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Assessing reading skills by means of paper-and-pencil lexical decision: Issues of reliability, repetition, and word-pseudoword ratio

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Abstract

This study focused on the feasibility of agroup-administered paper-and-pencil lexical-decisiontest as a plausible alternative or supplementary tool for the assessment of readingskills. Lexical-decision tests and oral-readingtests were administered to 130 Dutch studentsfrom primary grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. Correlations were moderate to high in low grades, butdeclined in the high grades. The reliability ofthe lexical-decision test assessed by means ofa test--retest procedure was generally good. Asecond presentation of the lexical-decisiontest caused repetition effects (i.e., betterperformance on the second test), but generallyremained within reasonable limits. The presenceof different numbers of pseudowords (25%vs. 75%) in both lexical decision and oralreading, indicated that a large number ofpseudowords made oral reading harder, butlexical decision easier. Educational andclinical implications are discussed.

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Gijsel, M.A., van Bon, W.H. & Bosman, A.M. Assessing reading skills by means of paper-and-pencil lexical decision: Issues of reliability, repetition, and word-pseudoword ratio. Reading and Writing 17, 517–536 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:READ.0000044599.98083.d8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:READ.0000044599.98083.d8

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