Reading in German versus reading in French: Are there different attributes that determine the difficulty of reading comprehension items in both languages?

The current study aims at identifying those cognitive and linguistic attributes that best describe and explain reading test performance in two languages, and of individuals with different language backgrounds. German and French language teachers from Luxembourg secondary schools were asked to rate a number of either German or French reading tasks with regard to a list of cognitive and linguistic attributes. The teachers’ item attribute ratings were then linked to the empirical data collected in a large-scale study among Luxembourg 9th graders. Based on the initial item-attribute assignments, ideal item-response patterns could be presumed and compared to real examinees’ response patterns by using a linear logistic test modeling approach. The results from the different modeling steps show (a) whether the theoretical assumptions underlying the difficulty in reading comprehension items hold, (b) whether they hold for both German and French, and (c) whether they hold for participants with different language backgrounds.