Validity of translation tests as a measure of reading comprehension

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Identifying the main idea of an expository text is one of the most important skills in reading comprehension (Tomitch, 1996; 2000). In English entrance examinations of many Japanese national universities, expository texts are commonly used to measure reading comprehension. However, a translation-into-Japanese test method (TIJ-T) is still employed as a measure of reading comprehension despite being a target of criticism. This study attempts to examine to what extent this method can measure main idea reading comprehension. Two experiments have revealed that a TIJ-T is not valid as a means for measuring main idea comprehension of an expository text. Additionally, the findings have also indicated that some test takers can identify a main idea but cannot translate it into Japanese, while others who cannot identify a main idea (do not comprehend the text) are still able to provide a literal translation.

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