Reliability and applications of a grammar comprehension assessment test
López-Higes, R.ón.; Martín-Aragoneses, M.T.; Rubio-Valdehita, S.
Revista de Neurologia 50(7): 395-402
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 1576-6578 PMID: 20387209 Document Number: 643340
The sentence comprehension test from the sentence comprehension cognitive examination (ECCO) battery can be used to assess children and adults with grammar comprehension disorders by means of a simple verification procedure that requires few memory resources. AIM. To present a psychometric analysis of the sentence comprehension test based on the classical theory of tests and on item response theory, as well as several studies that show its usefulness for assessing grammar comprehension in different populations. The test was applied to 2238 subjects with ages ranging from 6 to 85 years. The analysis shows that the test has a high overall reliability and, through the age groups that were considered, it includes elements that are especially discriminating or informative (lexical and syntactic distractors) and is biased towards medium-low levels of the trait. In view of the results, the sentence comprehension test from the ECCO battery provides a reliable measure of grammar comprehension through a wide variety of constructions and has great potential value for use in the clinical and research domains.