A Comparative Analysis of Multiple choice and Cloze Tests in Terms of Reading Comprehension and Reader Proficiency Levels

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between multiple choice tests and cloze tests, and to evaluate the consistency of both test types in determining reading proficiency levels. A total of 102 middle school students from the seventh and eighth grades participated in the study. The findings revealed a strong positive correlation between scores on multiple choice and cloze tests, and that cloze test scores significantly predicted performance on the multiple choice test. These results suggest that both test types assess common cognitive processes and can be used as complementary tools for evaluating reading comprehension. Additionally, the study investigated the predictive power of multiple choice questions at different cognitive levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy on cloze test performance. Among these, questions targeting the analysis level demonstrated the strongest predictive effect. While questions at the remembering and understanding levels also significantly predicted cloze test performance, those at the application level did not yield a significant effect. This indicates that cloze tests are particularly related to midlevel cognitive processes, such as text analysis and comprehension. The analysis also revealed limited agreement between the two test formats in classifying students’ reading proficiency levels, with more than half of the participants being placed in different categories depending on the test type. These findings underscore the limitations of relying solely on a single test format and highlight the necessity of using diverse assessment tools to ensure a more comprehensive evaluation of reading skills.