A Review on the Principles of a Reading Comprehension Test Construction to Assess the Test Takers at Different Levels

Abstract

The aim of this review article is to explore the principles involved in testing reading abilities. It considers the key issues i.e. the selection of text for testing reading comprehension, item format, text length, use of different genres and the role of background knowledge to test individual student levels or processes. Most of the studies followed different taxonomies to test reading comprehension. Bloom’s taxonomy had extensively been used by many researchers to measure low and high order skills. The data was collected from different sources i.e. books and journals. Results, based on previous literature, showed that the construction of reading tests was highly dependent on the purpose of measuring intended skills or sub skills at lower and higher cognitive levels of the students. Text selection and its length, text type, item formats, background knowledge of test takers were considered according to the levels of test takers.