英语测试理论与实践

宁波大学硕士研究生

2008/ 2009

学年第

2

学期期末考试答题纸

考试科目：

英语测试理论与实践

课程编号：

07G06329A

姓名：

卢晓娜

学号：

G08B05020130

阅卷教师：

李奕

成绩：

English Assessment: Theory and Practice

1.

Define the following terms in your own words

1)

Testing

Testing which is often used for pedagogical purposes, is a procedure

designed to elicit certain behavior from which one can make inferences

about certain characteristics of an individual.

2) Assessment

Assessment

collects

information

of

students’

learning

for

various

purposes and using various techniques.

3) Evaluation

Evaluation applies the systematic ways to gather information for the

purpose of making decisions.

4) Measurement

Measurement

is

the

process

of

quantifying

the

characteristics

of

persons

according to explicit procedures and rules.

5) Reliability

Reliability is a quality of test scores, and a perfectly reliable score

would be one which is free from errors of measurement.

6) Validity

Validity is an important quality of test interpretation, which concerns

the extent to which the inferences or decisions we make on the basis of

test scores are meaningful, appropriate and useful.

7)

Norm-referenced tests

Norm-referenced tests are designed to enable the test user to make the

interpretations of test results with reference to the performance of a

given group or norm.

8

）

criterion- referenced tests

Criterion- referenced

tests

are

designed

to

enable

the

test

user

to

interpret a test score

with

reference to a

criterion level of ability or

domain of content.

9

）

formative test

Formative

test

is

the

test

teachers

use

to

check

on

the

progress

of

their

students

,

to

see

how

far

they

have

mastered

what

they

should

have

learned

and use this information to modify their future teaching plans, such as

informal tests or quizzes.

10) Summative test

Summative test is used at the end of the term, semester or year in order

to measure what has been achieved both by groups and by individuals.

2

．

Discussion questions (Answer each question in no less than 200 words.)

1) How can we improve the test reliability

In

order

to

develop

the

test

reliability,

we

have

to

minimize

the

effects

of measurement errors and to maximize the effects of the language abilities

we

want

to

measure.

There

are

two

kinds

of

reliability:

test

reliability

and

scorer

reliability.

And

three

categories

affect

test

and

score

reliability:

1)

test

method

facets;2)

attributes

of

the

test

taker

that

are

not

considered

part

of

the

language

abilities

we

want

to

measure;3)

random

factors

that

are

largely unpredictable and temporary. The result of the effects of all these

factors is that whenever individuals take a language test, they are not all

likely to perform equally well, and so their scores vary. Because different

factors

affect

different

individual,

the

testers

should

use

different

methods

of

testing

according

to

the

different

individuals.

And

we

should

use

different

approached

to

estimating

the

reliability

of

the

tests.

We

can

also

apply

the

test-retest and split- half test to investigate the reliability in order to

further improve it.

2) How can we improve the test validity

Reliability is a necessary condition for validity. A perfectly valid

measure must also be reliable. For a test score to be valid, it must be

reliable. So to increase the test

validity,

we must first increase the

reliability. There are four kinds of test validity: 1)content validity; 2)

criterion-related

validity;

3

）

construct

validity;

4)

face

validity.

In

order

to improve test validity, we must make sure the theoretical framework used

to generate the empirical predictions is correct; second, the method or

procedure

used

to

test

is

appropriate;

third,

the

relationship

among

multiple

indicators

designed

should

represent

a

given

theoretical

concept

and

theoretically relevant external variables should be similar in terms of

direction, strength, and consistency. For example, two indicators, both of

which

are

designed

to

measure

social

statue,

should

have

similar

correlations

with political interest.

3) Is communicative language testing applicable in Chinese context Why and

why not

Communicative

language

testing

is

applicable

in

Chinese

context.

Communicative

language

testing

is

intended

to

provide

the

tester

with

information about the testee’s ability to perform in the target language

in

certain

context-specific

tasks.

The

tests

measure

how

the

testees

are

able

to

use

language

in

real

life

situations.

As

has

been

said,

the

communicative

language testing is just a promised land in china as there is no real-life

situation in Chinese context. So we lose both the reliability and validity.

However, the aim of this test is to measure the testees

’

communicative

skills , so we can set up a real-life like situation and sample situations

in

performance

tests

to

test

the

students

’

communicative

competence.

In

such

a way, this test could be matched to abilities. So in Chinese context, we

still

can

create

a

real-life

situation

to

let

students

to

finish

the

communicative tasks.

4

）

How can we promote the positive washback of language testing

There

are

negative

and

positive

washback

of

language

testing.

To

promote

the

positive

washback,

we

should

inhibit

the

former

and

encourage

the

later.

The

negative

washback

includes

that

teachers

may

ignore

subjects

and

activities

that

did

not

contribute

directly

to

passing

the

exam,

and

students

may

be

practicing

exam

techniques

rather

than

language

learning

activities.

According to these problems, the tests should be designed to reflect the

learning principles and the course objectives to which they are supposedly

related.

Test

program

shouldn

’

t

take

too

much

of

time

or

else

it

will

reduce