An Introspective Study On Testees' Processes Of Taking A Banked Cloze Test

This study investigates the testees' processes of taking a banked cloze test with introspective methods in an attempt to examine what the banked cloze test actually measures and whether there are differences between proficient and less proficient readers in their test-taking processes. The key research questions are put forward as follows: 1) What information sources are used by the testees and how? 2) What strategies are employed by the testees and how? 3) Are there any differences between proficient and less proficient readers in their use of information sources and strategies? If so, what are these differences? To answer these questions, simultaneous introspection and immediate retrospection are employed and twelve non-English-major students are involved in the study.By examining the testees' protocols, the researcher puts forward a framework for analyzing testees' processes of taking the banked cloze test. Based on this framework, the testees' protocols are further categorized and analyzed. The major findings of the present study are briefly summarized as follows:First, four categories of information sources are identified in the protocols of the testees, namely clause-level, sentence-level, text-level and extra-textual information. Of these four information categories, clause-level information accounts for the largest proportion, followed by text-level information, sentence-level information and extra-textual information.Second, twelve strategies are identified in the testees' test-taking processes, and they are further classified into three categories: top-down processing strategy, bottom-up processing strategy and test-wise processing strategy. The testees show a clear preference for bottom-up processing strategies, followed by top-down processing strategies and test-wise processing strategies.Third, there do exist some differences between proficient and less proficient readers in their use of information and strategies. The proficient readers tend to apply more information sources and strategies in their test-taking processes than the less proficient readers. And the former uses text-level information and top-down processing strategies more frequently than the latter. The verbal protocols have further revealed that the proficient readers seem to have a context-based reading model and they prefer to grasp the gist of the text, whereas the less proficient readers often employ word-based approaches and they are apt to identify parts of the text.