Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach

Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)

Cloze Tests:
An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph D!
"ni versi t# o$ Al-%ustansi ri #ah
Col l ege o$ &asi c 'ducati on,
C()*' T'+T+: an integrative approach
Introduction
One of the axioms of language testing is that the purpose of a test affets the
nature of that test, i.e., if the e!aluators are after the de!elopment of onsious
"nowledge of grammatial strutures and !oabular# items, the# ha!e to use
disrete-point approah to testing. $ut if the# are after the de!elopment of the
language s"ills the learners need when the# use the target language in real
transational situations at home or o!erseas, then the# ha!e to adopt integrati!e
approah to language testing.
Ob!iousl#, the starting-point for language instrution is to e%uip its learners
with the s"ills that enable them to use the target language interati!el#.
&herefore the integrati!e approah to language teahing and learning should be
adopted. &hus the problem of the present stud# stems from the fat that the
disrete-point approah whih is widel# adopted in testing the language abilit#
of 'ra%i learners of (nglish does not ater !er# well for the purposes behind
teahing (nglish in 'ra%. As a result, there is a !alidit# tension between the
purposes behind teahing (nglish in this ountr# and what is atuall# ensured b#
the tests used for the e!aluation of those purposes. &o pro!ide a solution for this
tension, the present stud# is meant to suggest the use of some other e!aluati!e
tehni%ues whih are apable of measuring the aspets that are immeasurable b#
the disrete-point tests suh as text oherene and ontextual onstraints. )uh
aspets annot be measured at the sentential le!el whih most of the disrete-point
tests wor" at.
&o be speifi and profound in the disussion of the topis presented in this
stud#, the researher is going to limit himself to the disussion of lo*e tests as an
example of integrati!e tests.
'n order to suggest or use an# testing tehni%ue, it is %uite neessar# to ha!e
"nowledge of all its harateristi features, the t#pe of s"ills it measures and the

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
merits and drawba"s of that tehni%ue. &he merits and draw ba"s of lo*e tests
are disussed through the presentation of eah t#pe. )ine the researher tend to
suggest the use of lo*e tests in the e!aluation of 'ra%i learners+ ahie!ement in
(nglish, therefore, the following points are going to be disussed-
'. 'ntegrati!e .anguage testing.
''. /lo*e tests-
a. /onstrution of lo*e tests
b. /lo*e tests as integrati!e tas"s
. &#pes of lo*e tests
d. )oring the test
e. 0ses of lo*e tests
'''. /onlusions.
'1. 2eommendations.
I Integrative (anguage testing
&he emergene of the integrati!e approah to language teahing and testing is
assoiated with two trends of ontemporar# linguistis. &he first is alled the
language ompetene trend whih is onneted with !arious !iews of
ps#holinguistis. 't is based on a belief in suh a thing as o!erall language
profiien# whih is represented in the innate abilit# of people to generate infinite
number of no!el utteranes through using a definite number of linguisti rules
(3ule, 4567-68) and a feeling that the "nowledge of language is more than 9 ust
the sum of a set of disrete parts, ( )pols"#, 4587-:;o).&he seond is the
ommuniati!e trend whih is onneted with !iews of modern soio-linguistis. 't
is assoiated with the notion that .anguage learners should not onl# be able to
produe forms that are grammatiall# orret but also the# should be able to
produe language suitable to a gi!en soial situation.
<hen the aims of language teahing shift toward the de!eloping of learners+
ommuniati!e ompetene, language testing should also aim at testing the use
of language as a tool of purposeful and soial ommuniation. &he e!aluation o f
suh notions re%uires the use of language at the suprasentential or disourse le!el.
&his is partiularl# wh# the researher is interested in lo*e tests as an integrati!e
t#pe of tests whih wor" at the textual le!el.
