课本内容简单整理

Topics
1. Introduction to language testing
2. Functions of testing & different types of tests
3. Criteria of tests
4. Test specification
5. Test tasks
6. Testing reading comprehension
7. Testing listening comprehension
8. Testing the writing skills
9. Oral production tests
10. Test design & implementation
11. Interpreting test scores
12. Analysis of test scores (1)
13. Analysis of test scores (2)
14-16. Statistics analysis (e.g. T-test, correlation analysis)
1. Four approaches of English testing:四种英语语言测试法
1）写作-翻译法the essay-translation approach
2）结构主义/心理测试法the structuralist-psychometric approach
3）综合测试法the integrative approach:context
4）交际测试法the communicative approach: use
2. Measurement: process, quantitative
Test: method, quantitative
Assessment: a term often used interchangeably with testing, but it can be used more broadly to encompass the gathering of educational data. …interview, case study, questionnaire, and observation are often used. (王振亚，2009）
Evaluation: test & value judgement, qualitative
测量指的是根据明确的程序和规则量化研究对象特征的过程；考试是用来获取某些行为的方法，目的是从这些行为中推断出个人具有的某些铁证，与测量不同的是，考试是一种具体为获取某一行为样本而量身定做的定量分析方法；评估是为决策而系统地手机信息的过程，侧重信息收集和信息的系统性，涵盖范围广，信息来源没有局限性。

evaluation Measurement
test
3.functions of testing：Diagnostic诊断；Placement；Encouraging；Classifying选拔Teaching&research:教学功能和科研功能（the nature of language proficiency; language processing; language acquisition; language attrition/ loss; language teaching)
4.Types of tests:
Proficiency tests vs achievement tests
Direct tests vs indirect tests
Discrete-point tests vs integrative tests
Objective tests vs subjective tests
Norm-referenced tests vs criterion-referenced tests
分类基准测试种类
测试功能·诊断测试（diagnostic tests）eg: quiz
·安置（分班）测试（placement tests）
·选拔性考试
测试内容·能力测试（proficiency tests）与学业成就测试（achievement tests）·分立式测试(discreate-point tests)与综合测试(integrative tests)
测试方式直接测试(direct tests)与间接测试(indirect tests)。

测试时间形成性评价(formative assessment)与终结性评价(summative assessment)评分方式客观测试(objective tests)与主观测试(subjective tests)
分数解释方式标准参照测试(criterion-referenced tests)与常模参照测试(norm-referenced tests)。

