English abstract
The study aimed at developing a diagnostic test to determine whether students in grades (5-7) master the reading skills. The study also aimed at investigating the psychometric properties of the mastery decisions based on the test scores. The sample of the study consisted of (302) students from grades (5-7) in Al-Dhakiliya Governoräte . To achieve the aims of the study, a diagnostic test on reading skills was developed. It consisted of five subskills: phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Ajury of nine judges checked the appropriateness and instructions of the test. It was also administered to a pilot sample consisted of (57) students in grades (5-7).
The cut - off scores were determined by Angoff method to categorize students in grades (5-7). The mean of test item rating of sixteen experts in teaching English for these grades was calculated. Five cut- off scores were determined for each grade and for each subskill. The results of the cut-off scores ascend by grade. .
The psychometric properties of the mastery classification decisions were determined. The validity of the classification mastery decisions was verified by the descriptive validity, domain selection validity and the functional validity. The reliability was determined by Livingston index. The results showed that the diagnostic test of the reading skills has good validity and reliability.
