Effective ways of assessment of reading comprehension

Abstract

At the first sight, testing reading comprehension seems easy and straightforward compared to productive skills. In testing oral abilities or writing there is hearable and seeable data to assess, while in receptive skills it is difficult to assess the process which occurs consciously or unconsciously in the brain system. However, taking any passage and designing simple items and addressing it to students cannot give the expected results on the measuring reading comprehension of students. Due to the unobservable process in reading assessment, designing reading tests cause major difficulties for test designers. For instance, on measuring a particular skill it is impossible to measure that particular skill since it is cannot be observed cause of conscious process in the brain and the teacher cannot know exactly student uses that particular skill which is intended to measure by the test designer. While reading there is several stages to achieve ultimate comprehension of the text including decoding the symbols into words, transforming the words into meaningful content, and understanding them. As a second language reader, this process may contain extra stages.