Validity Study on Each Item of National New Curriculum Standard Volum Ⅰ— Based on the Test 2017

YanYanqiu

【Abstract】National Matriculation Test （NMT） is of great importance to all of the students in China. Besides， National Matriculation English Test （NMET） plays a vital part in it. So it is necessary and meaningful for us to analise and study Each Item of the National New Curriculum Standard VolumⅠ. The thesis is based on Test 2017 and it will analize its validity.

【Key words】 National Matriculation English Test； validity； each Item

1. Introduction

Testing has a close relationship with teaching. Testing is a direct approach to value teaching methods， and it is also a measurement of studentslearning results. Besides these functions， testing also plays a role as a selection method. National Matriculation Test is a typical selection test.

Students and their parents care about the quality of the test papers most. The two most important factors in test quality are test reliability and test validity. Unlike the test of other subjects， English test is a language test. It means that the purpose of language test is whether it can measure testeesreal language competence instead of just measuring abstract language knowledge.

National Matriculation English Test （NMET） is used to select suitable candidates for university which is of very high educational value. Thus， it is very important to establish a suitable English Testing System of NMET with fair principles in selection， scientifically designed testing system， and valid and reliable test papers. The analysis and research of English examination paper can not only provide reliable testing items and helpful guide in the testing design to the testing designers and testing givers， but also have significant practical significance in the principle of selection and reliability of the NMET. However， lots of previous studies centered on the contents structure of NMET English examination paper and mono-dimensional assessment.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Validity

We create language tests in order to measure such essentiallly theoretical consructs as ‘reading ability， ‘fluency in speaking， ‘control of grammar， and so on. For this reason， in recent years the term construct vality has been increasingly used to refer to the general， overarching notion of validity.（Heaton， J. B. 2000）

It is not enough to assert that a test has construct validity； empricial evidence is needed. Such evidence may take several forms， including the subordinate forms of validity， content vality and criterion-related vality. And attempt to show their relevance for the solution of language testing problems. We shall then turn to other forms of evidence.

2.2 The Types of Validity

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. （Heaton， J. B. 2000）

The test must aim to provide a true measure of the particular skill which it is intended to measure：to the extent that it measures external knowledge and other skills at the same time， it will not be a valid test. Generally， we evaluate a tests validity in four aspects， they are construct validity， empirical validity， content validity and face validity.

2.2.1 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.

2.2.2 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.

2.2.3 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.

2.2.4 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.（Heaton， J. B. 2000） 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.

3. The Types of Test

There are four parts in the National new curriculum standard volumⅠ. The following table shows the structure

part item Test type weighting source

Part 1 1-20 Listening 30 Not textbook

Part 2 21-40 Reading comprehension 40 Not textbook

Part 3 41-100 language knowledge application 45 Textbook & Not textbook

Part 4 101-111 Writing 35 Not textbook

150

3.1 Listening

The first part is listening， mainly for the detection of listening skills， test papers from easy to difficult to set the topic， first of all， it tests dialogue listening， and then tests paragraph listening. In this respect， the design of the test paper is basically reasonable in the listening part. The listening part does not pay attention to the three aspects of students emotion attitude， learning strategies and cultural awareness. This will lead to the neglect of these three aspects in the teaching of listening. The content validity of the listening part shows that the purpose of the test is not clear.

3.2 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 （Wu， 2007）. According to the specification of NMET， 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 NMET 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.

The reading comprehension should be tested in both direct and indirect way. Using multiple choice questions as the direct test for reading skills and abilities is not quite suitable. That is to say， in reading part， other items should also be used as a complement for multiple choice questions， such as blank-filling， ordering， etc.

3.3 Language Knowledge Application

New Curriculum Standards requires language teachers to teach grammar not to be restricted on only grammatical category. Chen Lin and Wang Qiang （2004） once stated that grammar teaching should be connected with logical thoughts， speakers consciousness， context， topic， genre， use of words and culture awareness. Testing， as a supplement and measurement for teaching， should reflect this kind of teaching method in test papers. From the NMETs， all the grammatical rules are not simply set. Nearly all of them have a context for test-takers to fully understand the situations and make inferences. Some questions even need students logical deduction to get the correct answer. These all reflect various teaching methods raised by New Curriculum Standards.

Besides measuring grammar in this part， we also test vocabulary. Because the number of questions is limited in this part and vocabulary can also be tested by other forms， there are not too many questions that tested students vocabulary. The only way to test vocabulary here is by words meaning discrimination. The meaning comparison of verbs or verb phrases is concentrated.

Cloze test should distribute questions more on sentence and discourse level. The majority questions have already focused on meaning factor， which should keep it that way.

3.4 Writing

There are mainly five genres （expository， applied， narrative， descriptive and argumentative article） that senior high school students should be able to read and understand. （Wu， 2007） In recent three years， only the first four genres are tested. The specific percentage of each genre is listed below. From the table it can be noticed that expository is the major tested genre， over 50%， which is probably because expository passages can easily test students understanding of the content. As mentioned above， there are many topics and genres contained in NMETs， so the variety can be guaranteed. Most of the topics are related to our daily lives， so the reality is also promised.

4. Conclusion

Generally speaking， NMETs of the 2017 are reliable and have high validity. NMT is still an effective way to select qualified students to go to university. Till now， although some key universities adopt autonomous enrollment and interview as the selection method， there is still not a better way to replace NMT. Therefore， the opinions that bias against NMT are partial and not objective. NMETs are still useful resources and guidance for senior high English teachers.

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