Chapter 8
Testing reading
comprehension
Chapter 8
Testing reading comprehension
I. The nature of the reading skills
II. Initial stages of reading: matching tests
III. Intermediate and advanced stages of
reading: matching tests
IV. True/false reading tests
V. Multiple choice items
VI. Completion items
VII. Rearrangement items
VIII. Cloze procedure
IX. Open – ended and miscellaneous items
X. Cursory reading
IV. True/false reading tests
one of the most widely used tests of
reading comprehension
The scoring: straightforward & quick
scoring obtained by the testees
very reliable indices of reading
comprehension if well constructed
and tests & enough items
Disadvantages of True/False items
(1) encourage guessing- 50%
chance of giving a correct answer
for each item;
(2) the base score is 50%, so the
average test difficulty is 75 %
the test may fail to discriminate
widely enough among the testees
unless a lot of items.
Some guidelines for True/False
items
Each item should be as clear and
concise as possible.
True/false reading tests are classified
into 2 categories:
(1) independent of a reading text;
(2) depending on a text.