Content validity study on The Vocabulary and Grammar of the Translator Test— Level 2（English）of CATTI

魏揚(yáng)舫++萬璐

【Abstract】The launch of the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters （CATTI）is a professional qualification test for would-be translators.This paper is to do the research on the content validity of vocabulary and grammar of the translator test- Level 2（English）of CATTI from 2011 to 2012.

【Key Words】CATTI level 2； content validity； vocabulary and grammar； validity study

1.Introduction of CATTI

CATTI refers to the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters which launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Personnel.It is believed to be the most authoritative translation proficiency qualification accreditation test.It has four levels classified from top to low are，Senior，Level 1，Level 2 and Level 3（Translator or Interpreter）.In this paper we just focus on the vocabulary and grammar of the translator test- level 2 and analyze the content validity of it through 3 testing papers from 2011 to 2012.

2.Theoretical exploration on the test validity

2.1 Definition of validity.What is validity？ Robert Lado gave the definition with a question and an answer in his classic volume，Language Testing.Does a test measure what it is supposed to measure？ If it does，it is valid.（Lado，1961：321）.Validity is very important for a test construction and evaluation and it is the central concern for test designers or takers.

2.2 Content validity.Content validity is the degree to which the content of a test can sufficiently measure the ability or knowledge intended to measure in the test syllabus.According to Li Xiaoju，the insurance of content validity is based on the requirements of the test syllabus.Relevance and content coverage are the two aspects to measure the adequacy of this facet （Messiek，1975）.

3.Analysis of the content validity of vocabulary and grammar

3.1 Test paper.Testing format of the overall competence of the translator test- Level 2 includes 3 sections：vocabulary and grammar，reading comprehension and close，here we will analyze the first one.

3.2 Analysis of vocabulary and grammar

Table 1：Content validity analysis of vocabulary selection

2011.Nov.test paper 2012.May.test paper 2012.Nov.teast paper

Grammar usage 0 2 3

synonyms discrimination 16 10 8

set phrases discrimination 2 5 5

conjunction choosing 1 0 1

conjugate words

discrimination 1 2 1

similar shapes recognition 0 1 2

Because relevance and content coverage are two aspects to measure the adequacy of this facet.We should check whether relevance and content coverage satisfy the adequacy of the content validity.Firstly，these 6 testing content of vocabulary selection are whether relevant to the syllabus demand should be checked.According to syllabus of the overall competence test of Level 2，testing purpose is to test candidates abilities of mastering English words，grammar，reading comprehension，reasoning ability.Synonyms discrimination，set phrases discrimination，conjunction choosing，conjugate words discrimination and similar shapes recognition are all lexicon mastering，and grammar usage meets the requirements of mastering and putting the grammar into correct use.All these 6 testing content are relevant to the syllabus demand，so we can say relevance is satisfied.

Then，let us check the content coverage，the syllabus wants to test candidates abilities of mastering English words，grammar，reading comprehension，reasoning ability from which we can figure out the words and grammar are the intent testing content of vocabulary and grammar section.Besides the grammar usage，other 5 testing content are belonging to words mastering which take the most important part in vocabulary selection of section 1，while the grammar is less focused on.This phenomenon reflects the trend that English education pays less attention to the grammar learning in recent years.Or we can say that with less emphasis on the grammar，the content coverage is not much satisfied.

Comparing this table with the syllabus，the focus of these 3 test papers matches the demands of syllabus，which want to test the degree of candidates abilities of mastering English words，grammar in this part.And the following vocabulary replacement and error correction also check the ability of mastering English words，grammar.So it is clear that the content validity of vocabulary selection is high.

Reference：

[1]Bachman L，Palmer A.Language Testing in Practice.Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，1999.

[2]Lado R.Language Testing[M].New York：The McGraw——Hill，1961.

[3]Weir C.J.Communicative Language Testing[M].London： Prentice Hall，1990.

[4]李筱菊.語言測試科學(xué)與藝術(shù)[M].長沙：湖南教育出版社，1997.

[5]劉潤清，韓寶成.語言測試和它的方法[M].北京：外語教學(xué)與研究出版社，2004.