Research · October 2015 doi: 10. 13140/RG

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Testing Reading
Research
· October 2015
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4171.8484
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Fernandes Arung
Universitas Sembilanbelas November Kolaka
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Language Testing & Evaluation 
Fernandes Arung 
2013 
1 
TESTING READING 
 
Abstract 
This paper focuses on testing reading which provides four general 
types of test, and the purposes of the test which distinct between a 
test itself and the assessment. This paper provides the general 
preparations prior to conducting the test but each test is completed 
also with special feature of preparation and what points to be 
assessed. The significance of this paper is hopely to provide teachers 
in conducting the test especially testing reading so that they can 
understand what testing reading is, what to assess, how to prepare it, 
and how to cunduct it. 
A. Introduction 
Reading is an art to comprehend the writers’ aim to be connected to the readers’ 
conceptualization. The art here refers to an aesthetics and reliability to what is being 
read. The art refers to as finding out a burried treasures from a word, phrase, 
sentence, paragraph, and discourse. Comprehending; reading context, means the 
ability to understand written text in order to get the gist of what is written. 
Conceptualization refers to a prior knowledge of the reader that is being in reader’s 
mind used as a flexible filter in doing reading. In order to understand what reading is 
and how to do and improve it, it is better to see what Shepherd & Mitchell showed as 
follow: 
In order to understand how we read and how reading may be improved, we must 
first look a little at how the eye works. Light entering the eye is focused by the 
lens onto the retina, which lines the inside of the eye. The retina itself consists of 
hundreds of millions of tiny cells responsive to light. Some cells - the cones - 
respond to specific colors; others - the rods - to the overall light intensity. These 
cells are connected to a web of nerves extending over the retina, which relay 
information to the visual cortex. The centre of the retina, called the fovea, is a 
small area in which the cells are much more tightly packed, so that the perception 
of images falling on the fovea is much sharper and more detailed than elsewhere 
on the retina. When we focus our attention on something, the light from that item 
is focused onto the fovea - this is called a fixation (Shepherd & Mitchell, 1997) 

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Language Testing & Evaluation 
Fernandes Arung 
2013 
2 
Reading is not easy as what people think, it needs an intereset as the substantive 
step to go on reading comprehension. Many other things needed to do reading to go 
further to the level of keen on reading then to the level of reading fluency and 
comprehension.
In order to know such level of reading, it is important to do a test and assessment. 
The previous research showed reading comprehension as a low achievement. The 
National Center for Education Statistic (2002) in Rathvon (2004) reported as follows: 
On the 2002 NAEP reading assessment, 36% of fourth graders scored at the 
Below Basic level in reading, indicating that they are unable to read and 
comprehend a simple paragraph from a grade-level text. Moreover, there are 
profound differences in reading achievement among racial/ethnic groups. 
Among African American, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native 
students, the respective percentages of fourth graders reading at the Below 
Basic level were 60%, 56%, and 49%, compared with 25% and 30% for 
white and Asian/Pacific Islander students (National Center for Education 
Statistics, 2002). 
Again, reading comprehension is not easy to do. In Asia, it indicated that the 
students in fourth graders were very low in reading ability and in comprehending a 
simple paragraph from a grade-level text. Rathvon further said that “many questions, 
controversies, and challenges remain regarding the most effective way of identifying 
children at risk for reading problems”. 
Testing reading is important to do in order to evaluate the aspects that can be 
used to arise the effective way of analyzing and identifying the needs to be put into 
account concern reading.