&o support the use of the integrati!e approah to language testing, Da!ies
(4586-:46) states three arguments. &he first is that language, in its essene, is not
a set of unrelated bits. &herefore, these bits should be taught and tested in an
integrati!e form. &he seond is that language use is purposeful. &he purpose is
alwa#s ommuniati!e. &herefore, what should be tested is the ommuniati!e
abilit# and not formal linguisti "nowledge (Da!ies, ibid- :47). &he third
argument is that the disrete-point approah to language testing is too general to be
of an# !alue and what is re%uired is a speifi test to test a speifi purpose.

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
An essential issue in the urrent disussion on integrati!e language testing
onerns the nature of the theoretial base on whih language tests are onstruted
(=orrow, 4588, Da!ies, 4586, /arroll, 456>).&he need for theoretial insights in
the prodution of language tests led to a distintion between what is alled onstrut
!alidit# on the one hand, and ontent !alidit# on the other. /onstrut !alidit#,
aording to Anastasi (4584- 4;;) is-
&he extent to whih the test ma# be said to measure a theoretial onstrut
or trait... (ah onstrut is de!eloped to explain and organi*e obser!ed
response onsistenies. 't deri!es from established interrelationships among
beha!ioural measures...fousing on a broader, more enduring and more abstrat
"ind of beha!ioural desription. /onstrut !alidation re%uires the gradual
aumulation of information from a !ariet# of soures.
As for ontent !alidit#, it is defined as the s#stemati examination of the test
ontent to determine whether it o!ers a representati!e sample of the beha!iour
domain to be measured (Anastasi, ibid- 4?4). &o establish ontent !alidit# in an
integrati!e test is problemati beause of the wide sope of disourse to be
sampled. Another problem of ontent !alidit# ma# arise out of attempting to
operationalise real life beha!iour in a test espeiall# where some sort of
%uantifiation is neessar# in the method of assessment. @owe!er, aording to
<eir (4566-:A), Bthese diffiulties do not Cpre!ent D test onstrutors from
attempting to ma"e tests as rele!ant in term of
ontent as is possible+.
Aording to Oller (4585-8>), integrati!e tests must meet two naturalness
riteria- Eirst, the# must re%uire the learner to utili*e normal ontextual
onstraints on se%uenes in the language, and seond, the# must re%uire
omprehension and possibl# prodution of meaningful se%uenes of elements in
the language in relation to extra-linguisti ontexts. )uh riteria re%uire the use
of texts that possess the following features, (=orrow, 4588).
a. Interaction &ased: 't is represented b# fae-to-fae on!ersation whih
re%uires the modifiation of expression and ontent aording to the situation
in whih the interation ta"es plae.
b. "npredictibilit#: 'n real-life situations, listenersFreaders do not "now what
the spea"ersFwriters are going to sa# or write unless the# spea" or write.
&herefore, the proess of unpreditable data in real life is a !ital aspet of
using language.
. Conte1t-&ound: An# use of language must ta"e plae in a ontext, and
the appropria# of an# linguisti form !aries in aordane with that
ontext. 'n order to use language effiientl#, language users must be able to
handle texts in term of-
i. .inguisti ontext or o-text. &he ontext identifies whih meaning is
intended in a partiular sentene or utterane, .
ii. /ontext of situation whih is related to the ph#sial en!ironment,

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
role and status of partiipants, formalit#, et.
d. Purpose$ulness: it is %uite ob!ious that when people use language the#
ha!e ertain purposes to ommuniate to others.&herefore it is %uite important
that language users must be able to understand wh# a ertain remar" has
been addressed to them and be able to send suitable messages to ahie!e their
own purposes.
e. Authenticit#: An authenti text is a text writtenFspo"en b# a real writerF spea"er
for a real purpose. &his entails that the language materials to be presented to
the andidates should be ta"en from offiial douments, dail# newspapers,
maga*ines, no!els, short stories, et., beause what is presented in these
publiations is written b# real writers for real purposes in mind and for
speifi audiene. Aording to =orrow (4588), measuring the abilit# of the
andidate to read a simplified text tells nothing about his atual ommuniati!e
abilit#, sine an important feature of suh abilit# is preisel# the apait# to
handle the use of language in natural ontexts.
