语言测试学结课论文

A general description of language testingAbstract:Key words:As we all known,出现的时间兴盛时期查英语论文的总体格式1 An introduction to language testingA language test seeks to find out what candidates can do with language, and it provides a focus for purposeful, everyday communication activities. In the past, a large numbers of examinations have encouraged a tendency to separate testing from teaching activities. Actually, both testing and teaching are so closely interrelated that it is virtually impossible to work in either field without being concerned with the other. What’s more, language testing almost never takes place in isolation. It is done for a particular purpose and in a specific context. Current research and development in language testing incorporates advances in several areas: research in language acquisition and language teaching, theoretical frameworks for describing language proficiency and language use, and measurement theory.2 The objects and reasons of testGenerally speaking, language testing are constructed primarily as devices to reinforce learning and to motivate the student or primarily as a means of assessing the students’performance in the language. Language testing mainly emphasizes the evaluation of students’performance for the purpose of comparison or selection. Here, some descriptions in details are given. Firstly, it is generally concerned with evaluation for the purpose of enabling the teachers to increase their effectiveness by making adjustments in their teaching to enable certain group of students or individuals in the class to benefit more. Too many teachers gear their teaching towards an ill-defined average group without taking into account the abilities of those students in the class who are at either end of the scale. Just as it is necessary for a doctor first to diagnose the patient’s illness, so it is equally necessary for the teacher to diagnose the students’weaknesses and difficulties. Secondly, a well-designed test will help to locate the precise areas of difficulty encountered by the class or by the individual student. Thirdly, the test can enable the teacher to identify which parts of language programmed have been found difficult by the class. Finally, a test which sets out to measure students’ performances as fairly as possible without in any way setting traps for them can be effectively used as a valuable teaching device. Consequently, we can conclude both easily and clearly the significance of language testing.3 An overview of test developmentTest development is the entire process of creating and using a test, beginning with its initial conceptualization and designing and culminating in one or more archived tests and the results of their use. Whatever the situation might be, we usually believe that careful planning of test development process in all language testing situations is crucial. We generally organizeconceptually test development into three stages: first, the design stage in which we describe in detail the components of the test design that will correspond as closely as possible to language use and test scores will be mostly useful for their intended purpose; second, the operationalization stage which involves developing task specifications for the types of test tasks to be included in the test, and a blueprint that describes how test tasks will be organized to form actual tests; third, the test administration stage of test development involves giving the test to a group of individuals, collecting information, and analyzing this information, for two purposes: assessing the usefulness of the test and making the inferences or decisions for which the test is intend.In developing language tests, we must also take into account considerations and follow procedures that are characteristic of tests and measurement in social science in general. Similarly, our interpretation and the use of the results of language tests are subjective to the same general limitations that characterize measurement in social science.4 The content and standards of language testingThe development of modern linguistic theory has helped to make language teachers and testers aware of the importance of analyzing the language being tested. Modern descriptive grammar are replacing the older, “Latin-based”prescriptive grammars in which linguists are examining the whole complex system of language skills and patterns of linguistic behavior.Simply speaking, the main content of language test undoubtedly focuses on the four facets of language capacities and abilities. Language ability is viewed as a set of finite components , that is grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling which are often defined as four skills called listening, speaking, reading and writing. In an attempt to isolate the language areas learnt, a considerable number of tests focus on several sections as follows: at first, the tests grammar and usage which aims to measure students’ ability to recognize appropriate grammatical forms and to manipulate structures. Secondly, tests of vocabulary which assesses students’ knowledge of the meaning of certain words as well as the patterns and collocations in which they occur. At last, the tests of phonology which test the following sub-skills: ability to recognize and pronounce the significant sound contrasts of a language, ability to recognize the stress patterns and ability to hear and produce the melody or patterns of the tunes of language.In reference to the standard of language testing,,,,,,,,,,,,To what extent should we concentrate on testing students’ability to handle those elements of language and to what extent should we concentrate on testing the integrated skills? The attitude toward these questions must depend on both the level and the aims of the tests we intend to practice . If the students have been learning English for only a relatively junior stage, it is probably that we shall be only chiefly concerned with their ability to handle the language ability correctly. What is more, if the purpose of the test is to sample as wide a field as possible, a battery of tests of the language elements will be useful not only in providing a wide coverage of this ability but also in locating particular problem areas. Tests that are designed to assess the mastery of a language elements enable the test writer to determine exactly what is being tested and to pre-test items.5 Some approaches to language testingLanguage tests can be roughly classified according to four main approaches to testing:(ⅰ)the essay translation approach;(ⅱ) the structuralist approach;(ⅲ)the integrativeapproach; and (ⅳ)the communicative approach. Although these approaches are listedin chronological order, they should not be regarded as being strictly confined to certain periods in the development of language testing. Nor are the four approaches features always mutually exclusive. A useful test will generally incorporate features of several these approaches. Indeed, a test may have certain inherent weaknesses simply because it is limited to one approach, however attractive that approach may appear.It always turns out to be truth that every coin has two sides. The combination ofthe four approaches can lead to an effective language test. The essay translation approach is commonly referred to as the pre-scientific stage of language testing.No special skill or expertise in testing is required: the subjective judgement ofthe teacher is considered to be of paramount importance. And the structuralist approach is characterized by the view that language learning is chiefly concernedwith the systematic acquisition of a set of habits. It draws on the work of structure linguistics, in particular the importance of contrastive analysis and the need to identify and measure the learner’s mastery of the separate elements of the target language: phonology, vocabulary and grammar. And the integrative approach involvesthe testing in context and is thus concerned primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse. Therefore, integrative tests do seek to separate language skills into neat divisions in order to improve test reliability. Instead, they are often designed to assess the learners’ability to use two or more skills simultaneously. Integrative approach tests are concerned with a global view of proficiency. At last,the communicative approach to language testing is linked to the integrative approach. Although both of them emphasize the importance of meaning of utterance rather thantheir form and approaches .Communicative test is related primarily to how languageis used in communication. It has introduced the concept of qualitative modes of assessment in preference to quantitative ones. Language band systems are used to show the learners’levels of performance in the different skills tested. Detailed statements of each performance level serve to increase the reliability of the scoringby enabling the examiner to make decisions.前景展望In conclusion,BibliograpgyWriting English Language TestFundamental Consideration in Language TestLanguage Testing in Practice。