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【Abstract】Based on the advanced theories of foreign experts and some specific examples of domestic testing paper and through the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages and washback effect of multiple-choice questions, the author concludes that the negative side of the multiple-choice question outweighs the positive side and it produces a extreme negative washback on English teaching and learning, and it is of low validity. Then some changes are suggested to be made to NMET in future so as to better guide English teaching and testing for secondary school and foster students’ ability of applying English.
【Key words】Validity Multiple-choice NMET Washback effect
【中图分类号】G642.47 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】1006－9682（2008）12－0019－03
Ⅰ、Introduction
China is a country with centralized educational system, whose National College Entrance Examination（NCEE hereafter）is officially utilized as the only authoritative selection device for higher education to choose talents. With the growing awareness of the importance of masteringEnglish forChina’sopeningandreformpolicyandthe young individuals’ need to partake a global economy and information network, English has been authorized as a compulsory subject examined in NCEE, i.e. National Matriculation English Test（NMET hereafter）. The function of NMET is to test the language ability of candidates（no matter what curriculum the candidates learn in school before）. The contents of the examination were not learned from textbooksbycandidates,itistotestcandidates’proficiencyof language and thus to know whether the candidates’ English proficiency has reached the requirements of university studies（Huges, 1989:9）. At the same time, it impacts on the contents and methods of English teaching in secondary schools , and it even plays a role like baton on English teaching in secondary school.At present, NCEE is extremely concerned by the whole society, which makes the schools be under tremendous pressure and makes the examination be the center tasks of schools. The scores students get in the NCEE has naturally become an important basis for measuring the teaching level. This leads to the result that what NCEE tests is what the teachers teach and what the students learn.
NCEE should be an integrative testing which can directly test students' 'language ability of listening, speaking, reading and writing . As such an important exam, it must maintain absolutely objective and fair, so that it must be tight to ensure error-free, at the same time, the answer must be the only standard answer （criterion-referenced）.
Ⅱ、Testing Validity
Validity is the quality which most affects the value of a test, prior to, though dependent on, reliability. The validity of a language test is established by the extent to which it succeeds in providing an accurate concrete representation of an abstract concept, for example, proficiency, achievement, or aptitude.（Davies, A. et al, 2002：221）
Validity is an extent to which a test measures what it claims or intends or supposes to measure, or the extent to which the result of a test of a group of test takers associate with a particular criterion. From Validity as test-criterion correlation, validity consisting of different types: face validity, predictive validity, concurrent validity, construct validity, content validity.
Face validity means whether the test looks like what it is supposed to test. So it is also called surface credibility or public acceptability. Direct tests have higher face validity than indirect tests. Qualitative measures are used to determine the face validity of a test, such as public opinion and expert judgment.
Predicativevalidity,tosomeextent,thetestcanpredict the students’ performanceinfuture.Thetwotestsundercomparison should have a time span. As far as placement test is concerned, predictive validity is very important.
Concurrent validity means comparison between a test and an established test. The new test and the established one are given to the same group of students and data is analyzed through quantitative measures（.correlation：-1 -- +1）A correlation coefficient of more than
0.7 is satisfactory.
Response validity, the tasks of a test should elicit the right performance of the students. Sometimes students use test-taking strategies rather than real language skills. So response validity concentrates on the process of test-taking, rather than test results.
Construct validity, in language testing, it refers to language ability / competence（trait）under question. It is something very abstract, which includes proficiency, strategy, skills, etc., and is related to score interpretation.
Content validity is about how much the test can measure the knowledge and abilitiesthetesttakersshouldattain.Itrefersto representativeness of the content selected for assessment. It also asks for adequate sampling（sufficient number of items）of the content selected. Content validity can be assessed through expert judgment / opinion and study of test specification.
Ⅲ、Vadity Analysis on MCQ in NMET
At present NMET includs two parts, the objective and the subjective, with total points of 150. The objective part accounts for 115 points, the subjective one accounts for 35 points. The latter is only one third of the former. The objective part are all multiple
-choicequestions （ MCQ ） .WhetherMCQcanreallytestthe comprehensive language-applying ability? The folowing will focus on analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of MCQ in NMET.
