Noting that the attention of the speech communication discipline to listening skills does not mirror the apparent importance of such skills, this paper examines five listening assessment tests--focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, procedural problems, and conceptualizations of each--that potential users should be aware of before selecting any one of the instruments. The major portion of the paper discusses individually the five instruments: (1) the Learning Skills Inventory, (2) the Communication Competency Assessment Instrument, (3) the Brown-Carlsen Listening Comprehension Test, (4) the Watson-Barker Listening Test, and (5) the Kentucky Comprehensive Listening Test. The remainder of the paper presents conclusions drawn from the previous discussions, specifically that one instrument cannot win acceptance without its underlying conceptual definition being agreed to by the majority of users, and that perhaps no one instrument will be found to be acceptable for all situations. This section also acknowledges many of the shortcomings of existing listening research, and the need for longitudinal investigations that would document effective methods for teaching listening. (HTH)