MetaMetrics Partners With the British Council Assessment Research Group to Examine Reading Comprehension for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Students
Research Grants Will Be Offered to Educational Institutions or Researchers that Evaluate and/or Interpret EFL reading comprehension to support the Aptis test and the Lexile Framework
DURHAM, NC — February 13, 2017 — MetaMetrics®, developer of the widely adopted Lexile® Framework for Reading, and British Council Assessment Research Group, the British Council’s division for language assessment, are excited to announce their research collaboration. The reading measurement and language assessment organizations are engaged in a joint research endeavor to examine how EFL students comprehend English reading materials. Through this research initiative, several grants are being offered to qualifying institutions and/or individuals.
MetaMetrics and British Council have worked together in the past in other research-related capacities. They partnered together to perform a study to link the British Council’s Aptis test system with the Lexile scale. The Lexile Framework is a scientific approach to reading measurement. The Lexile Framework evaluates the reading ability of a student and the text complexity of the reading materials he or she encounters on the same, developmental scale.
“The Research in Reading grants are an exciting new scheme that we hope will make a significant contribution to language testing researchers, test developers, and educators worldwide. It is that interaction and ability to link what we do in our tests of reading to the wider world outside the test, that has been a key motivation in our ongoing research collaboration with MetaMetrics and the Lexile scale,” said Jamie Dunlea, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, British Council. “We see these grants as another important way of making links across the teaching, learning, and testing of reading proficiency in EFL contexts, and hope that it will also help us form new relationships with researchers and educators working in those contexts who are interested in applying for the grants.”
The aim of the grants is to build insights into the interaction between features of text and reading tasks that impact comprehension and can inform teaching, learning, assessment and evaluation. These grants will support researchers around the world so they can conduct and disseminate the highest quality research. The British Council and MetaMetrics have identified two areas of interest for these grants: (1) reading comprehension and (2) growth in reading comprehension over time. In addition, the organizations anticipate that the results of the research will provide a body of validity evidence, which can support the use of the Lexile Framework and the Aptis assessment.
“The British Council Assessment Group is an established leader in language assessment for the EFL student population,” stated Malbert Smith III, Ph. D., CEO and Cofounder of MetaMetrics. “It is an honor and privilege to team with the British Council to ensure key research is being conducted on how EFL students comprehend and understand English materials.”
For more information on the grant proposals and how to apply, visit lexile.com/research-and-publications/grant-opportunities/.
About the British Council
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Their mission is to create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with. The Assessment Research Group are responsible for Product development, product support and for setting and monitoring the British Council’s research agenda for language assessment. For more information visit www.britishcouncil.org.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics is focused on improving education for learners of all ages and ability levels. The organization develops scientific measures of academic achievement and complementary technologies that link assessment results with real-world instruction. MetaMetrics’ products and services for reading (The Lexile® Framework for Reading, El Sistema Lexile® para Leer), mathematics (The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics) and writing (The Lexile® Framework for Writing) provide unique insights about academic ability and the potential for growth, enabling individuals to achieve their goals at every stage of development. Connect with the organization at: http://blog.lexile.com.