It may seem rather odd to test listening separately from speaking, since the two skills are typically exercised together in oral interaction. However, there are occasions, such as listening to the radio, listening to lectures, or listening to railway station announcements, when no speaking is called for. Also, as far as testing is concerned, there may be situations where the testing of oral ability is considered, for one reason or another, impractical, but where a test of listening is included for its backwash effect on the development of oral skills. Listening may also be tested for diagnostic purposes.

Because it is a receptive skill, the testing of listening parallels in most ways the testing of reading. This chapter will therefore spend little time on issues common to the testing of the two skills and will concentrate more on matters that are particular to listening. The reader who plans to construct a listening test is advised to read both this and the previous chapter.

The special problems in constructing listening tests arise out of the transient nature of the spoken language. Listeners cannot usually move backwards and forwards over what is being said in the way that they can a written text. The one apparent exception to this, when a tape-recording is put at the listener's disposal, does not represent a typical listening task for most people. Ways of dealing with these problems are discussed later in the chapter.