Working memory and reading comprehension: Measurement through reading span test and cloze type test for high-school and university levels

The significance that working memory has in the performance of various highly demanding cognitive tasks such as reading comprehension and, in turn, the impact it has on student performance has been examined in numerous studies applied to different levels of education. Therefore, standardized tests properly supported have been implemented in order to measure the degree of relationship between working memory and reading comprehension. The aim of this study is to assess such relationship by using reading span tests and cloze tests due to the fact that these instruments are not frequently used in conjunction in Hispanic American contexts. All of this takes place despite the practical development, application and analysis of tests made with questions embedded with (cloze) answers in open virtual learning platforms like Moodle.The results refer to a correlation for those over nineteen years of age, highly significant for women and significant for men, in part due to a higher proportion of undergraduates in both the instructional reading level as well as for fourth reading span level.