Abstracts
Résumé
Cette étude vise à examiner la présence de fonctionnement différentiel d’items selon le sexe des répondants dans un test de compréhension en lecture en anglais administré à 171 universitaires francophones. Deux méthodes non paramétriques sont utilisées : le test Mantel-Haenszel et le modèle de régression logistique. Sur un total de 64 items, deux présentent un fonctionnement différentiel selon le test Mantel-Haenszel, alors que cinq items supplémentaires ressortent par la régression logistique. Ce faible nombre d’items suggère une bonne équité du test, mais les différences observées soulignent la nécessité d’analyses additionnelles pour clarifier le statut de ces items.
Mots-clés :
- fonctionnement différentiel d’items,
- test de vérification de phrases,
- biais lié au sexe,
- test Mantel-Haenszel,
- modèle de régression logistique
Abstract
This study examines the presence of gender-based differential item functioning on a reading comprehension test in English administered to 171 French-speaking university students. Two non-parametric methods are used : the Mantel-Haenszel test and the logistic regression model. On a total of 64 items, two items are identified by the Mantel-Haenszel test, whereas five additional items are identified by logistic regression. This low number of items suggests reasonable fairness for the test, but the discrepancies observed stress the need for further analyses to clarify the status of those items.
Keywords:
- Differential item functioning,
- sentence verification technique,
- gender bias,
- Mantel-Haenszel test,
- logistic regression model
Resumen
El presente estudio se propone examinar la presencia de funcionamiento diferencial de los ítems según el género de los informantes en una prueba de comprensión de lectura en inglés administrada a 171 universitarios francófonos. Se utilizan dos métodos no paramétricos: la prueba de Mantel-Haenszel y el modelo de regresión logística. En un total de 64 ítems, dos presentan un funcionamiento diferencial según la prueba de Mantel-Haenszel, mientras cinco ítems más se destacan por la regresión logística. Este bajo número de ítems sugiere una buena equidad de la prueba, pero las diferencias observadas muestran la necesidad de análisis adicionales para aclarar el estatuto de estos ítems.
Palabras clave:
- funcionamiento diferencial de los ítems,
- prueba de verificación de frases,
- sesgo de género,
- prueba de Mantel-Haenszel,
- modelo de regresión logística
Appendices
Bibliographie
- Abbott, M. L. (2007). A confirmatory approach to differential item functioning on an ESL reading. Language testing, 24, 8-36.
- Aek, P. (2003). A closer look at gender and strategy use in L2 reading. Language learning, 53(4), 649-702.
- Al-Shumaimeri, Y. A. N. (2005). Gender differences in reading comprehension performance in relation to content familiarity of gender-neutral texts. Présentation faite au Second international conference : Language, culture and literature, Minia University, Égypte.
- Anderson, R. C. (1984). Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. Dans R. C. Anderson, J. Osborn et R. J. Tierney (Dir.) : Learning to read in American schools : basal readers and content texts. Hillsdale, New Jersey : Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Awuor, R. A. (2008). Effect of unequal sample sizes on the power of DIF detection : an IRT-based monte carlo study with SIBTEST and Mantel-Haenszel procedures. Thèse de doctorat inédite, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg : Virginie.
- Béland, S., Magis, D. et Raîche, G. (2011). Étude de l’habileté des sujets et de la détection du fonctionnement différentiel d’items dans le cadre du test de classement en anglais- langue seconde (TCALS-II). Dans J.-G. Blais et J.-L. Gilles (Dir.) : Évaluation des apprentissages et TIC. Québec, Québec : Presses de l’Université Laval.
- Bertrand, R. et Blais, J.-G. (2004). Modèles de mesure : l’apport de la théorie des réponses aux items. Montréal, Québec : Presses de l’Université du Québec.
- Block, E. (1992). See how they read : comprehension monitoring of L1 and L2 readers. TESOL quarterly, 26, 319-344.
- Bramski, D. et Williams, R. (1984). Lexical familiarization in economics text, and its pedagogic implications in reading comprehension. Reading in a foreign language, 2, 169-181.
- Brantmeier, C. (2003). Does gender make a difference ? Passage content and comprehension in second language reading. Reading in a foreign language, 15(1), 1-27.
