Online Reading Comprehension Assessment of Primary School Students: Analysis of Testing Behavior Indicators

Test-taking behavior in reading comprehension tests is explained, among other things, by meta-cognitive skills, which can be described by indicators of test behavior. These indicators include reading time, respondent-item interaction time, returning to the text, etc. This study is based on the analysis of the test-taking behavior of fourth graders (N=2168) during a reading comprehension test. Two types of indicators of test behavior were described: 1) timing and action speed control; and 2) nonlinear test navigation from item to item and returns to the text. Based on these indicators and using cluster analysis, we identified groups of students with typical patterns of behavior. These groups were described in the context of student gender and test score in the test. The results showed that the data about nonlinear transitions helps to find out the groups of students with regulatory difficulties, however the presence or absence of nonlinear transitions is not associated with test results. Higher results of students are associated with taking test in a linear pattern and a moderately long time.