Assessing Reading to Learn in Non-Native English Speaking Undergraduate Student

The goal of this dissertation was to examine the potential for assessing non-native English speakers' ability to learn from text, called reading to learn. Reading to learn is the purpose adopted by readers who have the goal of obtaining information from a text, remembering that information, and later using that information (Enright, Grabe, Koda, Mosenthal, Mulcahy-Ernt, & Schedl, 2000; Grabe, 2009). Reading to learn is hypothesized to consist of specific strategies that aid this goal and which build upon the strategies adopted when the goal is to comprehend text. Reading to learn plays an important role in educational settings, where students are expected to retain and use information they have obtained from text. For English as a second language readers, this can be particularly challenging. Even for those who are able to successfully comprehend English texts, deficits in the ability to learn from English texts can add a challenge to their success at universities where the language of instruction is English. Given the importance of reading to learn, and given the theoretical distinction between reading to learn and other purposes for reading, such as reading for general comprehension, assessing the ability to learn from text has potential positive implications for second language readers, the foremost of which is to improve their preparedness for university study.;Attempts to assess reading to learn ability in second language readers have had mixed success. Tests that use multiple choice reading item formats have previously had limited success at differentiating the two types of reading (Cohen & Upton, 2007). Constructed response item formats such as short answer questions and essays have been more successful, but they present concerns with construct irrelevant variance by introducing writing to the assessment of reading (Trites & McGroarty, 2005; Weigle, Yang, & Montee, 2013).;The purpose of this dissertation study was to develop a valid test of reading to learn for second language readers in university. The study collected evidence to evaluate how successfully the test was able to measure reading to learn as distinct from (yet related to) reading for general comprehension. Participants' performance data on two types of tests, one of reading to learn and one of reading for general comprehension, were analyzed and compared. The influence of background knowledge on test performance was assessed and compared across tests, and information about participants' perceptions of test difficulty and the amount of information they learned from the tests were collected for both tests. Other participants were asked to perform text recalls. Finally, additional participants were asked to perform think alouds while taking the tests.;Evidence collected to answer the research questions provided moderate validity evidence for the use of the reading to learn test as a way to measure examinees' ability to learn from text. Strong evidence was provided by the significant difference between and moderate correlation of the reading to learn and reading for general comprehension test scores. Background knowledge did not play a statistically significant role on examinee performance for either test. Corroborating evidence that was sought through perceptions, recalls, and think alouds was not found. Participants' perceptions of difficulty and learning was the same for both tests. Participants remembered the same quantity of ideas from the two tests. Results regarding participants' strategy use was inconclusive, though there did not appear to be a substantial difference in strategy use between the two tests.;This study has implications for reading pedagogy. Teachers in Intensive English Programs can use the reading to learn test as a low-stakes tool to measure students' ability to perform the skills associated with learning from text. Test results can allow teachers to identify areas of weakness for instruction and remediation. Use of the test may allow teachers to identify students who have adequate reading comprehension skills but who still struggle to learn from text.;The development of the reading to learn test also has implications for assessment. The reading to learn test offers a novel way to assessing the ability to learn from text without requiring examinees to speak or write responses. The test development process provides a model of how to operationalize a theoretical construct. The evidence collected as part of this study was used to initiate a discussion of how to weight validity evidence within an interpretive argument. In sum, the reading to learn test developed for this study represents a strong foundation for future research concerning how to measure the ability to learn from text.