- Bügel, K. et Buunk, B. P. (1996). Sex differences in foreign language text comprehension : the role of interests and prior knowledge. The modern language journal, 80, 15-31.
- Carrell, P. L. (1984). Schema theory and ESL reading : classroom implications and applications. The modern language journal, 68, 332-343.
- Carrell, P. L. (1987). Content and formal schemata in ESL reading. TESOL quarterly, 21, 461-481.
- Carrell, P. L. et Wise, T. E. (1998). The relationship between prior knowledge and topic interest in second language reading. Studies in second language acquisition, 20, 285-309.
- Chavez, M. (2001). Gender in the language classroom. Boston, Massachussetts : Heinle et Heinle
- Chen, Z. et Henning, G. (1985). Linguistic and cultural bias in language proficiency tests. Language testing,2(2), 155-163.
- Chiu, M. M. et McBride-Chang, C. (2006). Gender, context, and reading : a comparison of students in 43 countries. Scientific studies of reading, 10(4), 331–362.
- Clarke, M. A. (1980). The short-circuit hypothesis of ESL reading or when language competence interferes with reading performance. The modern language journal, 64, 203-209.
- De Boeck, P. et Wilson, M. (2004). Explanatory item response models. A generalized linear and nonlinear approach. New York, New Jersey : Springer.
- Doolittle, A. et Welch, C. (1989). Gender differences in performance on a college-level achievement test (ACT Research Report Series 89-9). Iowa City, Iowa : American college testing program.
- Ferreres-Traver, D. F., Fidalgo-Aliste, A. M. et Muniz, J. (2000). Detection of non-uniform DIF : Mantel-Haenszel and logistic regression methods. Psicothema, 12(Supplément 2), 220-225.
- Fox, J.-P. (2010). Bayesian item response modeling. Theory and applications. New York, New Jersey : Springer.
- Harper, S. N. et Pelletier, J. P. (2008). Gender and language issues in assessing early literacy group differences in children’s performance on the Test of Early Reading Ability (SAGE). Journal of psychoeducational assessment, 26(2), 185-194.
- Holland, P. W. et Thayer, D. T. (1985). An alternate definition of the ETS delta scale of item difficulty (rapport de recherche RR-85-43). Princeton, New Jersey : Educational testing service.
- Holland, P. W. et Thayer, D. T. (1988). Differential item performance and the Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Dans H. Wainer et H. I. Braun (Dir.) : Test validity. Hillsdale, New Jersey : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Hyde, J. et Linn, M. (1988). Gender differences in verbal activity : a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin,104, 53–69.
- Im, B.-B. et Huh, J.-H. (2007). Gender Differences in L2 proficiency test by test material. Journal of Pan-Pacific association of applied linguistics, 11(1), 1-15.
- Jodoin, M. G. et Gierl, M. J. (2001). Evaluating type I error and power rates using an effect size measure with logistic regression procedure for DIF detection. Applied measurement in education, 14, 329-349.
- Koh, M. Y. (1985). The role of prior knowledge in reading comprehension. Reading in a foreign language, 3, 375-380.
- Kunnan, A. J. (1990). DIF in native language and gender groups in an ESL placement test. TESOL quarterly, 24, 741-746.
- Lai, J-S., Teresi, J. et Gershon, R. C. (2005). Procedures for the analysis of differential item functioning (DIF) for small sample sizes. Evaluation and the health profession, 28, 283-294.
- Lord, F. M. (1980). Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems. Mahwah, New jersey : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Lynn R. et Graham, W. R. (1993). Sex differences in second-language ability : an Irish study. School psychology international, 14(3), 275-279.
- Lynn, R. et Mikk, J. (2009). Sex differences in reading achievement. Trames, 13(1), 3-13.
- Magis, D., Béland, S. et Raîche, G. (2011). difR 4.0 : Collection of methods to detect dichotomous differential item functioning (DIF) in psychometrics. Vienne, Autriche : R foundation for statistical computing.
- Magis, D., Béland, S., Tuerlinckx, F. et DeBoeck, P. (2010). A general framework and an R package for the detection of dichotomous differential item functioning. Behavior research methods, 42, 847-862.