First of all, what kind of examination is MCQ? How to give out the best answer and distracting items. MCQ is composed of stem, options, key, and distracters or an incomplete sentence with four options. Questions of grammar and intercommunicational expressions are used to test students’ mastery of grammar and communication ability. Reading comprehension is to test candidates’ context knowledge（ideas, meaning）, background knowledge, language knowledge （ grammar,word ） andorthography （ spelling ） and candidates’abilitytodistinguishbetweennon-centralideaand central idea and details, and to sythesize comprehensive information from all paragraphs, and identify concepts and viewpoints. There are just one right answer among the four answers, the other three ditractors will appear as the following:（a）If the topic is to identify
concepts or ideas, interference items will be: ①Contrary view, ②
The definition, facts or ideas did not appear in the article.（b）If it is to sum up central idea,the interference items would be the supporting view or the sentence which is not of central idea in the article.（c）If the question is of comprehensive information, the interference will be：① the statement contrary to definitions, facts, views.②items that are not mentioned in the article but are often granted by the candidatesinaccordancewithcommonsense. （ Huhta,A.K. Sajavaara and S.Takhca.1993：82）
The advantages of multiple-choice questions. First, it is of a high degree of objective and fair, high reliability. Second, it is of clear subject and simple answer. Third, easy to predict. The difficulty coefficientofeachitemorthewholetestcanbeestimatedin advance. Then it can be modified in time to make sure a perfect testing.
The disadvantages of multiple-choice questions. First, it is an indirecttestingandcan’ttestthereallanguageabilityofthe candidates. Many Chinese students have learned English for many years and are good at doing MCQs, also with good examination results, but can not speak out and are bad at listening , thus become victims of dumb English. Weir said：“The MCQ is not a valid testing item, because in real life, people rarely use a four-selection way to express if understand or not, and we show our understanding of listening and reading by speaking and writing（Weir, 1990：44）.” For example：the following is a MCQ for the use of English
knowledge for candidates.
21. beauty, everyone has his own view. A. In the term of B. In terms of
C. In the eye of D. In store for
The phrase of answer C.“in the eye of”is not existed in English , there is only “in the eyes of”. Such a test is not only of no sense, but also misleading the students’ language acquisition. The answer A, can’t be found in Oxford and Longman Dictionary: It should be replaced by “in the long term.” So the students can select the correct answer as longastheyrememberthephrase“intermsof”inthetextbooks.
Therefore, It can not test the candidates’ ability of using language.
In accordance with the definitionsand theories ofvalidity in PartII and through the analysis above, it can be concluded that MC is of very low validity.
Ⅳ、Washback Effect of MCQ on Teaching and Learning
Testing, as one of the assessment tools, plays a significant role in curriculum design and instruction, mainly because some test results are used in policy-making; The larger a test scale is, the greater impact it will produce; Moreover, the impact of testing upon teaching and learning even ripples to educational system and the society as a whole
（ ZouShen,2005 ） .Thedifferencebetween“washback”and “impact”:A language test can have macro impacts on society or the education system, or micro impacts on individuals, and regard washback as an aspect of impact on individuals（. Bachman and Palmer:
1996）.Washback refers to how tests affect teaching and learning, impactcoverstheirbroaderinfluenceoneducationandsociety.
（Hamp-Lyons：1997）
In the whole education system, teaching and testing are the two most important factors, which are interrelated and interdependant, and have a relationship of what Hughes（1989）called ‘partnership’. In the perspective of the relationship inherent between teaching and examination,ithasbeenwidelyassumedandacknowledgedthat testing influences teaching. However, it is not until 1950 that some scholars intendedly set their eyes to the influence of a test on teaching and learning. At the macro level of the whole education system, for example, Vernon（1956：116） first claimed that examination distorted curriculum and teachers taught to a test. At the micro level of language education system, in the 1980s, more researchers（kellaghan et al,
1982；Alderson, 1986；Smith et al, 1989；Pearson, 1988；Hughes,
1989）studied the washback and most of them came to conclude that language testing exerted negative influence on language teaching and learning, such as: narrowing the curriculum（Madaus, 1988）, losing instructional time（Smith et al, 1989）, reducing emphasis on skills that requirecomplexthinkingorproblem-solving（Frederiksen,1984； Darling-Hammond & Wise, 1985）, teaching to a test and so on. Others, however, saw washback in a more positive way. Pearson （1988：107） considered good examinations as beneficial to teaching and learning. Alderson（1986：104）evenclaimedforinnovationsoflanguage curriculum through innovation of language testing.