课本分类：
1.考试目的：水平考试；学业考试；分级考试；诊断考试；
2.考试方式：直接考试；简接考试
3.语言测试形式：分离式考试（只考语言知识）；综合式考试（听写）
4.评分方式：客观考试；主观考试；
5.考分结束：常模参照考试；标准参照考试
5. Test reliability：consistency of test scores
【重复测试法test-retest method；平行卷测试法parallel tests；对半分析法split half method】
Test validity：a test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what it is intended to measure. 【Face validity：surface credibility or public acceptability：直接考试具有表面效度，间接考试缺乏表面效度；Content validity：representativeness；sampling adequacy；Criterion-related validity；Construct validity】
信度之考试结果（分数）的可靠性，效度指考试达到预定目的的程度
Authenticity：degree of correspondence between a given language test task and target-language-use task某一语言测试任务和实际语言运用任务在特征方面的对应程度【Real-life approach；Interactional approach 】
Interactiveness：Degree of involvement
Washback effect：impact on teaching and learning
Practicality
6. Definition of test specifications：A test‟s specifications provide the official statement about what the test tests and how it tests it. The specifications are the blueprint to be followed by test and item wri ters, and they are also essential in the establishment of the test‟s construct validity.
Difference between specifications and syllabus
1. a test specification is a detailed document, while the syllabus is often much simplified.
2. a test specification is a internal document for test developers, sometimes confidential to the test users, while the syllabus is a public document which indicates to candidates and teachers what the test will contain.
II Who needs test specifications? And why?
Test specifications are needed by a range of different people；needed by those who produce the test itself
Test constructors need to have clear statements about who the test is aimed at, what its purpose is, what content is to be covered, what methods are to be used, how many papers or sections there are, how long the test takes, and so on. In addition, the specifications will need to be available to those responsible for editing and moderating the work of individual item writers or teams. Such editors may operate in a committee or board officials. In smaller institutions, they may simply be fellow teachers. The specifications should be consulted and clearly written.
n Needed by those responsible for or interested in establishing the test‟s validity (that is, whether the test tests what it is supposed to test).
Validators may think it is less important to have …practical information about the length of the test and its sections, and more important to know the theoretical justification for the content: what theories of language and proficiency make the test, and why the test is the way it is.
n Needed by test users
Test users need descriptions of a test‟s content, and different sorts of users may need somewhat different descriptions. For example, teachers who will be responsible for the learners placed in their classes by a test need to know what the test scores mean: what the particular learners knew, what they can do, what they need to learn. Teachers who wish to enter their
students for some public examination need to know which test will be most appropriate for their learner in relation to the course that they have been following.
n Needed by publishers
Finally, test specifications are a valuable source of information for publishers wishing to produce textbooks related to the test: textbook writers will ensure that the practice in books they produce are of an appropriate level of difficulty, with appropriate content, topics, tasks and so on.
All these users of test specifications may have differing needs, and writers of specifications need to bear the audience in mind when producing their specifications. What is suitable for an audience may be quite unsuitable for another.
III Contents of test specifications
1. Test purpose
2. Theoretical construct and operations
3. Test takers
4. Test content
5. Test method
6. Test tasks and text types
7. Test organizations and weighting
8. Time duration
9. Scoring criterion
10. Test administration
11. Test development chart
IV How to draw up test specifications?
n Test purpose: tests tend to fall into one of the following broad categories: placement, progress, achievement, proficiency and diagnostic.
Placement tests are des igned to assess students‟ level of language ability so that they can be placed in the appropriate course or class.
Progress tests are given at various stages throughout a language course to see what the students have learnt.
Achievement tests tend to be given at the end of the course. The content of both progress and achievement tests is generally based on the course syllabus or the course textbook.
Proficiency tests are designed to test the ability of students with different language training backgrounds. Some are intended to show whether students have reached a given level of general language ability; others are designed to show whether students have sufficient ability to be able to use a language in some specific area such as medicine, tourism etc.
Diagno stic tests seek to identify strengths and weaknesses in students‟ language ability.
Test purpose is the normal starting point for designing test specifications. For example:
Test A is a placement test, designed to place students applying for language courses at English into classes appropriate to their language level.
Test B is intended to diagnose strengths and weaknesses of fourth year secondary school pupils in English grammar.
n Test construct and operations
Every test has a theory behind it: what language ability consists of, what language learning involves and what language users do with language. Every theory contains constructs, which are its principal components and the relationship between these components. Test specifications need to make the theoretical framework which underlies the test language skills and relationships between its constructs, as well as the relationship between the theory and what the test is designed for. The test domain is intended not to include all the skills of the construct but the representative contents of the listing skills
For example:
Heaton (2000: 105-106), in his book “ Writing English Language Tests”, hypothesizes reading skills as the ability to:
-- recognize words and word groups, associating sounds with their corresponding graphic symbols;
--deduce the meaning of words;
--understand explicitly stated information;
--understand relations within the sentence;
--understand relations between parts of a text;
--perceive temporal and spatial relationships and also sequences of ideas;
--understand conceptual meaning;
--anticipate and predict what will come next in the text;
--identify the main idea and other salient features in a text;
--generalize and draw conclusion;
--understand information not explicitly stated by making references;
--skim and scan (looking for the general meaning and reading for specific information);
--read critically;
--adopt a flexible approach and vary reading strategies according to the type of material being read and the purpose for which it is being read.
n Test takers
What sort of learner will be taking the test.
Personal characteristics: age, sex, first language, country of origin, level and nature of education, reason for taking the test, professional interests
Topical knowledge: levels of target language social and cultural understanding.
Language ability: levels of target language knowledge and language use ability
n Test content
Topic is concerned with what the test is ready to measure, grammar or structure knowledge or writing, speaking and reading abilities.
Focus is involved in what functions test tasks should enable students to use according to the above topic.
Descriptions of test content should be detailed and comprehensive: test content should demonstrate that it tests what the test is supposed to test or test content validity; test content should be representative for test construct (construct validity).
n Test method
What test methods are to be used – multiple choice, gap filling, matching, transformation, short answer question, picture description, role play with cue cards, essay, structured writing, etc?
In taking test types, test writers should think about four aspects: test validity, reliability, authenticity and practicality.
n Test tasks and text types
What sort of tasks are required – discrete point, integrative, authentic, objectively or subjectively assessable? If it is authentic, what text types should be chosen – written and/or spoken? What should be the sources of these, the topics, the degree of authenticity? How difficult or long should they be? What functions should be embodied in the texts – persuasion, definition, summarizing, etc? How complex should the language be?
n Test organizations and weighting
Test organizations refer to number of items or tasks – how many items are required for each section? Weighting concerns what is the relative weight for each item – equal weighting, extra weighting for more difficult items.
For example: weighting for written CET4
新题型的四级考试主要由听力理解、阅读理解、完型填空或改错、写作和翻译四部分组成。

