Cloze Test and C-test Revisited: Appraising Collocational Competence on Second Language Learners’ Performance

The current study tried to investigate the particular role of the text in EFL learners’ performance on three types of tests, i.e. cloze test, C-test and open-ended test. This study aimed at comparing three test types of cloze test, C-test and open-ended test in measuring collocational knowledge of Iranian EFL learners. This was a quantitative research. This type of research placed more emphases on collecting data in the form of numbers. To this end, 84 Persian EFL learners were selected. They were both male and female with intermediate and advanced proficiency groups. The results showed that advanced participants in all of these three tests performed much more efficiently compared to their intermediate peers and indicated more collocational competence. The findings of this study had some implications for language learners, EFL instructors and material developers.