Toisella ja vieraalla kielellä lukemisen diagnosointi – DIALUKI-hankkeen teoreettisia ja käytännöllisiä lähtökohtia

Authors

• Lea Nieminen Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Ari Huhta Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Riikka Ullakonoja Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Charles Alderson Jyväskylän yliopisto & Lancasterin yliopisto

Keywords:

diagnostic assessment, reading in L2

Abstract

The article deals with the diagnosis of reading in a second or foreign language (L2) and the role of diagnostic assessment in language testing and in applied linguistics. We discuss new openings in diagnosing L2 and focus on the new research project DIALUKI – Diagnosing reading and writing in a second or foreign language which is a multi-disciplinary, international 4-year (2010–2013) study into diagnosing reading and writing. It seeks to identify the cognitive, affective and linguistic features which predict a learner’s strengths and weaknesses in those areas. We discuss the theories of reading that inform our attempts to diagnose L1 and L2 reading abilities and describe in some detail how comprehension and different cognitive processes related to reading have been operationalised in the first sub-study of DIALUKI, in which almost 900 learners of English as FL and Finnish as L2, aged 10–18, are studied cross-sectionally in Finland.