4 research outputs found
A STUDY OF WRITING TASKS IN THE NMET 2014
No full textThe National Matriculation English Test (NMET) is a high-stakes test compulsory for those aspiring to entering higher education institutions in China. The test is designed by the National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) and some local examination authorities. The final section of this test is generally a writing task. In this paper, the author examines the 21 writing tasks that were used in the NMET 2014. Using content analysis, and a priori validation components of Weir’s (2005) socio-cognitive validation framework, namely test taker characteristics, cognitive validity and context validity, the paper finds out the merits and demerits of these 21 writing tasks. It is concluded that these writing tasks are generally well designed and are valid in helping select talents. But more empirical research must be done to investigate how the writing tasks function for students when taking these writing tests
Assessment in Second Language Pronunciation. By O. Kang and A. Ginther (Eds.), London and New York: Routledge, 2018, 190 pp., $39.91 (paperback). ISBN: 978-1-138-85687-5 (pbk)
No full textThe pendulum of L2 pronunciation research has swung back to a time when there is a revitalization in research into assessment of second language pronunciation, with two edited volumes published within two years, Isaacs and Trofimovich (2016) and Kang and Ginther (2018), the book reviewed here. Assessment in Second Language Pronunciation takes pronunciation as a crucial aspect of oral production and delves into important constructs like accentedness, intelligibility and comprehensibility and the assessment of these constructs and sub-constructs in international communication and the related validity issues. The volume also discusses application of speech technology in pronunciation assessment, making it a highly-welcomed addition to the literature
AN INVESTIGATION OF CHINESE MIDDLE SCHOOL IN-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS� ASSESSMENT LITERACY
No full textThis paper reports an investigation into the status quo of assessment literacy of Chinese middle school in-service English teachers. Using tasks designed by Coombe et al. (2007), the study finds out that Chinese secondary English teachers have low levels of assessment literacy. They are not aware of such principles as authenticity, sensitivity issues about test content and self-assessment. Especially, they are extremely incompetent in understanding statistics about item analysis and distractor efficiency analysis. No significant difference was detected about teachers� assessment literacy in terms of teaching experience and whether they have taken assessment training courses in any forms. The authors call for a study into language assessment courses offered for secondary English teachers and enough attention paid to the relevance of language assessment training courses to classroom assessment.Keywords: assessment literacy, middle school in-service English teachers. China</jats:p
AN INVESTIGATION OF CHINESE MIDDLE SCHOOL IN-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSESSMENT LITERACY
No full textThis paper reports an investigation into the status quo of assessment literacy of Chinese middle school in-service English teachers. Using tasks designed by Coombe et al. (2007), the study finds out that Chinese secondary English teachers have low levels of assessment literacy. They are not aware of such principles as authenticity, sensitivity issues about test content and self-assessment. Especially, they are extremely incompetent in understanding statistics about item analysis and distractor efficiency analysis. No significant difference was detected about teachers’ assessment literacy in terms of teaching experience and whether they have taken assessment training courses in any forms. The authors call for a study into language assessment courses offered for secondary English teachers and enough attention paid to the relevance of language assessment training courses to classroom assessment
