Reading, through which we can access worlds of ideas and feelings, as well as the knowledge of the ages and visions of the future, is at once the most extensively researched and the most enigmatic of the so–called language skills. Reading has been investigated from numerous perspectives—by linguists, psychologists, educators and second language researchers, and a huge volume of research is now available. Reading also plays a critical role in applied linguistics research and in the day–to–day professional life of the language teacher. Similarly, the assessment of reading ability is of critical importance in a wide range of educational and professional settings, and the need for expertise in this area is widespread. This book brings together what is known about reading and its assessment into one volume in order to provide practical guidance to teachers and others who need to develop tests of reading, be this for their own classes, for large–scale proficiency tests or for conducting research in applied linguistics.

The author of this book, Charles Alderson, has extensive experience in both teaching and testing reading, and has conducted considerable research himself in these areas. He is one of the world's leading authorities in language assessment in general, and in the assessment of reading in particular.