Processes of Taking Cloze Tests

The argumentation on what cloze measures has run for a long time and is still very much open now. With different forms of cloze, researchers do not reach a consensus over the questions such as whether different cloze tests can measure similar construct or which one is more effective in testing overall language proficiency. This book, therefore, compares the two popular cloze tests in language testing, namely, banked MC cloze and separate item MC cloze, and aims at figuring out whether the two types of cloze with the same passage and same items tested can measure the same language ability. To this end, paper tests and think-aloud experiments were carried out to validate what cloze really measures. The analyses of both quantitative data and think-aloud protocol should help shed some light on the long-run argumentation and offer some constructive suggestions to the development of the cloze tests and foreign language teaching in the Chinese context. In this sense, the book should be useful to professionals in language testing, or anyone else who has interests in test designing and foreign language teaching.