In Vietnam today there is an urgent demand for well-designed tests of listening comprehension. Little attention has been given to this problem. This field study is intended to provide guidance on the design of listening comprehension tests and in particular for intermediate level students at the Hanoi Foreign Language College (HFLC). The Field Study Report consists of six chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction which covers the problem, aims, subjects (testees) and the background of the Field Study Report. Chapter Two deals with the purposes of testing in some detail, setting this in the framework of the teaching-testing link, teachers and testing, and students and testing. Test characteristics are considered and the problem of sampling for test content is addressed. Chapter Three concerns test items for listening comprehension. The chapter begins with a short description of listening comprehension and is followed by a survey of theorists on listening comprehension together with the test items for listening that they suggest. Some commonly-used standardised tests and their listening items are discussed. The chapter ends with a checklist of selected listening items suitable for students at HFLC in Vietnam. Chapter Four discusses the designing and trialling of test items for listening comprehension, such as multiple choice, completion of a taped talk, matching pictures with statements etc. The chapter presents the results of the trialling of sample items and also deals with correlations between the sample tests used. Chapter Five deals with test design and development in general. It clarifies the bases for test design and provides a checklist of steps in the development of tests. In addition, the chapter includes a resources inventory for listening test items. Chapter Six presents the conclusions of the Field Study Report.

This study examines the problems of constructing and administering a test of spoken English for Vietnamese EFL teacher-trainees. In an attempt to standardize the assessment, a planned oral interview was pilottested with a group of ten Vietnamese EFL teachers currently enrolled in a Graduate Diploma Course in TESOL at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, Australia. Results of the study indicate that the validity and reliability of such measurement can be achieved if certain carefully outlined procedures in planning the test and training the testers are carefully followed. Given the close relationship between testing and teaching, it is suggested in this study that there could be an improvement in the teaching of spoken English to Vietnamese EFL teacher-trainees if (i) the amount of time allocated to testing oral proficiency in the curriculum was increased, (ii) Vietnamese EFL teachers were provided with formal training in language test construction, and (iii) research on EFL oral testing was encouraged. Further, this study recommends co-operation between TEFL institutions in Vietnam to develop standard instruments for the assessment of spoken English of EFL teacher-trainees on a national level.