The Effect of Content Familiarity and Gender on EFL Learners’ Performance on MC Cloze Test and C-Test

Abstract

The present study has investigated the effects of familiar and unfamiliar content on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ performance on Multiple- choice (MC) cloze test and C-test. Also, it has intended to compare the effects of gender on the learners’ performance on MC cloze test with familiar and unfamiliar content as well as its effects on their performance on C-test with familiar and unfamiliar content. During the testing period, 107 examinees took an Oxford quick placement test and a homogeneous sample including 30 males and 30 females was selected. They were from Islamic Azad University Najafabad Branch ranged in age from 20 to 35. The first session of the research process was dedicated to MC cloze test with familiar and unfamiliar content and a week later, the second session to C-test with familiar and unfamiliar content. The results showed that the participants had more successful performance on two tests with familiar content. Moreover, the results indicated that gender had no significant effect on the participants’ performance on two tests.