This book investigates the issue of cloze-validity as a measure of second language reading comprehension. It starts off by making a distinction between general reading ability and the more specific reading comprehension followed by a thorough review of the related research on L2 reading comprehension and sorting out the confusion in the literature in this categorization. A comprehensive account of cloze procedure is presented discussing its origin, different versions, its use for teaching and testing purposes, as well the latest research on cloze as measures of readability, language proficiency and second language reading.
The book includes studies conducted at several stages on validating cloze as a measure of reading and interview and questionnaire techniques are applied to investigate the validity of eight cloze tests, criterion reading tests, and other cloze and reading tests in general. Two new cloze tests, i.e. reader-centered cloze test and phrase cloze test, are also introduced and researched as measures of reading ability. The book concludes with suggestions for developing tests that can better measure reading comprehension in light of recent research insights on the complex and dynamic nature of reading.
This book will appeal to researchers, lecturers and graduate and post-graduate students taking a course in Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, TESOL, Language Assessment, and Educational Measurement.

Karim Sadeghi  has a PhD from the University of East Anglia (UK) and is a professor of TESOL at Urmia University (Iran). He is the founding editor-in-chief of Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research (indexed in Web of Science and Scopus) and serves on the editorial board of several national and international journals including RELC Journal (SAGE), Research in Post Compulsory Education (Routledge), TESOL Journal (Wiley) and Language Testing in Asia (Springer). He was selected as Iran's top researcher in Humanities and Social Sciences in 2013 and in English Language/Applied Linguistics in 2018. His recent publications have appeared in RELC Journal, System, Assessing Writing, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and English for Specific Purposes Journal.

Preface.- Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Reading in a second language.- Chapter 3: The cloze procedure.- Chapter 4: Criterion-related validity of cloze procedure.- Chapter 5: Judgmental Validity of Cloze from Test-takers' Viewpoint: Quantitative and Qualities Perspectives.- Chapter 6: Judgmental Validity of Cloze from Teachers as Test-makers' Viewpoint: Quantitative and Qualities Perspectives.- Chapter 7: Conclusion.- References.- Appendices.