18.216, Diss: Applied Ling: MacMillan: 'Lexical Patterns in the Reading Com...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-18-216. Sun Jan 21 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.216, Diss: Applied Ling: MacMillan: 'Lexical Patterns in the Reading Com...'

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1)
Date: 19-Jan-2007
From: Fabiana MacMillan < fabianam at canadianlineworks.ca >
Subject: Lexical Patterns in the Reading Comprehension Section of the TOEFL(r) Test 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:05:19
From: Fabiana MacMillan < fabianam at canadianlineworks.ca >
Subject: Lexical Patterns in the Reading Comprehension Section of the TOEFL(r) Test 
 


Institution: Fluminense Federal University 
Program: Applied Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2006 

Author: Fabiana MacMillan

Dissertation Title: Lexical Patterns in the Reading Comprehension Section of
the TOEFL(r) Test 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)


Dissertation Director(s):
Tania Maria Granja Shepherd
David Shepherd

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis argues that lexical patterns may be observed connecting
question stems and/or correct options to relevant portions of the passages
in question in fixed-response reading comprehension questions on the TOEFL®
test. Results stemming from the lexical cohesive analysis of a corpus of
608 TOEFL® practice reading comprehension test items suggest that these
patterns are, more often than not, realized by specific categories of
lexical repetition, or lexical links (Hoey, 1991) according to question type. 

Equivalent results found for TOEFL ® PBT, CBT, and iBT items appear to
indicate that the patterns are in evidence across different versions of the
test, even though these may, in certain instances, test the same reading
skills by means of different question types. 

Finally, based on the results of an additional analysis of the level of
difficulty of the same test items, it is claimed that the lexical patterns
associated with the different question types in the corpus have a bearing
on the general range of difficulty of the latter in terms of the 'type of
match variable' (Jamieson, 2000). 




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LINGUIST List: Vol-18-216