A reflection on the development of College English Test in the context of EIL

【Abstract】As a requirement for bachelor’s degree in universities and a qualification needed for job application， College English Test has been regarded as students’ ultimate goal of English learning. However， in the context of EIL， it is the high time to reexamine the effectiveness of this test and the purpose of English teaching so as to help our students adapt to the globalized society and engage in international affairs easily.

【Key words】EIL; CETl language assessmentl varieties of English

【作者簡介】趙瑤（1982.12-），女，漢族，貴州遵義人，遵義醫(yī)科大學，講師，碩士研究生，研究方向：英語語言和英語教育研究。

1. Introduction

With the development of global English， a large amount of English varieties emerge. The changing situation of English with the increase of world Englishes have brought about challenges to English Language Teaching in the aspects like curriculum design， teacher training， materials development and testing （Bhowmik， 2015）. As for testing， the criteria of current language assessment has moved from centering on how far the test-takers need to catch up with the native speakers to the focus on comprehensibility and effective communication， and simultaneously diagnosing the parts that need to be improved（Taylor， 2006）. Therefore， the purpose of English assessment is not only to measure learners’ knowledge of the norms of a language， but also their ability to use the language to achieve successful communication with people speaking different varieties.

College English Test （CET）， as a high-stakes standardized test for non-English undergraduates and graduates in China， also needs to be adapted to the context of EIL instead of being cancelled.

2. Current situation of CET

College English Test consists of Band 4 and Band 6， which are conducted twice every year， i.e. in June and December respectively. It is a nation wide English test for gauging college students’ English ability and English teaching quality of different universities and colleges， which aims to measure students’ all around ability from doing social discourse to academic exchanges in English according to the Requirements of College English Curriculum（MOE， 2007）. The number of test-takers is the largest in a single test around the world， namely， more than one hundred million students. The year of 2016 saw the latest reform of CET. As Ma（2014） points out， the validity of CET has been improved by reducing some multiple-choice items and adding some subjective items. In addition， more authentic materials are included.

There is also an oral part in CET， which is called CET Spoken English Test and can be accessed only if test-takers sign up for Band 4 or Band 6. The testing procedure includes self-introduction， discussion and question & answer， with two students in one group lasting about 11 minutes.

3. Some advice for the development of CET in the context of EIL

With the development of EIL， some modifications of CET can help it adapt to the new context and meet L2 learners’ needs in China. Though the Chinese learners still show preference to the inner countries’ varieties （British and American English）， they are also aware of and welcome the other varieties of English （Xu， Wang， & Case， 2010）. Adaptation of CET to the EIL context cannot only examine learners’ language competence from an EIL perspective， but also guide them to grow in line with the development of world Englishes. The following modifications are provided for this purpose.

First， keep the British language form as the general linguistic norm for the time being because most of the materials and textbooks used in China are still sticking to this norm and English learners in China are in favor of British and American English（Xu， Wang and Case， 2010）. This is also a way to keep fairness in test because a majority of learners have access to and are exposing in this norm.

However， when rating the papers， the raters should be open to different varieties， which comes to the second suggestion. That is to say， if a test-taker use China English to answer a question， he/ she should not be penalized. Otherwise， judgments that impose correctness solely based on the norm of the inner country norms will not only influence English pedagogy regarding the washback effects， but also prevent students’ awareness of world Englishes（Canagarajah， 2006）.

Third， incorporate the pragmatic and discourse varieties into the assessment， especially the local pragmatic and discourse norms， which are developing and constantly affecting the use of English（Acar， 2009）. L2 learners’ local culture will influence their English， so the inclusion of the local and other pragmatic and discourse varieties is helpful for learners to build their confidence in their own culture and learn to respect other cultures.

Last but not least， give allowance to all learners for oral test of CET because it is hard to decide a test-taker’s oral proficiency based on their reading and writing， which are not inevitably related to each other. In oral test， different accents can be incorporated based on different bands， since there is no clear interaction between learners’ proficiency and English accents（Oh， 2011）. This is a good way to promote their acceptance of various accents， including their own accent.

4. Conclusion

This paper recalls some of the research on language assessment in EIL and put forward some advice for the future development of CET in China. However， the operation of these suggestions will be a tough job and need rigorous scrutiny and testing. Furthermore， the positive washback effects on the improvement of College English teaching and learning are expected. Though there are some limitations of these suggestions， this paper aims to spark more good ideas about improving CET for learners.

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