Current issues in the literature on the testing of linguistic and communicative proficiency are reviewed and discussed in relation to reading comprehension testing. Several theoretical issues in language testing are discussed, including testing purposes and test validity. Areas of concern regarding methods of testing reading comprehension are then considered. These include the types of reading to be tested, tapping comprehension at different levels of meaning, comprehension skills, and testing methods (language of response, cloze and C-tests, communicative tests, computer-adaptive testing). The discussion concludes with a look at strategies used by test-takers in dealing with reading comprehension tests, and their implications for test development. A seven-page reference list is appended. (MSE)