This article introduces a test for literary text comprehension in university students of English as a second language. Poetry is especially suited for our purpose since it frequently shows features that offer challenges to comprehension in a limited space. An example is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43, on which our test is based: it is suited for assessing not only if a text has been understood but also the ability of respondents to reflect on their own comprehension skills. We show that the test’s psychometric properties are satisfactory, and we demonstrate its validity by analysing relevant external indicators. Thus, we can show a direct link between general reading experience and text comprehension as tested: the more students read, the better do they perform. The collaboration of literary studies with psychometrics moreover allows for a statistically valid identification of specific challenges to comprehension and thus advance our knowledge of what readers find difficult. This will be of interest not only in a hermeneutic and linguistic perspective but also with a view to addressing those difficulties in an educational context. For example, asking someone whether they have understood an utterance (in this case: a line of poetry) does not elicit reliable answers. Being able to say how one has established the meaning of a line seems to be a more reliable indicator of actually having understood it.

本文介绍了英语作为第二语言的大学生文学文本理解的测试。诗歌特别适合我们的目的，因为它经常表现出在有限空间内对理解提出挑战的特征。一个例子是莎士比亚的十四行诗 43，我们的测试就是以此为基础的：它不仅适用于评估文本是否被理解，而且还适用于评估受访者反思自己理解能力的能力。我们证明了测试的心理测量特性是令人满意的，我们通过分析相关的外部指标证明了它的有效性。因此，我们可以展示一般阅读体验和文本理解之间的直接联系：学生阅读越多，他们的表现就越好。此外，文学研究与心理测量学的合作可以在统计上有效地识别特定的理解挑战，从而提高我们对读者发现困难的认识。这不仅在解释学和语言学的角度是有意义的，而且也是为了解决教育背景下的这些困难。例如，询问某人是否理解了一段话语（在这种情况下：一行诗）并不能得到可靠的答案。能够说出一个人如何确定一条线的含义似乎是一个更可靠的指标，表明它实际上已经理解了它。这不仅在解释学和语言学的角度是有意义的，而且也是为了解决教育背景下的这些困难。例如，询问某人是否理解了一段话语（在这种情况下：一行诗）并不能得到可靠的答案。能够说出一个人如何确定一条线的含义似乎是一个更可靠的指标，表明它实际上已经理解了它。这不仅在解释学和语言学的角度是有意义的，而且也是为了解决教育背景下的这些困难。例如，询问某人是否理解了一段话语（在这种情况下：一行诗）并不能得到可靠的答案。能够说出一个人如何确定一条线的含义似乎是一个更可靠的指标，表明它实际上已经理解了它。