完整word版test specification 考试规范.docx

完整word版test specification 考试规范.docx

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完整word版testspecification考试规范

 IWhataretestspecifications?

n        Definitionoftestspecifications

Atest’sspecificationsprovidetheofficialstatementaboutwhatthetesttestsandhowittestsit.Thespecificationsaretheblueprinttobefollowedbytestanditemwriters,andtheyarealsoessentialintheestablishmentofthetest’sconstructvalidity.

n        Differencebetweenspecificationsandsyllabus

1.      atestspecificationisadetaileddocument,whilethesyllabusisoftenmuchsimplified.

2.      atestspecificationisainternaldocumentfortestdevelopers,sometimesconfidentialtothetestusers,whilethesyllabusisapublicdocumentwhichindicatestocandidatesandteacherswhatthetestwillcontain.

IIWhoneedstestspecifications?

Andwhy?

Testspecificationsareneededbyarangeofdifferentpeople:

n        neededbythosewhoproducethetestitself

Testconstructorsneedtohaveclearstatementsaboutwhothetestisaimedat,whatitspurposeis,whatcontentistobecovered,whatmethodsaretobeused,howmanypapersorsectionsthereare,howlongthetesttakes,andsoon.Inaddition,thespecificationswillneedtobeavailabletothoseresponsibleforeditingandmoderatingtheworkofindividualitemwritersorteams.Sucheditorsmayoperateinacommitteeorboardofficials.Insmallerinstitutions,theymaysimplybefellowteachers.Thespecificationsshouldbeconsultedandclearlywritten.

n        Neededbythoseresponsiblefororinterestedinestablishingthetest’svalidity（thatis,whetherthetesttestswhatitissupposedtotest）.

Validatorsmaythinkitislessimportanttohave‘practicalinformationaboutthelengthofthetestanditssections,andmoreimportanttoknowthetheoreticaljustificationforthecontent:

whattheoriesoflanguageandproficiencymakethetest,and why thetestisthewayitis.

n        Neededbytestusers

Testusersneeddescriptionsofatest’scontent,anddifferentsortsofusersmayneedsomewhatdifferentdescriptions.Forexample,teacherswhowillberesponsibleforthelearnersplacedintheirclassesbyatestneedtoknowwhatthetestscoresmean:

whattheparticularlearnersknew,whattheycando,whattheyneedtolearn.Teacherswhowishtoentertheirstudentsforsomepublicexaminationneedtoknowwhichtestwillbemostappropriatefortheirlearnerinrelationtothecoursethattheyhavebeenfollowing.

n        Neededbypublishers

Finally,testspecificationsareavaluablesourceofinformationforpublisherswishingtoproducetextbooksrelatedtothetest:

textbookwriterswillensurethatthepracticeinbookstheyproduceareofanappropriatelevelofdifficulty,withappropriatecontent,topics,tasksandsoon.

Alltheseusersoftestspecificationsmayhavedifferingneeds,andwritersofspecificationsneedtobeartheaudienceinmindwhenproducingtheirspecifications.Whatissuitableforanaudiencemaybequiteunsuitableforanother.

IIIContentsoftestspecifications

1.        Testpurpose

2.        Theoreticalconstructandoperations

3.        Testtakers

4.        Testcontent

5.        Testmethod

6.        Testtasksandtexttypes

7.        Testorganizationsandweighting

8.        Timeduration

9.        Scoringcriterion

10.    Testadministration

11.    Testdevelopmentchart

IVHowtodrawuptestspecifications?

n        Testpurpose:

teststendtofallintooneofthefollowingbroadcategories:

placement,progress,achievement,proficiencyanddiagnostic.

Placementtestsaredesignedtoassessstudents’leveloflanguageabilitysothattheycanbeplacedintheappropriatecourseorclass.

Progresstestsaregivenatvariousstagesthroughoutalanguagecoursetoseewhatthestudentshavelearnt.

Achievementteststendtobegivenattheendofthecourse.Thecontentofbothprogressandachievementtestsisgenerallybasedonthecoursesyllabusorthecoursetextbook.

Proficiencytestsaredesignedtotesttheabilityofstudentswithdifferentlanguagetrainingbackgrounds.Someareintendedtoshowwhetherstudentshavereachedagivenlevelofgenerallanguageability;othersaredesignedtoshowwhetherstudentshavesufficientabilitytobeabletousealanguageinsomespecificareasuchasmedicine,tourismetc.

Diagnostictestsseektoidentifystrengthsandweaknessesinstudents’languageability.

Testpurposeisthenormalstartingpointfordesigningtestspecifications.Forexample:

TestAisaplacementtest,designedtoplacestudentsapplyingforlanguagecoursesatEnglishintoclassesappropriatetotheirlanguagelevel.

