Analysis of a Standardized Instrument for Reading Comprehension Assessment from a Psycholinguistic Model

Abstract

Effective reading has become one of the fundamental challenges of the Chilean educational system after international assessment results showed children and young people had poor reading competence. Regarding reading assessment, there are instruments such as CLP (Progressive Linguistic Complexity), which diagnoses reading skills problems and provides remedial actions accordingly. The purpose of this study is to analyze, from a psycholinguistic approach to the reading comprehension, levels 4 and 8 of CLP so as to determine the comprehension levels that it assesses. The analysis shows that this test mainly measures the textual dimension of reading comprehension at its lowest levels, ignoring the pragmatic and critical dimensions. Updating this test and designing new instruments for more wholesome reading measurements become necessary.