The washback of MCQ testing in NCEE on teaching and learning is clearly negative. It leads to deviation of the purpose of English teaching. It is well known to all that the real purpose of learning English is to communicate with people who speak English.So the most important thing is being able to speak it out and understand what’s listened. However, NMET in NCEE misleads the candidates to believe that getting high scores in the examination shows his level of English. While about 80% of MCQs is the key of their high scores. So MCQs are naturally favored by teachers and students.
As a result, the students consider that to learn English well is to be good at doing multiple-choice questions. And the teachers focus on teaching how to do multiple-choice questions. They spend much timeonteachingtheskillsfordoingMCQs,suchasguessing,excluding etc.. The students can do even without understanding the topic or text.
For example: 30,32. In NMET of NCEE 2005 Shanghai Part II
（II Grammar and Vocabulary）
30. More than a dozen students in that school _________abroad to study medicine last year.
A. sent B. were sent C. had sent D. had been sent
32. He got well-prepared for the job interview, for he couldn’t risk ________ the good opportunity.
A. To lost B. losing C. To be lost D. being lost
For 30 , through “exclusion” , for it is last year, so exclude C and D, it is of passive voice, exclude A, then come out the correct answer B.
For 32,A and C are excluded for risk connected with nouns , and it is of active voice , so exclude D, and get the correct answer B. Candidates can get the correct answer without understang the meaning. Thus being good at doing MCQs can’t tell the real level of students’ ability ’of using language and communication in English. Thus this deviates the purpose of learning English.
It is very difficult to design the testing, especially for beginners. The designers should undergo a rigorous training and make a pre-test. Four options of each question , should be similar in length and be independent and the distracters should be equally distracting and distinguishable and be fit for testing（Weir 1990:44）. So it is of high requirements and high difficulty for the propositioner.Currently in our country, language tests on Reading Compre-hension do not reach a certain degree of distinction. Some of them do not compose of four similar items. And for many questions, the answer is the original sentence in the text. So the candidates can find the answer directly from the text.
Forexample:2005NationalCollegeEntranceExamination
（Shanghai）, Part IV（IV Reading Comprehension, A, 65,66）.
65．Scientists believe that_______.
A. some babies are born with a sense of direction
B. people learn a sense of direction as they grow older
C. people never lost their sense of direction
D. everybody possesses a sense of direction from birth
66. What is true of seven-year-old children according to the passage?
A. They never have a sense of direction without maps.
B. They should never be allowed out alone if they lack a sense of direction.
C.Theyhaveasenseofdirectionandcanfindtheirway around.
D. They can develop a good sense of direction if they are driven around in a car.
The sentence “Scientists say we are all born with a sense of direction, but it is not properly understood how it works.” can be found in Paragraph 2 of the article. And the sentence “Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way around. However, if they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car, they never develop the skills.” can be found in Paragraph 3. So the candidates can find the correct answers（65. D, 66. C）directly from the article.
Ⅴ、Conclusion
To sum up, MCQ do more harm than good. So the author suggest that.①MC be made authentic,such as information matching,picture finding etc. ②Increase the weighting of constructed responses for listening, and reading. ③Cancel MC items for grammar and vocabulary.
④Provide choice for students more writing, reading tasks for students to choose from. ⑤Write and arrange questions in accordance with the cognitive requirements of different items.