- Miyake, A., Carpenter, P. A. et Just, M. A. (1994). A capacity approach to syntactic comprehension disorders : making normal adults perform like aphasic patients. Cognitive neuropsychology, 11(6), 671-717.
- Nagelkerke, N. J. D. (1991). A note on a general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrika, 78, 691-692.
- Pae, T.-I. (2004). Gender effect on reading comprehension with Korean EFL learners. System, 32, 265–281.
- Pichette, F. (2005). Time spent on reading and reading comprehension in second language learning. Canadian modern language review, 62(2), 243-262.
- Pichette, F., Lafontaine, M. et de Serres, L. (2009). A new tool for measuring L2 reading comprehension ability. Présentation faite au colloque EUROSLA. Cork, Irlande.
- Poole, A. (2005). Gender differences in reading strategy use among ESL college students. Journal of college reading and learning, 36(1), 7-20.
- Pulido, D. (2009). Vocabulary processing and acquisition through reading : evidence for the rich getting richer. Dans Z. Han et N. J. Anderson (Dir.) : Second language reading research and instruction : crossing the boundaries. Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press.
- R development core team (2011). R : a language and environment for statistical computing. Reference index. Vienne, Autriche : R foundation for statistical computing.
- Raîche, G. (2002). Le dépistage de sous-classement aux tests de classement en anglais, langue seconde, au collégial. Gatineau, Québec : Collège de l’Outaouais.
- Rosen, M. (2001). Gender differences in reading performance on documents across countries. Reading and writing, 14(1-2), 1-38.
- Royer, J. M. (2004). Uses for the sentence verification technique for measuring language comprehension. Amherst, Massachussets : Reading success lab.
- Royer, J. M., Hastings, C. N. et Hook, C. (1979). A sentence verification technique for measuring reading comprehension. Journal of reading behavior, 11, 355-363.
- Shealy, R. T. et Stout, W. F. (1993). A model-based standardization approach that separates true bias/DIF from group ability diffrences and detects tes bias/DIF as well as item bias/DIF. Psychometrika, 58, 159-194.
- Smith, F. (1994). Understanding reading : a psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read (5e édition). New York, New Jersey : Holt, Rinehart et Winston.
- Stevens, K. (1980). The effect of background knowledge on the reading comprehension of ninth graders. Journal of reading behavior, 12, 151-154.
- Swaminathan, H. et Rogers, H. J. (1990). Detecting differential item functioning using logistic regression procedures. Journal of educational measurement, 27, 361-370.
- White, B. (2007). Are girls better readers than boys ? Which boys ? Which girls ? Canadian journal of education, 30(2), 554-581.
- Wolf, M. et Gow, D. (1986). A longitudinal investigation of gender differences in language and reading development. First language, 6(17), 81-110.
- Yazdanpanah, K. (2007). The effect of background knowledge and reading comprehension test items on male and female performance. The reading matrix, 7(2), 64-80.
- Young, D. J. et Oxford, R. (1997). Gender-related analysis of strategies used to process written input in the native language and a foreign language. Applied language learning, 8(1), 43-73.
- Zheng, Y., Gierl, M. J. et Cui, Y. (2007). Using real data to compare DIF detection and effect size measures among Mantel-Haenszel, SIBTEST, and logistic regression procedures. Edmonton, Alberta : University of Alberta, Centre for research in applied measurement and evaluation.
- Zieky, M. (1993). Practical questions in the use of DIF statistics in item development. Dans P. W. Holland et H. Wainer (Dir.) : Differential item functioning. Hillsdale, New Jersey : Lawrence Erlbaum and associates.
- Zumbo, B. D. et Thomas, D. R. (1997). A measure of effect size for a model-based approach for studying DIF. Prince George, Colombie-Britanique : University of Northern British Columbia, Edgeworth Laboratory for Quantitative Behavioral Science.
- Zwick, R. et Ercikan, K. (1989). Analysis of differential item functioning in the NAEP history assessment. Journal of educational measurement, 26, 55-66.
- Zwick, R., Thayer, D. T. et Lewis, C. (1997) An investigation of the validity of an empirical Bayes approach to Mantel-Haenszel DIF analysis. ETS research report No. 97-21. Princeton, New Jersey : Educational testing service.