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EVALUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS‘ READING
COMPREHENSION PROFICIENCY
Mamataliyeva Sokina Alisher qizi
Termiz davlat pedagogika instituti amaliy ingliz tili kafedrasi
Magistr 1 kurs
Abstract
In this article, discussing the importance of evaluation in determining student‘
reading proficiency in higher education is the paper‘s primary objective. Assisting
teachers in determining evaluation criteria and providing students with feedback on
their progress in reading comprehension is another objective. The article also describes
how assessment methods and evaluation standards are used to different reading
comprehension skill levels. The research paper‘s final objective is to show teachers and
students the advantages of formative assessment.
Keywords: reading comprehension, strategies, formative assessment, criteria, bottom-
up, top-down
Introduction
This research highlights the importance of assessment as one of the most
successful procedures in teaching English. Additionally, several scholars are
investigating the development of reading comprehension skills in English instruction
(1,2). A few considerations regarding the most common method of measuring reading
comprehension among university students are highlighted by recent research (3).
"Assessment of reading skills" (4) refers to the process of determining a student's
reading proficiency based on their listening comprehension, scanning, pronunciation,
and interpretation abilities. Furthermore, the reading process and the criteria used to
gauge students' reading proficiency in the classroom are referred to as "assessment
criteria." Elements of formative assessment, such as exercises, strategies, or tactics used
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to routinely measure students' reading proficiency, are included in the idea of "ongoing
assessment". In brief, “providing constructive criticism”. The term “conduct” or
“washback effect” (5) refers to the interactions that take place between students and
teachers in order to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the students while they
read texts of various genres.
The following research questions will be the main focus of the study:
✓
What are the benefits of applying reading assessment?
✓
What are the challenges faced by the teachers in implementing reading
assessment?
✓
How is the role of formative assessment in reading comprehension defined?
In addition to word decoding and content comprehension, assessment in the
development of reading comprehension abilities includes the ability of readers to
critically assess information in a text (6,7). Additionally, the goal of this study is to
investigate the primary barriers and challenges that students face when trying to
understand texts and develop their language, communication, and critical thinking
abilities. By using formative assessment activities that encourage students to improve
their reading comprehension, the paper introduces a new kind of standardized reading
assessment task style.
It is well known that students have experience with linguistic evaluation of reading
at the secondary school level, and that new skills based on prior knowledge must be
learned at the university level.
Additionally, this study presents one of the primary concerns, which is the
distinction between the assessment and evaluation processes. Teachers frequently
struggle to communicate these distinctions. There is a discernible distinction between
these two terms, despite the fact that they are both quality factors and are used
interchangeably. The evaluation process gives a measurement of performance based on
data gathering and analysis, whereas assessment gathers evidence of learner
performance (8).
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The assessment of reading comprehension in English language instruction gives
teachers valuable insights into the reading demands, difficulties, and shortcomings of
their pupils. The essay makes an effort to present reasonable evidence for a sufficient
reading comprehension assessment.
It is contradictory, and embracing the evaluation of learning as a distinct process
frequently makes it difficult to assess language proficiency due to time constraints (9).
The significance of employing trustworthy criteria to evaluate reading abilities in
order to meet learning objectives and to provide students with helpful criticism for their
reading is another goal of the article. The authors of this research outline the key reading
abilities that need to be evaluated, along with strong vocabulary, morphological, and
syntactical knowledge, the ability to retain pertinent information, and the ability to
summarize for these study levels. As a result, the main goal of this research is to
evaluate how well students interpret texts when they employ interactive and genre
knowledge (10).
Reading evaluation in English language instruction
Effective teaching and learning now depend heavily on assessment. There are
currently a number of established criteria on the concurrent use of assessment in English
language instruction. The summative assessment has been viewed as a student learning
result, despite certain advancements in the implementation of new assessment
principles. Summative evaluation has long been used to determine pupils' proficiency
in the English language (14 ).
One of the most important language skills in teaching other languages is
improving reading comprehension in English. Thus, the investigation and analysis of
many novel theoretical approaches to creating appropriate reading assessments are
examined and presented in this study.
The concurrent use of assessment in English language instruction is currently
governed by a number of defined requirements. Despite certain improvements in the
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use of new assessment concepts, the summative assessment has been seen as a student
learning outcome. For a long time, students' English language proficiency has been
assessed using summative assessments (15). Enhancing English reading
comprehension is one of the most crucial language abilities while teaching other
languages. As a result, this study looks at and presents a number of innovative
theoretical ways to developing suitable reading assessments.
Furthermore, according to scholars Barr, Tagg ( 16), and Black, Wiliam (17), the
evaluations received in tests also serve as a gauge for how well students learn to read
in higher education. It is well established that a test-based evaluation method does not
guarantee consistent language proficiency in reading. Students can actively participate
in the learning process by assessing one another's reading proficiency with their peers.
Rethinasamy (18) and Mermelstein (19) emphasized that classroom evaluation is an
ongoing process that incorporates judgments about students’ language learning, knowl-
edge, skills, talents, and other achievements. Therefore, reading evaluation ought to
enable them to enhance their English reading skills.
Although teachers use reading assignments and class tests to assess students'
reading skills and development, they are more likely to choose the summative
assessment method than the formative or alternative assessment for improving reading
comprehension. This is because it allows teachers to assess as part of the classroom's
ongoing learning activities, thus directly linking assessment with the curriculum. The
curriculum should reflect learning outcomes related to acquiring bottom-up and top-
down skills in reading comprehension. The literature analysis indicates that the
difficulties during the reading process are indicated in three areas: low students'
motivation to engage in reading, teacher training and practice, and low students' low
communication skills in reading activities (20,21).