其中听力理解部分分值比例为35%，阅读理解为35%，完型填空或改错部分为10%，写作和翻译部分分值比例为20%，其中写作部分15%，翻译部分5%。

从各项所占分值来看，即听力249分，阅读249分，完型填空或改错70分，作文142分，各单项分相加之和为总分710分。

n Time duration
How many sections/papers should the test have, how long should they be and how will they be differentiated?
For example: the time differentiation of CET4
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Part II Reading comprehension ( skimming and scanning) (15minutes)
Part III Listening comprehension (35 minutes)
Part IV Reading comprehension (Reading in depth) (25 minutes)
Part V Cloze (15 minutes)
Part VI Translation (5 minutes)
n Scoring criterion
Which criteria will be used for assessment by markers? How important is accuracy, appropriacy, spelling, length of utterance/script, etc?
A description of the criteria which will be used to evaluate students‟ performance
Criteria for assessment
The higher mark allocation reflects its greater organizational and interpretational demands.
Answers of about 300 words will be required. As candidates are required to develop a logical piece of writing which interprets the information provided, it is clearly important that they avoid any attempt to describe extensively all the information provided. Candidates should be able to compare and contrast, show cause and effect relationships, draw conclusions, make hypotheses and produce other such patterns of discourse. They should be able to paragraph their writing and use a variety of means to create coherence at the inter sentential and inter paragraph level. They should be able to produce sentences of a complexity consistent with the formal register.
Candidates will be expected to write grammatical prose with due regard to word order, subject/verb agreement and appropriate use of tense and voice.
This does list the criteria, but does not explain how these ideas are transformed into marks.
下面是大学英语四级写作评分标准
简单来说，是以下几条：
14分文章切题。

文字通顺，条理清楚，无重大语言错误，仅有个别小错。

11分文章切题。

文字通顺，条理清楚，但有少量语言错误。

8分基本切题。

有些地方表达不清，文字勉强连贯，语言错误相当多，其中有一些是严重错误。

5分基本切题。

思想表达不清，连贯性差，有较多的语言严重错误。

2分条理不清，思路紊乱，语言支离破碎，大部分有错误，且多数为严重错误。

详细具体的定义为:
考生在考试时应该明确作文的评分标准，根据大纲规定，短文的评分标准是：
1．正确表达思想；
2．意义连贯；
3．无重大语法错误。

这三者是互补的，但又各有侧重。

为评分的方便，国家考题组又将评分原则归纳为八个字，即“总体评分”和“综合评判”，并作了相应的解释。

前者指的是“阅卷人员就总的印象给出奖励分，而不是按语言点的错误数目扣分”。

后者指的是“要考虑作文是否切题，是否充分表达思想，也要考虑是否用英语清楚而确切地表达思想，也就是要考虑语言上的错误是否造成理解上的障碍，用词和造句是否清楚确切地表达思想”。

根据这八个字，又将阅卷标准分为五等：2分，5分，8分，11分及14分，每一等都可上下浮动一分，各等的具体标准如下：
2分--条理不清，思路紊乱，语言支离破碎或大部分句子均有错误，且多数为严重错误。

5分--基本切题。

表达思想不够清楚，连贯性差。

有较多的严重语言错误。

8分--基本切题。

表达思想比较清楚，文字尚连贯；但语言错误较多，其中有少量的严重错误。

11分--切题。

表达思想清楚，文字连贯，但有少量语言错误。

14分--切题。

表达思想清楚，文字通顺，连贯性较好。

基本无语言错误。

除了以上五个主要标准之外，评分时还考虑以下三个因素：
l．白卷，作文与题目毫不相关，或只有几个孤立的词而无法表达思想，则给零分。

2. 字数不足者酌情扣分(81-89个词扣1分，7l-80个词扣2分，61-70个词扣3分，51一60个词扣4分，不足50个词最多只给5分)。

所计字数不包括卷面上已给主题句。

3．只写一段者0-4分，只写两段者0-9分。

n Test administration
Test administration is about testing procedures which candidates and supervisors should follow.
Example page59
n Test development chart
Test development chart consists of component of format, language skill, number of language focus and number of items/tasks for each focus
(page60).。