't is laimed b# Oller (4585-?8) that integrati!e tests go be#ond the
measurement of a limited part of language ompetene ahie!ed b# disrete-point
tests with their bias toward testing the reognition s"ills. @e argues that if
disrete-point tests ta"e language s"ills apart, integrati!e tests put them together.
@e reommends lo*e tests as a good example, of integrati!e tests and
maintained that, Blinguisti tests suh as lo*e tests re%uire performane under
real-life onstraints, e.g., time.... &he# are also pratial to administer, eonomial
to set and mar". &hus the present researh is going to in!estigate whether lo*e
tests meet the riteria of integrati!e tests or not.
Aording to Oller (4585-?A), integrati!e tests should meet two natural
riteria- 4.the# demand utili*ing normal ontextual onstraints on se%uenes in the
use of language, and :.omprehending and produing of meaningful se%uenes of
elements in the language in relation to extra-linguisti ontext. As suh,
integrati!e tests are onsidered as e!aluati!e measures of assessing the effiien#
of the learnerBs grammar of expetan#, (Oller, 4585, <eir, 4566). &his
grammar enables the learner to predit a forthoming message and to plan what to
sa# ahead of what is said, (2ionda, 4564).
4. 'n 'ra%, if the eduational authorities want to measure auratel# the le!el of
their learnersB linguisti profiien#, the# should be- less "een on the use of
disrete-point tests beause measuring language profiien# is not a matter
of "nowing the orret answer to a batter# of disrete items.
:. =ore interested in the de!elopment of tests to measure potential suess in the
use of (nglish in the prodution and omprehension of language Gelements that
go be#ond the sentential le!el, i.e., to wor" at the le!el of disourse. &o appl#
suh e!aluati!e measures, the approah to language teahing should be
shifted toward integrati!e approahes instead of the audio-lingual approah
whih is minimalist in nature.

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
II Cloze Tests
/lo*e tests ha!e reei!ed onsiderable attention from both test designers and
teahers of (nglish sine the 458>Bs. People li"e /onrad (458>), Oller (458?,
458A, 4585) and Porter (458A) ha!e onluded from their studies of lo*e tests
that these tests are %uite !aluable to the fields of language learning in general and
language testing in partiular . /lo*e proedure is onsidered a !er# good
teahing de!ie. Eilling in a gap in a lo*e exerise is not 9ust a matter of
perei!ing loal redundan# but rather in!ol!es an awareness of the flow of
disourse aross sentenes. 'n fat, to omplete a lo*e passage orretl# re%uires
the learners to ha!e linguisti, textual and sometimes world "nowledge. &his will
be displa#ed later on.
A Construction o$ the Test
/lo*e tests were in!ented b# <. &a#lor in 457?. &a#lor was
influened b# the Hestalt )hool of Ps#holog# whih experimented with BlosureB.
/losure, b# their definition, was the proess of relating to the pereption of inomplete
geometrial figures b# subonsiousl# filling in inomplete details. &a#lor applied
this theor# to language testing whih was then extended to beome a proedure b#
itself. Aording to Alderson (4585), Blo*e proedureB is used in three different
wa#s. &he first is the s#stemati deletion of words where Bs#stematiB is not
defined. &he seond wa# ta"es the word Bs#stematiB and di!ides it into two t#pes of
s#stems- either a random deletion of words, or a rational one. &he third, whih is
inreasingl# ommon in the literature, is the deletion of e!er# fifth word from a
text. As for non-nati!e language learners, the rate of deletion ranges from e!er# fifth
to e!er# tenth word depending on the age and le!el of the learner.