Scores for MCQ should be reduced and questions which can test candidates’ ability for applying language should be increased. Such as: Reading comprehension, can be given in the form of answering question, true or false,completing sentences, filling in forms or pictures, matching meanings between paragaphs etc. Cloze, can be used by students to fill in the missing word, the first letter of the wordcan also be given to reduce the difficulty. As for listening, can ask the candidates to choose pictures matches with the contents, complete sentences, fill in forms or pictures etc. Oral testhas been added on to NCEE, thus the most important aptitude for language has been emphasized. Only shall we adjust proportion between MC and non-MC question andimprove the contents of the test, can we enhancethevalidityofNCEEandfosterstudents’abilityfor applying language and studying-for-life, change“dumb English” situation and joint tracks with international English teaching.
References
1 Alderson, J. C. 1986. Innovations of Language Testing in Portal（ed）: 93～10
2 Alderson, J. C. & D.Wall. 1993. ‘Does Washback Exist?’ Applied Linguistics . 14：115～29
3 Bachman, L. F. 1997. Fundamental Consideration in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
4Bachman,L .F.& Palmer,1996.Language TestinginPractice. Oxford: Oxford University Press
5 Bailey, K.M. 1996. ‘Working for washback: a review of the washback concept’. Language Testing.13/3
6 Huges, A 1989 Testing for language teachers ［M］Cambridge: CUP Chapter 3:Kinds of tests and testing，9～21
7 Zuo Shen.1998. English Language Testing—Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
8 Werir, C 1990 Communicative Language Testing. ［M］ New York: Prentice Hall Chapter 4: Test Methods，42～79
9成善德.从语用学看近年来 NMET 的构卷效度.外语与外语教 学（增刊），1999
10邓卫东.对高考英语题型改革的建议.试题研究（高中英语），2002（369）
11 黄大勇、杨炳均. 语言测试的反拨效应研究概述. 外语教学与 研究，2002（7）
【Key words】Validity Multiple-choice NMET Washback effect
【中图分类号】G642.47 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】1006－9682（2008）12－0019－03
Ⅰ、Introduction
China is a country with centralized educational system, whose National College Entrance Examination（NCEE hereafter）is officially utilized as the only authoritative selection device for higher education to choose talents. With the growing awareness of the importance of masteringEnglish forChina’sopeningandreformpolicyandthe young individuals’ need to partake a global economy and information network, English has been authorized as a compulsory subject examined in NCEE, i.e. National Matriculation English Test（NMET hereafter）. The function of NMET is to test the language ability of candidates（no matter what curriculum the candidates learn in school before）. The contents of the examination were not learned from textbooksbycandidates,itistotestcandidates’proficiencyof language and thus to know whether the candidates’ English proficiency has reached the requirements of university studies（Huges, 1989:9）. At the same time, it impacts on the contents and methods of English teaching in secondary schools , and it even plays a role like baton on English teaching in secondary school.At present, NCEE is extremely concerned by the whole society, which makes the schools be under tremendous pressure and makes the examination be the center tasks of schools. The scores students get in the NCEE has naturally become an important basis for measuring the teaching level. This leads to the result that what NCEE tests is what the teachers teach and what the students learn.
NCEE should be an integrative testing which can directly test students' 'language ability of listening, speaking, reading and writing . As such an important exam, it must maintain absolutely objective and fair, so that it must be tight to ensure error-free, at the same time, the answer must be the only standard answer （criterion-referenced）.
Ⅱ、Testing Validity
Validity is the quality which most affects the value of a test, prior to, though dependent on, reliability. The validity of a language test is established by the extent to which it succeeds in providing an accurate concrete representation of an abstract concept, for example, proficiency, achievement, or aptitude.（Davies, A. et al, 2002：221）
Validity is an extent to which a test measures what it claims or intends or supposes to measure, or the extent to which the result of a test of a group of test takers associate with a particular criterion. From Validity as test-criterion correlation, validity consisting of different types: face validity, predictive validity, concurrent validity, construct validity, content validity.
Face validity means whether the test looks like what it is supposed to test. So it is also called surface credibility or public acceptability. Direct tests have higher face validity than indirect tests. Qualitative measures are used to determine the face validity of a test, such as public opinion and expert judgment.
Predicativevalidity,tosomeextent,thetestcanpredict the students’ performanceinfuture.Thetwotestsundercomparison should have a time span. As far as placement test is concerned, predictive validity is very important.
