Measuring the Competence of Text and Picture Integration: Test Construction and Validation

• In Event: Psychometric Issues in Assessment in the Schools

Abstract

In spite of the importance of pictorial information sources for many educational settings the integrative comprehension of text and pictures is not systematically taught. To fill this gap a competence model of picture-text-comprehension was developed and a psychometric test to measure this competence was constructed. On basis of a pilot study (N=1060) appropriate items were selected and 4 grade specific test booklets were compiled. The main study (N=1051) examined the dimensionality of the test and the correlation of the test score with reading com-prehension, cognitive ability and school grades. The measurement model with one dimension showed the best fit, while the correlations indicated that the competence to integrate picture and text information is more than mere reading literacy.

Authors

• Mark Daniel Ullrich, University Frankfurt am Main

• Holger Horz, University Frankfurt am Main

• Wolfgang Schnotz, University of Koblenz-Landau