuring language proficiency or language comprehension by requiring examinees to restore words that have been removed from otherwise normal text. ” (Jonz 1990) n “a technique for measuring reading comprehension. In a cloze test, words are removed from a reading passage at regular intervals, leaving blanks. For example, every fifth word may be removed. The reader must then read the passage and try to guess the missing words. ” (Richards, Platt, and Weber, 1985, Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. )

Two kinds of cloze o Based on how the blanks are created, generally, there are two kinds of cloze: fixed-ratio and rational deletion. o Fixed-ratio (nth word deletion): n Delete every nth word, no matter what word it is. (n=5~11 in normal practice) o Rational deletion (selective deletion) n The words are deleted on the basis of some rational decision.

Four types of blank (or deletion) o Based on the amount of info. needed to fill in the blank, there are four types of deletion. (Bachman 1985) n n Type 1 deletion: within clause. Type 2 deletion: across clause(s), within sentence. Type 3 deletion: across sentences, within text. Type 4: extra-textual (prior/background knowledge)

Examples of types of deletion 1. 2. 3. 4. Their primary purpose is usually ___ give religious instruction to children. Joe is a freshman, and he ___ having all the problems that most ___ have. As a matter of fact, his ___ started before he even left home. ___ general, people like her. The bachelor’s degree can ___ followed by professional studies, ___ lead to degrees in ___ professions as law and ___, and graduate studies, which ___ to master’s and doctoral ___.

Two scoring methods o Exact word method n The test taker scores if and only if the answer is exactly as the original word of the text. o Acceptable word method n Any responses that match the criteria below p Grammatically correct p Make good sense in the context

How to make a fixed-ratio cloze? o Selection of the passage: n topics, rhetorical modes, level of difficulty o Test different values of n n to make sure that four types of deletion are all included (if for general reading comprehension). o Decide on the scoring method. o Prepare the answer key. n get native speakers’ responses for acceptable word method.

C-tests o “starting with the second sentence of the text, the second half of every second word is deleted. ” (Klein-Braley and Raatz, 1984)