A lo*e test usuall# onsists of a passage of (:7> -7>>) words in whih words
are deleted at standard inter!als and replaed b# standard blan" spaes. <hen
preparing a lo*e test, it is ad!isable to lea!e the first sentene unrnutilated and to
begin the deletion at some point in the seond sentene. )ome test designers prefer
to lea!e a ertain number of unmutilated sentenes at the end of texts to at as
guide .@owe!er, Oller (l585) thin"s that it is unneessar# to lea!e unmutilated
sentenes at all though he admits that there is no harm in lea!ing suh sentenes. 't has
also been pointed out b# some researhers that at some times disretionar#
9udgetnent must be used, espeiall# when appl#ing the fixed-ratio method. Eor
example, if the word whih is supposed to be deleted is a proper noun or a low
fre%uen# word la"ing ommon s#non#ms, the test designer ma# delete an
ad9aent word instead (Oller, 4585-?;7).
.et us onsider the following example ta"en from /arman and @ughes(456?-?)-I
People in developing countries are, it444 (.!, being persuaded b#
advertising that a$$luent 444 (,! nor5all# s5o6e, though non-s5o6ers
outnu5ber s5o6ers444- (7! &ritain, the "nited states, &elgiu5,
+witzerland, +weden4 (8!other 'uropean countries
&he rate of deletion in the abo!e example is, of ourse, e!er# se!enth word .

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
$ut when we onsider the fourth blan", we see that the se!enth word is B)wedenB.
)ine B)wedenB is a proper noun, therefore, the following word whih is BandB is
deleted instead.
't is laimed b# Alderson (4585) and Oller(4585) that 9ust an# text be it old or new
an be suitable to hoose for a lo*e test though the# admit that this does not mean
that a teaher or other eduators &his example and all the other examples gi!en in
this stud# are meant for illustrati!e purposes onl# and are not representati!e
in length or gradation of diffiult# or ontent.
would ne!er want to use a lo*e test without some sense of the le!el and s"ill
of the students for whom the test was intended. Oller (4585-?A;) warns test designers
against using texts that are disturbing or emotionall# harged sine suh texts
would distrat the attention of the testees from the main problem set b# the test.
&herefore, passages that deal with topis suh as abortion, apital punishment, sex
matters, et., are better a!oided.
'n order to moti!ate the testees to answer the test, the instrution should tell how
exatl# the test wor"s &here is no harm in gi!ing the instrution of the test in the
mother tongue .&he instrution ma# read as follows-
This is a passage where ever# (44th! word is deleted :irst, read through
the passage to the end, and then go through it again tr#ing to $ill each blan6
with ;ust one word <uess i$ #ou are not sure which word has been le$t
out Abbreviation ("='+C)!, contraction (doesn>t!, dates (8th, %a#! and
h#phenated words (5id-wic6et! count as one word
& Cloze Tests as Integrative Tas6s
't is important to state at the outset of our disussion that not e!er# fill-in-the-blan"
test is an integrati!e one. Eill-in-the-blan" tests that wor" at the sentential le!el and
do not re%uire the proessing of long strethes of disourse and are dis9ointed
annot be onsidered as integrati!e. &a"e for example the following %uestion whih
is ta"en from the mid-#ear examination of one of the best intermediate shools
in $aghdadI. &he rubri of the %uestion reads, Eill in the blan"s with the words from
the list below. CEertile, suppl#, ash, experiments, dams, stops, safel#D.
4. /ould #ou JJ this tra!eler+s he%ue, pleaseK
:. JJJJ are used to store water and ontrol its flow.
?. &he pilot made man# JJJJ during the 9ourne#.
;. 'ra% is a JJJJJ ountr#.
7. &he aeroplane landed JJJJJ at the airport.
A %ui" glane at the list of words shows that the words ha!e nothing in
ommon among them and the sentenes of the items are disonneted. (ah item
attempts to fous attention on one lexial item at a time without ha!ing an# sort
of integration with the one before it or the one after it. &he whole test fouses on
one aspet of one language s"ill, i.e., onl# on reognition of !oabular# items. &he
sum up of these items annot form a oherent disourse. &here are no ohesi!e de!ies
among the sentenes of the test. As a result, suh a test annot be integrati!e.

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
I A.-Hharbia 'ntermediate )hool, =id-3ear (xamination in (nglish, :>>>-:>>4.
