Interferência da habilidade de escrita no resultado do teste de Cloze por razão fixa Impact of writing skills on the fixed-ratio Cloze test scores Interferência da habilidade de escrita no resultado do teste de Cloze por razão fixa Impact of writing skills on the fixed-ratio Cloze test scores

Abstract

The Cloze test assesses students' reading comprehension. Studies indicate that fixed-ratio Cloze's test scores are related to writing, suggesting that this assessment format depends on this linguistic ability. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the interference of errors in writing for the performance in the fixed-ratio Cloze test. Participated in this study, 1.842 students from the five Brazilian regions, enrolled in public schools of Elementary School I (3rd to 5th year). The instruments used were the Cloze tests "The Princess and the Ghost" and "An unfortunate Revenge," and the Writing Assessment Scale. As a result, structural equation modeling indicated that the writing ability represented more than 60% of the explained variance of the Cloze tests. Students who had a higher number of errors in writing had lower results in Cloze. The number of errors in writing predicted the performance in the Cloze test, together with the variable school year. Both Cloze tests presented adequate estimates of reliability. The results corroborate previous studies. Indications for further studies are made, as well as suggestions for using the fixed-ratio Cloze test.