A BEHAVIORAL ANCHORING ANALYSIS OF THREE
This article reports the results of a behavioral anchoring analysis of three ESL reading comprehension tests. Behavioral anchoring describes what students at different anchor points on the ability/proficiency continuum can do that students at lower anchor points cannot. In essence, behavioral anchoring has a twofold purpose: (a) to define achievements and to make test scores interpretable in terms of what students at different ability levels can and cannot do.
The subjects for this research were 113 nonnative speakers of English enrolled in full-time intensive English classes. Placement was determined by the results of the TOEFL. Each proficiency level had its own final reading comprehension examination, containing 25 multiple-choice questions with a single correct response. For the reading test, three anchor points were selected. Descriptions were based on the constructs of (a) the relationship of each item to the structure of the text, (b) the reader's prior knowledge, and (c) the nature of the cognitive processes required to answer the question. The researchers elected to use Meyer's prose analysis system as a guideline for discussing how the items related to the structure of the text. Farr and Carey's note that "meaning is as dependent on the reader as it is on the text" was considered.
The results indicated that for each of three proficiency levels (2, 3, and 4), the higher ability students could comprehend micropropositions, whereas the lower ability students could not. The higher ability students at Levels 3 and 4 could comprehend questions whose sources of information were implicit, whereas the lower ability students could not. Higher ability students and lower ability students at all proficiency levels showed competence with linguistic structures that related parts of the text. Finally, the derivational complexity and the readability levels of the texts
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