<hat is different in a mere fill-in-blan" test whih belongs to disrete-p>int
tests and a lo*e test is that the items in a lo*e test are integrated, i.e., in order to fill
the blan", the testee has to proess se%uenes of elements in a language that
onform to the normal ontextual onstraints of that language and has to deal
with man# language s"ills simultaneousl#. Aording to Oller (4585), in order to gi!e a
orret response in a Blo*e testB, the examinee must operate on the bases of both
immediate and long-range ontextual onstraints. &herefore, to larif# and exemplif#
the abo!e-mentioned statement, onsider the following sample of a B lo*e testB ta"en
from /hihara et al. (4588)-
John is a freshman and heJJJha!ing all the problems that mostJJJha!e. As
a matter of fat, hisJJJ started before he e!en left home.JJJhad to do lot of
JJJthat he did not li"e to do beause he was going to goJJJJto ollege. .
'f we onsider the first blan", we see that it an be filled simpl# b# obser!ing the
immediate ontextual onstraint, i.e., what omes immediatel# before and after the
blan". )ine we ha!e a singular sub9et before the blan" and an (JJ ing) form of
the main !erb whih is in the ati!e mood after it, therefore, the blan" must be filled with
one form of !erb to be. &he seond blan" annot be deided b# merel# obser!ing what
omes immediatel# before or after the ban" but b# going ba" to the fourth word in the
first sentene. 'f we ha!e of the word BfreshmanB the word BmehaniB then the answer will
be BmehaniB. &his means that the fourth word of the first sentene deides what is
to be used in the seond blan". &he same thing is appliable to the third blan" whih
is to be deided b# the fat that B John is ha!ing a problemB, et.
&he language s"ills and aspets needed to answer the test orretl# are a-
reading omprehension, b-ditation, -puntuation
(blan" ; the BhB of the word B@eB should be written in apital letter, d-s#ntati
information e-ontextual onstraints, and f-the abilit# to ater for ohesion and
oherene in the gi!en text. 'n order to delimit the range of information whih a
learner needs to utili*e to answer suessfull# a Blo*e testB, Oller (4585-;?) states-
'n ta"ing a lo*e test, the examinee must utili*e information that is inferred
about the fats, e!ents, ideas, relationship, states of affairs, soial settings and the
li"e that are pragmatiall# mapped b# the linguisti se%uenes ontained a passage.
&he abo!e %uotation tells us that answering a lo*e test re%uires the utili*ation
of disourse le!el onstraints as well as strutural onstraints of intra and inter-
sentential relationships.
&his partiular %ualit# inludes lo*e tests among integrati!e tests. &he fat
that lo*e test is onsidered as an integrati!e test has been a"nowledge b# man#
researhers li"e (Oller, 458A and 4585, /hihara, 4588, Alderson, 4585, Llein-
$arle#, 4564, <eir, 4566, Peire, 455:).
C T#pes o$ cloze Tests:
&here are fi!e ma9or t#pes of lo*e tests, namel#- 4) standard lo*e test, :) modified
lo*e test, ?) multiple-hoie lo*e test, ;) -test and 7) lo*e elide.

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
4- +tandard cloze tests: 'n this t#pe of lo*e tests, the deletion rate is mehaniall#
set. 't is between e!er# 7
th
and 4>
lh
word. &he examinee has to fill eah blan" with
the word whih he she thin"s ha!e been deleted at standard inter!als and replaed
b# a standard blan" spae.
