Test GraLeV

The Graz Reading Comprehension Test (Grazer Leseverständnistest - GraLeV: Paleczek, Seifert, Franz, Wohlhart & Riedl, in prep.) assesses reading comprehension at the word, sentence and text level for third and fourth graders. It can be used as a group test for the whole class and with its total test duration of about 11 minutes (pure test time without instruction) it can be considered very economical. The GraLev is available in a print version as well as in a tablet version as an app. The four subtests included are briefly presented below:

1. Word level: In this subtest, the students' task is to assign one of six available words to each of three pictures presented. The three target words and the three distractors are phonologically-orthographically related. Within 3 minutes, the students have to complete as many items as possible (max. 12 item sets with 3 target items each).
2. Sentence level: In this subtest, the students' task is to match a presented picture with one of four sentences that best describes the situation in the picture. The distractors are syntactic-morphological, semantic-lexical or unrelated to the target sentence. Within 3 minutes, the students have to complete as many items as possible (max. 16 target items).
3. Text level I - nonsense stories: In this subtest, the students are presented with short texts about things, creatures or actions with freely invented names and explications. Students have to answer two questions on  each nonsense story  (first question: explicilty extracting information, second question: drawing inferences). In these nonsense stories  it is not possible for the students to draw on their previous knowledge, so that the texts have to be read in order to answer the questions. Within 3 minutes the students have to complete as many items as possible (max. 8 stories with 2 target items each).
4. Text level II - Maze: This subtest consists of two short non-fiction texts, each containing 15 maze items with a selection bracket (at the position of every seventh word). The students' task is to fill in the gaps with the appropriate word, with three options to choose from in each case. A graphic-phonematic distractor and a syntactic-semantic distractor are presented with the target item. Within 100 seconds, the students should complete as many items as possible (max. 30 target items).

The piloting steps and studies to test the test’s quality criteria have been completed. At the beginning of the school year 2021/2022, standardisation was implemented throughout Austria and also in parts of Germany (tablet version: 574 children, print version 1236 children). Currently, standardizations of the digital version for the middle and the end of a school year (3rd and 4th grade) are in progress. If you teach a third or fourth grade class and are interested in participating in this standardization, please contact susanne.seifert@uni-graz.at and let us know how many pupils you are testing. Feedback on the results will be given a few weeks later. Please, contact us!