An Evaluation of Final Test for Harbin No.6 High School

XuJing

【Abstract】As an effective way to test students language proficiency， language test has a close relationship with language teaching and also plays a vital role in guiding language teaching. This paper aims to analysis the Final Test for Harbin No.6 High school carefully. It is hope to show some help for teachers to design an objective test.

【Key words】evaluation； content validity； reliability； final test

1. Introduction

We are faced with many tests， such as a quiz and final exams. A test that proves ideal for one purpose may be quite useless for another； a technique that may work very well in one situation can be entirely inappropriate in another. It is significant for teachers to choose proper test papers in different stages. This paper choose one of the final test papers in Harbin No.6 High School to give a brief analysis of the test.

2. Analysis of the Quality of the Sample Test Paper

2.1 Language Testing

A language test which seeks to find out what candidates can do with language provides a focus for purposeful， everyday communication activities. Such a test will have a more useful effect on the learning of a particular language than a mechanical test of structure. It can be categorized according to the types of information they provide. There are four main types of test， they are：proficiency test， achievement tests， diagnostic tests， and placements test. In this paper， two of them will be introduced.

（1） Proficiency tests

Proficiency tests are designed to measure peoples ability in a language， regardless of any training they may have had in that language， such as CET， TOEFL， IELTS， etc. This kind of test does not closely related to one specific course or content. It mainly focuses on candidates language ability， regardless of how they learn.

（2） Achievement test

Most teachers are unlikely to be responsible for proficiency tests. It is much more probable that they will be involved in the preparation and use of achievement tests. Usually， achievement tests have a strict syllabus to follow， which shows what knowledge should be covered in the test or to what degree should this content be tested.

2.2 Introduction of Validity and the Sample Test Paper

The validity of a test is the extent to which it measures what it is supposed to measure and nothing else. Every test， whether it be a short， informal classroom test or a public examination， should be as valid as the constructor can make it. Generally， we evaluate a tests validity in four aspects， they are construct validity， empirical validity， content validity and face validity.endprint

（1） Construct validity

If a test has construct validity， it is capable of measuring certain specific characteristic in accordance with a theory of language behavior and learning. This type of validity assumes the existence of certain learning theories or constructs underlying the acquisition of abilities and skills.

（2） Empirical validity

It is obtained as result of comparing the results of the test with the results of some criterion measure， and it can be divided into two aspects：concurrent validity and predictive validity. The first one refers to the validity obtained by comparing the results of the test with that of another test given roughly at the same time. And the latter refers to the extent to which the results of the test can help to predict the consequent performance of the students.

（3） Content validity

This kind of validity depends on a careful analysis of the language being tested and of the particular course objectives. The test should be so constructed ad to contain a representative sample of the course， the relationship between the test items and the course objectives always being apparent.

There are four parts in this final test. The following table shows the structure.

（4） Face validity

If a test item looks right to other testers， teachers， moderators， and testees， it can be described as having at least face validity. Only if the test is examined by other people can some of the absurdities and ambiguities then be discovered. Language tests which have been designed primarily for one country and are adopted by another country may lack face validity.

From the point of the amount of items， there are four parts within two hours and a half. This is rational for the sophomore， even for those students with a low level. From the scoring point of view， 67% of items are objective and the rest is subjective.

Here， I will analysis two parts of this test paper：listening comprehension and reading comprehension.

2.3 Content Validity Analysis of Sample Test Paper

2.3.1 Content Validity of Listening Comprehension

One of the most obvious reasons to test listening is that traditionally language ability has been considered to comprise four skills， listening comprehension， along with speaking， reading and writing， is one of those. In present language teaching， improving students listening proficiency is also highly emphasized. Hence， listening comprehension plays an indispensable role in the test.endprint

In all papers， listening comprehension comes first. There are two parts in listening comprehension：short dialogue， long dialogue or monologue. The length of materials for short dialogues is as follows：

According to the materials we can know that the more questions for the conversation， the longer the conversation is. The first two materials cover two questions each， and there are almost the equal words for each question， that is 38.7 and 42. It is assumed that the more words for a question， the easier the question is. The C9 has 26 words longer than the C8， but has one more question. Compared with the M8 and C10， C9 may be the most difficult one for it has the fewest words for each question. （M refers to the monologue and C refers to the conversation.）

The arrangement of the material is from the short to long， and in the long part， it also goes the same way as the longer ones are put in the back. It is scientific to move from the easy to the difficult one. So the validity of listening comprehension is quite well.

2.3.2 Content Validity of Reading Comprehension

In order to evaluate the validity of reading comprehension items， we should discuss whether it is related to test purposes， whether the test items have wide coverage of reading abilities and whether the reading passage is suitable for senior high students.

According to the definition， the purpose for reading task is to measure test-takers reading ability， which refers to understand and acquire useful information from simple passages， notices， specifications and advertisements selected from books， newspapers or magazines. In order to see whether reading tests are in accordance with the test purpose， the article genre， passage content and reading abilities implied in the test items should be analyzed.

There are mainly five genres （expository， applied， narrative， descriptive and argumentative article） that senior high school students should be able to read and understand. In the sample test paper， passage A and C are narratives， passage B is the expository， passage D belongs to the argumentative article.

For senior high school students， the general reading skills they should have are skim and scan. There are six specific skills they should acquire：

（1） Understand the gist and main ideas

（2） Get the specific information from the passage

（3） Guess the meaning of new words from the context

（4） Make judgments and inferencesendprint

（5） Understand the basic structure of the passages

（6） Comprehend authors intentions， ideas and attitudes

Through the analysis for the test we can know that the percentage of making inference reading abilities is higher than other tested reading abilities. Making inference requires students to understand writers deeper-layer meaning. That is to say， making inference questions do not only test reading ability， but also involve in strategic competence. So making inferences belongs to higher level of reading ability.

In general， reading part is in accordance with its test purpose. The difficulty of the materials is suitable for senior high school students and most reading abilities are tested. The only weak point is the use of large percentage of multiple choice questions， which may not measure test-takers real reading abilities and skills. Therefore， the items for reading should be various， using each items advantages to measure suitable reading abilities.

3. Conclusion

This thesis has conducted an analysis of validity of an English final test for senior high students. According to the analysis， this test is of high validity， but there are still some drawbacks. Hence， in order to be reliable and valid， a test should be designed based on teaching contents， purposes and others to assist teachers in adjusting syllabus and help learners be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and make progress.

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