Creation and Prevalidation of the Subtest Lecture de mots et de pseudomots [Reading of Words and Pseudowords] of the Test d'evaluation du langage ecrit quebecois [Quebec Evaluation of Written Language Test]

Most tools used in the province of Quebec for evaluating word-reading skills were created in Europe and are linguistically and psychometrically inadequate for assessing the reading skills of Quebec children. To address this lack of adapted tools, the Test d'evaluation du langage ecrit quebecois [Quebec Evaluation of Written Language Test] was created. The objectives of this study were to present the performance of elementary school children on one of its subtests (i.e., Lecture de mots et de pseudomots [Reading of Words and Pseudowords]) and to describe the psychometric qualities of this subtest. One hundred and nineteen French-speaking children in Grades 2 to 6, all typical readers, completed the subtest Lecture de mots et de pseudomots [Reading of Words and Pseudowords] of the Test d'evaluation du langage ecrit quebecois [Quebec Evaluation of Written Language Test] twice, 2 to 6 weeks apart. They also completed other tests assessing reading skills. The results indicate that children's reading accuracy and speed increase with grade level. They also indicate that the tool has good test-retest fidelity and excellent internal consistency. Performance on the subtest Lecture de mots et de pseudomots [Reading of Words and Pseudowords] correlates significantly with performance on other reading assessment tools, indicating satisfactory concurrent validity. In conclusion, this prevalidation suggests that the subtest Lecture de mots et de pseudomots [Reading of Words and Pseudowords] is appropriate for assessing lexical and phonological reading processes in Quebec elementary school children.