An investigation of the construct validity of two commercially published listening tests

Listening as information processing

“…Here you have rigorous attempts to create valid tests of listening comprehension. The most wellknown, of course, are the Brown-Carlsen test and the STEP test, both of which have been criticized for validity problems (Kelly, 1963;Devine, 1967). More than this, though, is the fact that these tests measure comprehension more than they measure listening itself.…”

Considerations for Developing Measures of Speaking and Listening

“…Kelly's (1965) skepticism about the most widely used listening tests was accompanied by a call for more inventive measurement efforts. Later, Kelly (1966) argued that: "currently published listening tests are not valid measures of a unique skill ... " (p. 455).…”

“…This lack of consistency has sometimes resulted in disagreements about the adequacy of existing measures. For example, Kelly (1965) found that the two most widely used listening comprehension tests failed to correlate more highly with each other than with either a reading test or a test of general intelligence and concluded that this evidence constituted good reason for "viewing the best known of the existing listening tests with skepticism." One test author replied that he saw nothing scandalous in the low correlations, but instead saw this merely as confirmation that the tests were built on different theories and definitions (C. Brown, 1967).…”

“…Moreover, in comparison with the reader, the listener may be especially prone to such distractions because he or she cannot retrace his or her steps. This state of affairs led Kelly (1965) to surmise that "perhaps listening tests will always be less reliable than most other types of measuring devices ... " (p. 143).…”

“…Rubin et aI., 1982). Earlier, Kelly (1965) also pointed to the "great vulnerability" of listeners to distractions such as fatigue, lack of motivation, personal worries, antagonism towards the speaker, disinterest in the topic, momentary daydreams, and outside interferences-a considerable list! Moreover, in comparison with the reader, the listener may be especially prone to such distractions because he or she cannot retrace his or her steps.…”