:- %odi$ied cloze tests: &his t#pe of lo*e tests is used to monitor the progress of a
lass or an indi!idual b# onentrating on items of grammar or !oabular#. A
rational s#stem of deletion is followed, i.e., the deletion is deided b# the
examiner aording to the purpose of the test. 'f the purpose is to test grammar,
then funtion words, !erb tenses and the li"e grammatial aspets are deleted. 't
has been argued that a modified lo*e test has the ad!antages of being more
pratial as it would not ta"e extra time to produe, the results would be easier to
interpret sine the# #ield themsel!es to %uantifiation and ertain wea" deletions
whih ha!e been mentioned earlier in this stud# ould be a!oided and replaed
b# more meaningful grammatial and lexial items. 'n spite of all the abo!e-
mentioned merits of modified lo*e tests, a standard lo*e test with its random
deletion is loser to the post-modern or integrati!e approah to language testing
beause of its reliane on ontextual onstraints. $elow is an example of a modified
lo*e test with rational deletion.
=# brother and ' sometimes go to a football math. .ast Erida#, we saw a math
JJJJwe greatl# en9o#ed.JJJJ two teamsJJJfast and s"ilful. &he
forwards maneu!eredJJJshot hard and straight JJJ.
Answers: .! which, ,! the, 7! were, 8! and
'f we loo" at the deleted words, we an see that the# are all funtion
words. &his lists the test under the label of disrete-point tests rather than
integrati!e.
?- %ultiple-choice cloze tests: =ultiple-hoie lo*e tests are a ompromise
between modern and post-modern testing methods. &his ompromise does
ine!itabl# hange the nature of the test and let it fall s%uarel# into the ps#hometri
domain. 't is ob9eti!e and reliable but does not neessaril# test the o!erall language
abilities of the examinee ( <eir, 4566).
An ob!ious ritiism of this test is that it would ta"e too long to prepare beause
it is not eas# to find distraters that are losel# related to the orret hoie to
at as strong and funtioning distraters. 't is uneonomial in time, efforts and
mone#. /onsider the following example of a multiple-hoie lo*e test.
<hile ' was standingJJ4JJa red light at the orner, a #ellow ar :Jthe
light and hit a blue ar whih was J?JJJ through the intersetion. Ob!iousl#,
the dri!er of the #ellow ;JJJ was at fault
)pae .: a. in b. with . at d. from
)pae ,: a. ran b. put out . left d. put on
)pae 7: a. raing b. going . dri!ing d. stopping
)pae 8: a. lorr# b. a . bi"e d. !an
&he abo!e test ould ta"e a long time to ompile and it might e!en be diffiult

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
to find an appropriate passage.
;- CTest: Aording to Alderson (4557), a -test in!ol!es mehanial deletion of
e!er# seond word and half of eah deleted word remain in the texts so as to
gi!e the examinee a lue as to what is missing. /onsider the following
example ta"en from Alderson et al., (4557-7A).
(ah blan" in the test below must be filled b# the seond half of a word. 'f the
whole word has an e!en number of letters then exatl# half are missing-
to M tJJJ, that M thJJ-
'f the whole word has an une!en number of letters, one more than half are
missing-
the M thJJJJ, their M theJJJJ, letters M let
@a!e #ou heard about amera that an peer into the ground and see a buried
it# K or another thJJJan heJJsientists estJwhen a !olJJJ will
erJJK still anoJJthat JJJ showJJ hJJJJdeep a buJJhas go
JJinto flJJJ K.
As one an see, the instrutions are too long and ompliated but this does not
mean that it an not be gi!en to the examinee and we an e!en lessen the burden to
'ra%i (E. learners b# gi!ing them the instrution in Arabi. <ier (4566-7?) mentions
that-
<ith -tests a !ariet# of texts are reommended and gi!en the large number of items
that an be generated on small texts this further enhanes the representati!e nature
of the language being sampled.
Normall# a minimum of 4>> deletions are made and those are more representati!e of
the passage as a whole than is possible under the lose tehni%ue.
&hought the -test is eonomial and reliable, there is little e!idene of
its !alue partiularl# as an integrati!e test.
7- Cloze elide: Judging b# its name, this t#pe of lo*e test re%uires the testee to elide
words whih are inserted in the passage of the test and do not belong to it. &his
tehni%ue is not new and it has been used muh earlier. Da!ies (45A7) has used the
tehni%ue and all it (intrusi!e word tehni%ues) onsider the following example-
'nstrutions- 'n the following passage there are words that are inserted
deliberatel# where the# do not belong. 2ead the passage and delete these words-
<hen ' was being standing at a red light, a #ellow ar ran o!er the light and
hit a blue ar is going through the intersetion. &he dri!er of the #ellow ar
he was at fault.............
