Abstract
Written by Professor Karim Sadeghi, Assessing Second Language Reading: Insights from Cloze Tests is a timely and much-needed volume. It provides readers with a compelling counter-argument that cloze tests may not be a necessarily valid measure of second language (L2) reading comprehension in various international standardized and school-based proficiency tests. Cloze tests require test-takers to restore the deletion of random words, for example, every fifth word from a chosen text as a way to measure their reading comprehension. The title of Sadeghi's monograph – using cloze tests as a reading assessment tool – is considered “a point of uncertainty” (Trace, 2020: 235), because reading comprehension involves thinking, reasoning, problem-solving and metacognition. In addition, reading comprehension is a complex construct, which triggers the operation of numerous skills and subskills (Grabe and Jiang, 2014). Simply using cloze tests to measure L2 test-takers’ reading comprehension remains questionable.
Besides its central rebuttal, the book is contextualized within (1) the debate about reliability versus validity; (2) tensions between standardized testing versus classroom-based formative assessments; and (3) the issues of assessing general language proficiency versus assessing reading comprehension. Although cloze tests have high reliability, the author has challenged a deep-seated assumption that we should not take “the automatic validity” for granted, given that the construct validity of cloze tests remains under-represented, particularly when cloze tests are administered in constrained situations, such as close-ended items, timed conditions, a limited range of reading skills being assessed, etc. Regardless of the popularity of cloze tests, the author has proven that they did not statistically correlate with other measures of reading assessment. In fact, he emphasizes that cloze tests could impact students’ learning of reading at the classroom level. For example, teachers provide feedback on students’ analysis of errors on cloze tests (an instance of formative assessment practice). While cloze tests have been used to measure reading comprehension for a long time, the author has argued that until now, we have no conclusive evidence to understand what cloze tests are exactly measuring.
The book has 10 chapters. After an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 reviews research into reading with a focus on reading comprehension. Chapter 3 portrays the relationship among language, context and comprehension, which sets the scene for the multifaceted construct of reading comprehension. Chapter 4 describes the rationale, format, scoring and varieties of cloze tests. The findings are reported in Chapters 5–9. Chapter 5, a pilot study, examines whether a standard cloze test (easy, middle and difficult ones) can be a valid measure of English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension against a criterion reading comprehension test. Chapter 6 is the main study, exploring the criterion-related validity of the cloze procedure against two international reading comprehension tests. Chapters 7 and 8 are an interview study and a questionnaire study, respectively, looking into students’ perspectives of cloze tests, reading comprehension and their attitudes towards L2 reading tests. The penultimate chapter is a questionnaire study, exploring teachers’ perceptions about the judgmental validity of cloze tests and reading comprehension. Chapter 10 summarizes all the findings and suggests future research agendas.
Speaking of scholarly contributions, firstly, this seminal work adopts a mixed-methods approach to corroborate whether cloze tests are a valid measure of L2 learners’ reading comprehension by utilizing a range of instruments, including cloze tests of various levels of difficulties and designs, standardized reading comprehension tests, interview protocols and student and teacher judgmental validity questionnaires, as well as by employing a range of rigorous statistical analysis. Thus far, most scholarship examining the cloze procedure is primarily quantitative studies. Secondly, unlike other reading scholars, the author is daring enough to invest his efforts, energy and time into a doctorate study, which mainly produces negative evidence and counter-statements against the construct validity of cloze tests. After all, most studies tend to report constructive rather than disputable research results. This study is a rarity, challenging a long-standing belief that tried-and-tested assessment instruments must be trustworthy even without the need for further validations.
Thirdly, there is no denying that the author has profound knowledge on the topic under study in terms of breadth and depth. A case in point is that he has reviewed 287 studies in Chapters 2–4 across a timeline of 52 years, from 1968 to 2020, which is both exhaustive and remarkable within a 231-page sole-authored book. The topics covered in these three chapters include major assessment principles, theories about reading and reading comprehension, first language (L1) and L2 reading assessment, the cloze procedure, society and language development, discourse analysis, etc. Fourthly, this tome provides novice and seasoned scholars with professional insights into how they could measure learners’ reading comprehension with alternative assessment methods and instruments. For instance, requiring test-takers to complete random/rational cloze tests with synchronous online apps may facilitate test-takers’ reading performance in standardized tests. Providing adequate teacher training in utilizing cloze tests formatively at the classroom level is equally indispensable.
Similar to other scholarly output, this book has two minor limitations, which could be easily resolved in the second edition. Firstly, the author may consider including some authentic cloze tests with annotations to describe how they are administered in real testing contexts. With such vivid illustrations, readers may find it less taxing to conceptualize the function and actual use of cloze tests. Secondly, the author is suggested incorporating several classroom scenarios to demonstrate how cloze tests can be used to fulfil a pedagogical purpose other than their evaluative one, especially when cloze tests are used as a form of classroom-based formative assessment to align with the assessment for learning trend, namely student-generated cloze tests for peer and teacher feedback. Despite these negligible shortcomings, this monograph remains a most sought-after volume, which targets postgraduate students, assessment researchers, applied linguists, language testers, teacher trainers, university teachers and personnel of international examination and assessment organizations, that is, the Educational Testing Service. As the author has finally suggested, the validation of cloze tests is an ongoing battle. Scholars should think outside the box and identify innovative ways to measure L2 reading comprehension through either new versions of cloze tests or other alternatives that have proven to be reliable and valid concurrently.
