1. Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language
Language Testing in Austria: Towards a Research Agenda
Dr Helen Heaney
Department of English
University of Vienna

2. Chapter outline Introduction The reading construct
Operationalizing skimming and scanning items
Issues arising when testing expeditious reading
Results of the expeditious section of my test
Expeditious reading and major testing organizations
Conclusion
Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt

3. The reading construct Black: original CEFR descriptor
Red: initial change to CEFR descriptor
Orange: CEFR descriptor added at a later point
Turquoise: new descriptor element
Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt

4. Prototypical skimming item
Skim1: 126 words
19 secs
Which chapter heading from this children's history book fits best?
Living standards in Medieval Britain
Medieval Britain's population
Towns in the Middle Ages
Living and working in the Middle Ages
Almost fifty seven million people live in Britain today. In the Middle Ages, the population was much smaller (three to six million). Towns, though they grew in importance during the Middle Ages, were small. The largest city was London. In the year 1300, only 60,000 people lived in the city, compared with about seven million today.
Fire was a great danger in the towns, where wooden houses and workshops were crammed close together. People threw their rubbish straight out of the windows so the narrow streets were dirty, smelly and often swarming with rats and flies.
Shops had workshops behind them where craftsmen worked. Streets were named after the shops in them, such as Leather Lane or Bread Street. Many towns still use these street names.
Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt

5. Issues with expeditious reading items
Cambridge CPE, IELTS, TOEFL
Part of construct in test specifications but rate of reading not controlled for
Effect of text length on reading process
Meaningful reading rates for L2 readers at various levels
Operationalizing reading efficiency
Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt

6. Bibliography
Ashton, M. “The change process at the paper level. Paper 1, reading.” Continuity and innovation: revising the Cambridge Proficiency in English Examination , Studies in Language Testing 15, C.J. Weir and M. Milanovic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ETS. “TOEFL iBTTM Test Framework.” TOEFL iBTTM Research Insight Series 1, Vol : 1-8. Heaney, H. “Issues in developing a tertiary-level English reading comprehension test.” Unpublished dissertation. University of Klagenfurt, IELTS. Test format (accessed July 29, 2017). Khalifa, H., and C. Weir. Examining reading: research and practice in assessing second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Weir, C., R. Hawkey, A. Green, A. Unaldi, and S. Devi. “The relationship between the academic reading construct as measured by IELTS and the reading experiences of students in their first year of study at a British university.” IELTS Research Reports 9 (2008a): Zeronis, R., and M. Elliott. “Development and construct of revised Cambridge English: Proficiency.” Cambridge English: research notes, 2013:
Operationalizing expeditious reading strategies in tests of English as a foreign language Klagenfurt