[etni] origin of cloze testing

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cloze is definitely not an Israeli invention. 
this is what I found:
What is Cloze procedure?
The "cloze" procedure for testing your writing is often treated as a 
readability test because a formula exists for translating the data 
from "cloze tests" into numerical results. The name "Cloze" comes 
from the word "closure". In this procedure, words are deleted from 
the text and readers are asked to fill in the blanks. By constructing 
the meaning from the available words and completing the text, the 
reader achieves "closure". (elaboration below)
In 1953 the "cloze procedure" was developed and later, after 1965, 
formulas were developed for its use. It became a popular method 
for measuring the suitability of text for a particular audience. It 
was popular because its scoring was objective; it was easy to use 
and analyze; it used the text itself for analysis; and it yields high 
correlations to other formulas.
The cloze technique does not predict whether the materials is 
comprehensible; it is an actual try-out of the material. It tells you 
whether a particular audience group can comprehend the writing 
well enough to complete the cloze test.
Cloze procedure consists of deleting words in a text and asking the 
reader to fill in the appropriate or a similar word. Usually every 
fifth word is deleted. Cloze is thought to offer a better index of 
comprehensibility than the statistical formulas. The ability to 
identify the missing word or to insert a satisfactory substitute for 
the original word indicates that the reader comprehends the 
content of the text.
Close testing has been called a "rubber yardstick" because Cloze 
scores reflect both the difficulty of the text and the readers abilities 
or resources. Like any readability test, the problem arises over 
what is considered a successful completion of the text: inserting 
50% of missing words, 75% or 100%. Today educators recognize 
that cloze procedre4us are more suitable to assess readers' abilities 
than to measure the readability of text. Critics have pointed out 
that cloze can operate on the basis of measuring redundancy -- that 
in some texts it measures the number of redundant words rather 
than implicit words.
In particular, critics suggest that Cloze is inappropriate for 
measuring text or reader's abilities in languages other than their 
native language. The results of close testing reflect the reader's 
basic intuition about the structure and vocabulary of the target 
language -- and that does not exist for the language student.
Cloze testing is widely used now to assess the abilities of readers, 
but is usually combined with other tests measuring grammar skills 
and writing ability. One educator comments:

    "The underlying assumption in cloze testing is that a close 
    relationship exists between reading comprehension and 
    writing skill. The test measures the student's ability to 
    select appropriate words if occasional gaps occur in a 
    passage, based on their ability to infer meaning from 
    context and cultural experience. The word cloze is related 
    to the concept of closure, the human tendency to complete 
    a partly finished pattern, to pick out key words and rely on 
    language repetition in English discourse. The theory origin 
    ated in Gestalt psychology and assumes that in figuring out 
    the missing word, the mind goes through a process of 
    sampling, predicting, testing, and confirming the 
    appropriate word choice. The argument is that this process 
    involves both recognition skills (required in discrete formal 
    testing) and the production of a significant content 
    (required in written passages). In theory at least, the cloze 
    test is an integrated rather than a formal test, but the 
    advantage is that it can be marked efficiently and 
    objectively." ("Assessment Report, Communications 
    Discipline", by Roslyn Dixon, Communications 
    Assessment Coordinator, Douglas College, June 1, 1989)



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