ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines several broad issues related to preparation and use of listening tests and the interpretation of test results. It reviews key concepts related to validity. Then the variables in language testing tasks are outlined in order to see how test specifications reflect a test's validity. A central issue in this debate concerns the purpose of testing. Most testing and assessment programmes now in place in formal education are for purposes of reporting on learner status rather than for purposes of learning. Reliability is a measure of the degree to which the same assessment procedure is likely to give consistent results. The first specification to be noted about a listening test is that it must formalize the listener's role as respondent to an utterance, as an addressee, as audience member, as an overhearer/by Stander, or as a judge. The chapter categorizes aspects of listening ability that may be tapped in specific testing formats.
