Uncertainty reduction in different languages through reading comprehension

In an exploratory study into the feasibility of constructing a multilingual reading comprehension test, parallel cloze tests were constructed in Czech, English, French, German, and Polish. Groups of children between the ages of eight and fourteen were tested on the version in their own mother tongue, in Prague (Czechoslovakia), in Saskatoon and Prince Albert (Canada), and in Paris (France), Frankfurt (Germany), and Warsaw (Poland). Test performance was assessed by means of a method which estimates the child's contribution to overall language redundancy. Results suggest that the method is both reliable and valid and has potential for the assessment of bilinguality of reading comprehension.