&he words whih should be deleted are- being, o!er, is, he respeti!el#.
&his t#pe of lo*e test re%uires obser!ing immediate or long-range ontextual
onstraints and is onsidered as a test of st#le and text oherene and ohesion.
&he problem with this t#pe of tests is that testees might delete items whih are
orret, but redundant.
D +coring o$ cloze test- 't is said that lo*e tests ha!e the ad!antage of being eas#
to prepare and fairl# eas# to sore. 'ndeed soring the test an be made %uite simple if

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
the sorers gi!e redit onl# for the restoration of the exat words. Other soring
shemes are soring for ontextual appropriateness, i.e., to ount as orret an# word
that full# fits the total surrounding both s#ntatiall# and semantiall#. A third
method of soring desribed b# Oiler (4585- ?8>) is alled (weighting degrees
of appropriateness). 'n this t#pe of soring, the degree of seriousness of an error is
ta"en into onsideration, i. e., the most serious errors are those that !iolate the
strongest and most ob!ious ontextual onstraints.
2esearh on lo*e test has found !er# high orrelation between the results
using an# of the three methods of soring.
' "ses o$ cloze test: Aording to Da!ies (4586), Olsler (4585), and <eir (4566),
lo*e test an be used to-
a. he" the readabilit# of textual material for global reading omprehension,
b. in!estigate the nature of ontextual onstraints, and
. estimate o!erall language profiien# and effeti!eness.
/onerning measuring the readabilit#, sine 457? &a#lor used lo*e tests as a
de!ie for measuring readabilit# of texts. Eor those who are interested in the
measurement of readabilit#, Oller (4585-?7>-?7;) has desribed !i!idl# the
proedures of using lo*e tests for measuring readabilit# of text and then the use of
these texts to test reading omprehension.
'n!estigation of ontextual onstraints has been explained arefull# in this paper in
setion ($).
As for estimating o!erall language profiien#, speialists in language testing are
di!ided into two ontrasted teams. &he first team head b# Anderson (45A5), )tubbs and
&u"er (458;) and Oller (4585)
/onfirms that lo*e tests are apable of measuring language o!erall, profiien#. &he
seond team head b# Da!ies (4586), Alderson (4585) and <eir (4566) asts doubts on
the effia# of lo*e tests as tests of o!erall language profiien#. Da!ies (4586-:46)
argues that lo*e does not tend to orrelate highl# with language profiien# tests.
@e emphasi*es the idea that lo*e test is an interesting measure of omprehension
than of profiien#.
III Conclusion:
After sur!e#ing most of the t#pes of lo*e testes their sopes and uses, it is possible
now to draw the following onlusions-
4. Eilling in a blan" in a lo*e test re%uires the alling of a number of s"ills i.e.,
reading omprehension, listening omprehension (in the ase of oral ol*e test),
grammar, spelling and puntuation.
:. /lo*e tests do not re%uire a lot of preparation or pre-and post-testing,
therefore, the# are more pratiable to use b# teahers.
?. Almost an# passage, that suit the linguisti abilit# of the testee and his age,
an be used in a lo*e test.
;. &he soring of lo*e tests is eas# and en9o#s a high degree of reliabilit#.
7. /lo*e tests re%uire the appliation of the four s"ills of language and wor" at
the intersentential le!el, therefore, the# are integrati!e rather than disrete-
point language tests.
A. As integrati!e tests, lo*e tests re%uire the understanding of immediate and

/ ,-.-
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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
long-rage ontextual onstraints.
8. 'n spite of all the abo!e-mentioned harateristis, there are some doubts
expressed b# some researhes about the suitabilit# of lo*e tests to test
nati!e spea"ers o!erall profiien# but the# onfirm the abilit# of these
tests to test foreign language learnerBs profiien#.
