Assessment: Reading Comprehension Assessment

ASSESSMENT
ASSESSING READING
COMPREHENSION
READING COMPREHENSION ASSESSMENT
Harris (1996), provide some aspects to be measured in reading
comprehension assessment as follows:
•Language and graphic symbols cover understanding vocabulary
meanings, grammatical patterns, and graphic symbols
(punctuation, capitalization, italicization, etc).
•Ideas cover identifying the writer's purpose and central idea,
understanding the subordinate ideas that support the main ideas,
and drawing conclusions and inferences.
•Tone and style cover understanding the author's attitude toward
the subject and understanding the tone of writing and identifying
the methods and stylistic devices by which the author conveys his
ideas.
STANDARDIZED READING ASSESSMENT TASK
FORMATS
•Heaton (1991, p.105): word matching, sentence matching,

pictures and sentence matching for initial stages of reading;
matching tests for intermediate and advanced stages; true/false
reading tests, multiple choice items, completion, rearrangement,
cloze procedure, open-ended and miscellaneous items, and
cursory reading.
•Brown (2004, p.190): reading aloud, written response, multiple

choice, picture-cued items, matching test, editing, gap filling test,
cloze test, C-test, cloze-elide test, short-answer test, ordering test,
and summarizing test.
• Alderson (2000, p. 202) has Multiple-Choice, Cloze Test,
Gap-Filling Test, Matching, ordering, Editing, cloze-elide,
short-answer, free-recall, summary, gapped summary,
information-transfer.
---------------------------------
Thus, standardized reading assessment task formats could be:
• Cloze
• Gap-ﬁlling formats (rational cloze formats)
• C-tests (retain initial letters of words removed)
• Cloze elide (remove extra word)
• Text segment ordering
• Alderson (2000, p. 202) has Multiple-Choice, Cloze Test,
Gap-Filling Test, Matching, ordering, Editing, cloze-elide,
short-answer, free-recall, summary, gapped summary,
information-transfer.
---------------------------------
Thus, standardized reading assessment task formats could be:
• Cloze;
• Gap-filling formats (rational cloze formats);
• C-tests (retain initial letters of words removed);
• Cloze elide (remove extra word);
• Text segment ordering;
• Text gap;
• Choosing from a “heading bank” for identified paragraphs;
• Multiple-choice;
• Sentence completion;
• Matching (and multiple matching) techniques;
• Classification into groups;
• Dichotomous items (T / F / not stated, Y / N);
• Editing;
• Short answer;
• Free recall;
• Summary (1 sentence, 2 sentences, 5–6 sentences);
• Information transfer (graphs, tables, flow charts, outlines,
maps);
• Project performance;
• Skimming;
• Scanning.
INFORMAL ASSESSMENT FORMATS
1. Have students read aloud in class and evaluate their reading.
2. Keep a record of student responses to questions in class after a
reading.
3. Keep notes on student participation in class discussions on a
reading.
4. Observe what reading material is read during free reading or
SSR.
5. Observe how much time students spend on tasks during free
reading or SSR.
6. Have students do paired readings and observe.
7. Observe students reading with an audiotape or listen to an
audiotaped reading.
———
8. Have students list the strategies they have used while reading.
9. Have students list words they want to know after reading and
why.
10. Have students keep diaries or reading journals.
11. Have students write simple book reports.
12. Have students recommend books.
13. Ask students about their reasons for choosing specific
answers in reading tasks and activities.
14. Ask students about their reading progress.
15. Ask students about their goals for reading with various texts
and tasks.
———
16. Keep charts of student readings.
17. Keep charts of student reading-rate growth.
18. Record how far a student reads on an extended reading task.
———
19. Have a student read and then discuss the text (one-on-one).
20. Have a student read aloud for the teacher/tester and make
notes, or use a checklist or note miscues on the text (one-on-
one).
21. Have students do think-aloud while reading (one-on-one).
———
22. Have students enact a scene / episode / event from a text.
23. Note the uses of texts in a multistep project and discuss it.
24. Have students ﬁll out simple questionnaires of interests and
engagement levels in various tasks.
———
25. Create student portfolios of reading activities or progress
indicators.

References and Recommended Reading
• Alderson, J. Charles. 2000. Assessing Reading. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
• Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and
Classroom Practices. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
• Harris, David P. (1969). Testing English as a Second
Language. New York: Mc. Graw Hill.
• Heaton, J. B. 1991. Writing English Language Tests. New
York: Longman.
• https://translate.google.com/translate?
hl=id&sl=en&u=https://www.cambridge.org/elt/resources/app
liedlinguistics/testing/ReadingInA2ndLanguage_Sample_Ch1
7.pdf&prev=search&pto=aue

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ASSESSMENT

•Heaton (1991, p.105): word matching, sentence matching,

•Brown (2004, p.190): reading aloud, written response, multiple

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