TestBisintendedtodiagnosestrengthsandweaknessesoffourthyearsecondaryschoolpupilsinEnglishgrammar.

n        Testconstructandoperations

Everytesthasatheorybehindit:

whatlanguageabilityconsistsof,whatlanguagelearninginvolvesandwhatlanguageusersdowithlanguage.Everytheorycontainsconstructs,whichareitsprincipalcomponentsandtherelationshipbetweenthesecomponents.Testspecificationsneedtomakethetheoreticalframeworkwhichunderliesthetestlanguageskillsandrelationshipsbetweenitsconstructs,aswellastherelationshipbetweenthetheoryandwhatthetestisdesignedfor.Thetestdomainisintendednottoincludealltheskillsoftheconstructbuttherepresentativecontentsofthelistingskills

Forexample:

Heaton（2000:

105-106）,inhisbook“WritingEnglishLanguageTests”,hypothesizesreadingskillsastheabilityto:

--recognizewordsandwordgroups,associatingsoundswiththeircorrespondinggraphicsymbols;

--deducethemeaningofwords;

--understandexplicitlystatedinformation;

--understandrelationswithinthesentence;

--understandrelationsbetweenpartsofatext;

--perceivetemporalandspatialrelationshipsandalsosequencesofideas;

--understandconceptualmeaning;

--anticipateandpredictwhatwillcomenextinthetext;

--identifythemainideaandothersalientfeaturesinatext;

--generalizeanddrawconclusion;

--understandinformationnotexplicitlystatedbymakingreferences;

--skimandscan（lookingforthegeneralmeaningandreadingforspecificinformation）;

--readcritically;

--adoptaflexibleapproachandvaryreadingstrategiesaccordingtothetypeofmaterialbeingreadandthepurposeforwhichitisbeingread.

n        Testtakers

Whatsortoflearnerwillbetakingthetest.

Personalcharacteristics:

age,sex,firstlanguage,countryoforigin,levelandnatureofeducation,reasonfortakingthetest,professionalinterests

Topicalknowledge:

levelsoftargetlanguagesocialandculturalunderstanding.

Languageability:

levelsoftargetlanguageknowledgeandlanguageuseability

n        Testcontent

Topicisconcernedwithwhatthetestisreadytomeasure,grammarorstructureknowledgeorwriting,speakingandreadingabilities.

Focusisinvolvedinwhatfunctionstesttasksshouldenablestudentstouseaccordingtotheabovetopic.

Descriptionsoftestcontentshouldbedetailedandcomprehensive:

testcontentshoulddemonstratethatittestswhatthetestissupposedtotestortestcontentvalidity;testcontentshouldberepresentativefortestconstruct（constructvalidity）.

n        Testmethod

Whattestmethodsaretobeused–multiplechoice,gapfilling,matching,transformation,shortanswerquestion,picturedescription,roleplaywithcuecards,essay,structuredwriting,etc?

Intakingtesttypes,testwritersshouldthinkaboutfouraspects:

testvalidity,reliability,authenticityandpracticality.

n        Testtasksandtexttypes

Whatsortoftasksarerequired–discretepoint,integrative,authentic,objectivelyorsubjectivelyassessable?

Ifitisauthentic,whattexttypesshouldbechosen–writtenand/orspoken?

Whatshouldbethesourcesofthese,thetopics,thedegreeofauthenticity?

Howdifficultorlongshouldtheybe?

Whatfunctionsshouldbeembodiedinthetexts–persuasion,definition,summarizing,etc?

Howcomplexshouldthelanguagebe?

n        Testorganizationsandweighting

Testorganizationsrefertonumberofitemsortasks–howmanyitemsarerequiredforeachsection?

Weightingconcernswhatistherelativeweightforeachitem–equalweighting,extraweightingformoredifficultitems.

Forexample:

 weightingforwrittenCET4

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        Timeduration

Howmanysections/papersshouldthetesthave,howlongshouldtheybeandhowwilltheybedifferentiated?

Forexample:

 thetimedifferentiationofCET4

PartI Writing（30minutes）

PartII Readingcomprehension（skimmingandscanning）（15minutes）

PartIIIListeningcomprehension（35minutes）

PartIVReadingcomprehension（Readingindepth）（25minutes）

PartVCloze（15minutes）

PartVITranslation（5minutes）

n        Scoringcriterion

Whichcriteriawillbeusedforassessmentbymarkers?

Howimportantisaccuracy,appropriacy,spelling,lengthofutterance/script,etc?

Adescriptionofthecriteriawhichwillbeusedtoevaluatestudents’performance

Criteriaforassessment

Thehighermarkallocationreflectsitsgreaterorganizationalandinterpretationaldemands.

Answersofabout300wordswillberequired.Ascandidatesarerequiredtodevelopalogicalpieceofwritingwhichinterpretstheinformationprovided,itisclearlyimportantthattheyavoidanyattempttodescribeextensivelyalltheinformationprovided.Candidatesshouldbeabletocompareandcontrast,showcauseandeffectrelationships,drawconclusions,makehypothesesandproduceothersuchpatternsofdiscourse.Theyshouldbeableto