I?-@eco55endations:
'n the light of all the disussions arried out through out this stud# and the
onlusions arri!ed at, the researher would li"e to reommend-
4. &he use of lo*e tests as one of the tehni%ues used to measure the language abilit#
of 'ra%i (E. learners.
:. &hat teahers as well as pupils should reei!e enough training in how to use and answer
these tests before the# start to use these tests.
?. &he inlusion of both short and long ontextual onstraints when preparing lo*e tests
partiularl# with Ostandard lo*e tests+ and Ointrusi!e word tehni%ues+.
@e$erences:
Alderson, J. (4585), G &he lo*e proedure and profiien# in (E.G , &()P. Puarterl#,
1ol.l?No.:.
--J, /. /lapham and D. wall (4557), .anguage &est /onstrution and (!aluation, u."., /up.
JJ, .. $ahman and A. Palmer (455A), .anguage testing in pratie - Designing and De!eloping
useful .anguage tests, /ambridge, /0P.
Anderson, J. (45A5), GAppliation of lo*e proedure to (nglish learners as an E.,G
0npublished dotoral dissertation, 0ni!ersit# of New (ngland.
Anastasi, A. (4584), Ps#hologial &esting, .ondon, =a=illan.
/arroll, $.(456>), &esting ommuniati!e performane, .ondon, Pergamon.
/hiarah, &, J.Oller. 9r., L. <ea!er and =./ha!e* (4588),Q Are lo*e items sensiti!e to onstraints
a ross sentenesKQ .anguage .earing, :6-77-A6.
Deternell, D.(45A6). &he De!elopment of an (nglish .anguage profiien# test of foregin
students using a lo*e therap# proedure. /olerado 0ni!ersit#, Einal 2eport, $oulder.
Da!ies, A (4586), B .anguage testing- sur!e# ArtileB in .anguage &eahing and .inguistis Abstrats
44, ?;, pp-:47-:?4.
Harman, =. and A. @ughes, (456?), (nglish /lo*e (xerises, Lent, $asil $la" <ell Publisher
.imited.
Llein- $arle#, . (4564), G(mpirial 'n!estigation of lo*e testsG, Dotoral Dissertation,
0ni!ersit# of Duisberg.
=orrow, L. (4588), &ehni%ues of (!aluation for a notional )#llabus, 2o#al )oiet# for Arts.
Oller, J. (458?). O/lo*e tests of seond language profiien# and what the# measureB language
learning :?. 4-4>7-446.
JJ (458A),B (!idene for a general language profiien# fatorB. Die Neuren )prahen,
:,4A7-48;.
JJ (4585), .anguage tests at shool , .ondon, .ongman.
Peire, $. (455:) OODem#stified the &O(E., 2eading test++ &()O. Puarterl# :A-AA7-A65.
Porter, D. (458A), =odified lo*e proedure- more !alid 2e-test (nglish .anguage &eahing ?>,
474-477.
2ionda, /.(4564) B+ =easure of ommuniati!e ompeteneB+, in John 2ead (ed), Diretions
in .anguage &esting, )ingapore 0ni!ersit# press. )pols"#, $.
(4587), R language testing- art or )ieneQ a paper presented at the fourth A'.A 'nternational
ongress, )tuttgart.
)tubbs, J. and H. &u"er, (458;) O&he lo*e test as a measure of (nglish profiien#B &he
=odern .anguage Journal .1'0, 7-A- :?5-:;:.
&a#lor, <. (457?). G lo*e proedure- A new tool for measuring readabilit#B, Journal Puarterl#
?>-;47-;7?.
<eir, /. (4566), /ommuniati!e .anguage &esting, (xeter, 0ni!ersit# of (xeter.
3ule, H. (4567), &he )tud# of .anguage, /ambridge, /0P.

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Cloze Tests: An Integrative Approach
Abdul-Jabbar Ali Darwesh, (Ph. D.)
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