英语测试学论文.doc

An Evaluation to Current College English Testing in ChinaAbstract: There are several large English tests in Chinese universities, such as the College English Test Band 4 and Band 6, Test for English Majors-4, Test for English Majors-8, Public English Test System, and so on. Inevitably, some problems exist in these tests. Based on theories of modern language testing, this paper discusses the problems existing in current college English testing, then put forward some advice to improve college English testing in China. Test designers are expected to make tests diversified and choose appropriate test questions and topics so that students language level can be evaluated fairly and scientifically.Key words: English testing, validity, credibility.1. IntroductionCollege English testing is an important part of college English teaching. Students can have a better understanding of their own language competence and language shills though this kind of tests. And of course, they can also find their weakness and problems about English learning. According to these problems and weakness, students can adjust their learning plans or ways of study to improve their language skills and language competence. Anyway, college English testing is very important to college students because it is not only a way to test their language ability, but also a way to find problems and make a progress. Therefore, it is essential for us and test designers to make it clear about what language competence is and how to test, as well as the problems in current college English testing.2. What Language Competence is Just as we know, the main purpose of language testing is making a scientific and fair evaluation about the language competence of students. However, different people hold different opinions about what language competence is.In 1960s, Chomsky put forward the notion of language competence and language performance. However, the language competence which Chomsky referred to is abstract. Many linguists thought that the abstract language competence is not enough for human communication and communication may covers many other competence. Besides, some linguists also proposed concepts of language functions. With the development of society and many linguists researches, people knew more about language competence, and then the concept of communicative competence came out. Moreover, what communicative competence is composed of when it is as a entirety concerns a lot to the content of language testing.In 1990s, Bachman proposed a new model of communicative competence. He thought that communicative language competence is the capacity of combining language knowledge and the situation where the language is used to create and explain the meaning of something. Communicative language competence is composed of language knowledge, strategic competence and psycho physiological mechanisms.3. How to TestThe other important point of language testing is how to test indeed. As we know, the purpose of tests is to evaluate students language competence according to scores of the tests. Therefore, in order to ensure the validity and credibility of tests, we have to guarantee that there is a certain connection between the situation of language in use and the form and content of tests. Obviously, we should firstly consider language use task and situation as well as test task and situation, so that test task is accordant to language use task. However, to a certain degree, current college English testing ignores these two factors more or less. Consequently, these college English tests can not evaluate students language competence scientifically and fairly.4. Problems in Current College English TestingEnglish language testing serves for the English language teaching. Of course, it should have the features of scientificity, objectivity, impartiality and veracity. However, in recent years, there are so many problems in college English testing in China.The first important problem is that college English testing lacks of validity and reliability. To be brief, test reliability refers to the consistency of test scores, while test validity refers to the degree that the test achieves its aim. Test validity is the key point of testing. If a test has high test reliability while has little test validity, this test is of no significance.Test validity is consisted of face validity, content validity, construct validity and criterion-related validity. As I just mentioned, when test designers try to design a test, language use task and situation as well as test task and situation should be considered firstly so that test authenticity can be improved. The more authentic the test task is, the better the test result is. Of course, the conclusion we deduct according to test result is more accurate. However, some college English tests such as CET4/6, TEM4/8, are lack of authenticity. For example, in daily life, every piece of article we read has a headline. While in these tests, there is no headline at all in the reading materials. Apparently, these reading materials are not authentic language materials, thus reducing the test validity.The second problem rooted in todays college English testing is that question types in these tests are not enough and scientific. As its known to us, college language testing such as CET4/6, TEM4/8, mainly test students language knowledge and the identification of language forms and are not enough to test students ability of language application and language output because the problems of question types. Most of the questions are multiple choices, and obviously, there are some disadvantages with multiple choices. Testing specialist Alderson thinks that there is some evidence to show that students can use some test-taking skills to get more scores when they choose answers. Another testing specialist Hughes listed six disadvantages of multiple choices. Firstly, multiple choices just test students identification ability, so this kind of question type can not reflect the real language competence of students. Secondly, some students give the right answer just by guessing. Thirdly, some language knowledge can not be tested in this way. Fourthly, it is very hard for test designers to design good test questions. Fifthly, this kind of question type can not help students improve their language competence. Finally, it is very easy for students to cheat in the test because of so many multiple choices.The third problem is that college English testing ignores the testing of oral English competence. Both CET4 and CET6 have no requirements of testing students oral English competence. Though some students who get high scores in the written test can have a chance to take the oral English test, some students dont take it seriously or even give up the chance since the oral test is not a must for them. It is unnecessary for students to take the oral tests because they can get the certificate and graduate from universities successfully without a special certificate of oral tests. For English majors, they have to pass the written test of TEM4 and some of them are required to pass the written test of TEM8. However, it doesnt matter whether they can pass the oral English test.The last problem is that teachers easily make mistakes and give inappropriate marks when they mark test papers. For instance, in CET4/6, there are some subjective items, including writing and translation. However, these subjective items always lack of its function in the test. On the one hand, there is no detailed and scientific standard for teachers to mark the test paper. On the other hand, teachers always have their own understanding and emphases about subjective items. As a result, it is very subjective to mark these subjective items. Whats more, many teachers think that the marking criterion for writing is not scientific enough since it has no specific requirements about how to give marks. More seriously, some teachers who used to mark CET4/6 test papers said that it just took them 14 seconds to read a piece of writing. Teachers always skim very fast when they mark the writing. Consequently, if the handwriting is neat and beautiful, the student can get high marks. Correspondingly, if the handwriting is illegible, the student can just get very low scores no matter how good the content of his writing is. Just as we can see, the four problems in college English testing have bad influence on the development of the college English testing system as well as college English teaching. In order to improve the present college English testing system, much effort should be spared to change the current situation.5. ConclusionAs far as I am concerned, when test designers design test papers for college students, they are expected to pay much attention to the relationship between knowledge and competence, accuracy and fluency, apprehension and expression, etc. Not only do we have to test language and knowledge, but also we sho