Both testing and teaching reading require performance conditions that approximate real life. This is because students ought to be given a realistic purpose for every reading activity.

Differences

Basically all differences between reading as it is taught and testing reading arise from the limitations and rigorous demands made of tests. Testing has to make reliable measurements. Therefore a test can only be evaluated in one way; that is, the answer to an item on a test of reading can only be right or wrong. This is not the case with teaching reading. Sometimes, especially when activating a student's background knowledge, teaching might rely on personal accounts and therefore depend on opinions and not fact. In short, there is no issue of right or wrong in the classroom, so teaching cannot be evaluated quantitatively. Tests don't usually teach strategies, whilst teaching commonly does. For example a teacher might teach students pre-reading, while reading and post reading strategies in order to cope with texts. While teaching, we can also break tasks down into smaller tasks to help struggling students. This is obviously not the case with testing, which cannot measure an individual's competence and performance unless it is applied in a uniform fashion.

Tests are usually interested in what a person can comprehend unaided. Outside help is commonly referred to cheating, and obviously contaminates the data that testing would provide. One might expect a certain number of test-takers to fail a test, whereas in teaching no-one is allowed to fail.