چكيده لاتين :
The present study reports the performance of 63 senior non-native
undergraduate university students on C-Tests, a decontextualized C-Test, a spelling test, a matching vocabulary test (MVT) and a disclosed Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). It was postulated that the availability of the first half of deleted words might render the items
independent from the context in which they appear. It was also
postulated that the directions given on the C-Tests might call for the test
takersי spelling knowledge rather than their vocabulary knowledge and
language proficiency: To test the hypotheses, the C-Tests designed by
Klein-Braley (1997) were administered along with their decontexualised
versions. The analysis of the data showed that the C-Tests correlated
significantly with all the tests except the decontextualized C-Test,
implying that context plays an indispensable role in answering C-Tests.
Although the C-Tests correlated significantly with the MVT and
TOEFL, their coefficients were not high enough to establish them as
independent measures of vocabulary and language proficiency. The
initial principal component analysis revealed three factors. While the CTests had the highest loadings both on the first and second factors, the
decontextualized C-Test and the spelling test had loaded on the third.
Varimax rotation showed that the MVT and TOEFL had the highest
loadings on the first or G-factor whereas the C-Tests loaded on the
second. The decontextualized C-tests had the highest loading on the third factor. These findings show that performing on the C-Tests requires an ability other than spelling ability, vocabulary knowledge and language
proficiency. This ability is method specific and depends on
understanding the context in which C-Test items appear.
