Measuring the Measurement: A Preliminary Analysis of the Reading Skills Test Items of College English

Abstract

Measuring language knowledge is the main concern of language
testing. Measuring the language test, designed to assess the reading
skills of first year undergraduate students at Addis Ababa University,
is the major objective of this study.
Since early 1990s the Department of Foreign Languages and
Literature has made a significant change in the teaching of the
English language from traditional or teacher-centred to
communicative or learner-centred approach . Nevertheless, the
content, items, and format of the reading skills test of the course are
subject to critical investigation. To date, no research has been
undertaken to critically assess the capability of the reading skills test
per se to measure the reading skills of the examinees. In this paper, I
have attempted to