Lastly, it has been demonstrated that teachers should administer assessments in
the classroom and have the chance to substitute formative evaluations for summative
exams. Pupils are encouraged to participate in the reading process through role plays,
stories, summaries, and dialogues, as well as to showcase their performance in class.
Through the reading process, it enables pupils to develop their personalities, skills,
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needs, and interests. Assessments conducted in the classroom help students improve
their reading skills and advance their language acquisition.
Strategies for reading assessments
Recently Perera-Diltz and Moe (23) claimed that formative assessments improve
teachers’ instructional practice and allow them to track students’ progress toward
standards. This assessment motivates students to build self-confidence pre, while, and
after the reading process to comprehend the content. Linse & Nunan(24) and Freeman
and Brown point out that reading strategies open good opportunities for assessing
reading in an ongoing process. Reading strategies encompass many aspects in
conducting pre, while, and after the reading process.Students can respond to all
questions, select a word or structure, identify new information, visualize it,
schematically interpret content, or summarize in a short context.
It is clear that to become efficient readers of English, two required skills are
crucial:
a. bottom-up strategies for recognizing words and phrases to enrich vocabulary size.
b. top-down skills to drive reading strategies and conceptual comprehension
Additionally, bottom-up approaches involve evaluating reading proficiency
based on comprehension efficacy. Students can understand information and create
schemata to illustrate cultural experiences for interpretation when reading using a top-
down method. The primary component of bottom-up techniques is the use of formative
classroom evaluations to evaluate students' metacognitive abilities (predicting,
questioning, paraphrasing, picturing, evaluating, and summarizing).
Furthermore, reading comprehension in English is defined as the ability to
understand content in a variety of genres and forms of entertainment. In order to exhibit
higher-order cognitive abilities, it entails deciphering particular words. First and
foremost, students need to be able to apply basic bottom-up techniques, such choosing
new words, phrases, and suitable terminology as well as fresh data on fiction,
documentaries, and non-academic literature.
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Lastly, the readers support a top-down strategy, use freewriting to summarize the
material on a schema, drawing on background knowledge and existing knowledge, and
successfully gaining all interpretations.
Criteria for formative evaluation in reading
The primary objective of using formative assessment, according to Gipps and Gladwell,
L. Leslie, is to give students relevant assignments and assessments that encourage them
to read. Additionally, Hudson and Cohen stressed that teachers should create
descriptive rubrics to analyze students' reading comprehension and metacognition. To
evaluate different reading activities, teachers should provide comprehensive and
analytical assessment criteria. The evaluation criteria or descriptive rubrics also seek to
improve students' ability to think critically and creatively in order to complete reading
assignments. Students should enhance their linguistic, communicative, and discourse
skills in reading based on these standards. Teachers should provide each student with
constructive or critical feedback for this reason, along with thorough justifications.
Therefore, the study's analysis demonstrates that formative assessment assignments and
testing aid students in achieving the primary objective and assist teachers in their
teaching activities.
According to Brown, Linse, Nunan, Rouet, and Britt, meaning and fluency are
constructed through the comprehension process. The primary criterion for assessing
comprehension is fluency, which emphasizes the development of spoken language.
Fluency helps kids improve their memory and gives them the chance to comprehend
what they read.
✓
Bottom-up strategies criteria:
Exhibiting fluency and rapidity in reading, Being
aware of phonemes, Perusing Thinking out loud while identifying words and
phrases, Contrasting syntactical and morphological structures,
Exhibiting fluency and rapidity in reading
✓
Top-down strategies criteria:
Giving an example of scanning, Determine the
genres, categories, and meanings. Speculating about the content, Engaging in
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interrogation, Visualizing facts and occurrences, Examining the sections,
Recapitulating the text
Conclusion
Numerous theoretical research have demonstrated the significance and function
of assessment in reading comprehension, which is presented in this article. This study
demonstrated how undergraduate students became aware of their reading skills and
limitations through reading comprehension assessments. Students can enhance their
reading comprehension abilities using a variety of reading tactics by taking the
assessment. As a result, the evaluation procedure ought to rely on precise standards to
identify and notify educators and students of their reading proficiency.
The article's formative assessment exercises provide a more accurate way to
evaluate students. However, the assessment of reading presents considerable challenges
for both educators and learners. It was noted that linguistic exams for reading
comprehension just build grammar knowledge and content repetition, not any cognitive
abilities. It was discovered that pupils' comprehension is negatively impacted by
summative assessments in reading. In a short amount of time, students become anxious
due to their ignorance of reading skills.
In order for them to believe that they are growing as readers, rather of being
tested on their reading skills, they should be given complete access to motivation, stress
release, and the authenticity principle. In this instance, the reading evaluation should
use the reading strategy tasks.
Correlation in everyday reading activities can also be obtained through formative
assessments that are based on quantifiable criteria and rubrics. It is a truth that formative
assessments enable teachers to closely observe their pupils' reading skills and
weaknesses. As a result, assignments that satisfy formative assessment requirements
might yield valuable data regarding student performance. According to the survey's
findings, participants thought that the most effective method for evaluating reading
comprehension was continuous formative evaluation.
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