Concurrent validity means comparison between a test and an established test. The new test and the established one are given to the same group of students and data is analyzed through quantitative measures（.correlation：-1 -- +1）A correlation coefficient of more than
0.7 is satisfactory.
Response validity, the tasks of a test should elicit the right performance of the students. Sometimes students use test-taking strategies rather than real language skills. So response validity concentrates on the process of test-taking, rather than test results.
Construct validity, in language testing, it refers to language ability / competence（trait）under question. It is something very abstract, which includes proficiency, strategy, skills, etc., and is related to score interpretation.
Content validity is about how much the test can measure the knowledge and abilitiesthetesttakersshouldattain.Itrefersto representativeness of the content selected for assessment. It also asks for adequate sampling（sufficient number of items）of the content selected. Content validity can be assessed through expert judgment / opinion and study of test specification.
Ⅲ、Vadity Analysis on MCQ in NMET
At present NMET includs two parts, the objective and the subjective, with total points of 150. The objective part accounts for 115 points, the subjective one accounts for 35 points. The latter is only one third of the former. The objective part are all multiple
-choicequestions （ MCQ ） .WhetherMCQcanreallytestthe comprehensive language-applying ability? The folowing will focus on analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of MCQ in NMET.
First of all, what kind of examination is MCQ? How to give out the best answer and distracting items. MCQ is composed of stem, options, key, and distracters or an incomplete sentence with four options. Questions of grammar and intercommunicational expressions are used to test students’ mastery of grammar and communication ability. Reading comprehension is to test candidates’ context knowledge（ideas, meaning）, background knowledge, language knowledge （ grammar,word ） andorthography （ spelling ） and candidates’abilitytodistinguishbetweennon-centralideaand central idea and details, and to sythesize comprehensive information from all paragraphs, and identify concepts and viewpoints. There are just one right answer among the four answers, the other three ditractors will appear as the following:（a）If the topic is to identify
concepts or ideas, interference items will be: ①Contrary view, ②
The definition, facts or ideas did not appear in the article.（b）If it is to sum up central idea,the interference items would be the supporting view or the sentence which is not of central idea in the article.（c）If the question is of comprehensive information, the interference will be：① the statement contrary to definitions, facts, views.②items that are not mentioned in the article but are often granted by the candidatesinaccordancewithcommonsense. （ Huhta,A.K. Sajavaara and S.Takhca.1993：82）
The advantages of multiple-choice questions. First, it is of a high degree of objective and fair, high reliability. Second, it is of clear subject and simple answer. Third, easy to predict. The difficulty coefficientofeachitemorthewholetestcanbeestimatedin advance. Then it can be modified in time to make sure a perfect testing.
The disadvantages of multiple-choice questions. First, it is an indirecttestingandcan’ttestthereallanguageabilityofthe candidates. Many Chinese students have learned English for many years and are good at doing MCQs, also with good examination results, but can not speak out and are bad at listening , thus become victims of dumb English. Weir said：“The MCQ is not a valid testing item, because in real life, people rarely use a four-selection way to express if understand or not, and we show our understanding of listening and reading by speaking and writing（Weir, 1990：44）.” For example：the following is a MCQ for the use of English
knowledge for candidates.
21. beauty, everyone has his own view. A. In the term of B. In terms of
C. In the eye of D. In store for
The phrase of answer C.“in the eye of”is not existed in English , there is only “in the eyes of”. Such a test is not only of no sense, but also misleading the students’ language acquisition. The answer A, can’t be found in Oxford and Longman Dictionary: It should be replaced by “in the long term.” So the students can select the correct answer as longastheyrememberthephrase“intermsof”inthetextbooks.
Therefore, It can not test the candidates’ ability of using language.
In accordance with the definitionsand theories ofvalidity in PartII and through the analysis above, it can be concluded that MC is of very low validity.
Ⅳ、Washback Effect of MCQ on Teaching and Learning
Testing, as one of the assessment tools, plays a significant role in curriculum design and instruction, mainly because some test results are used in policy-making; The larger a test scale is, the greater impact it will produce; Moreover, the impact of testing upon teaching and learning even ripples to educational system and the society as a whole
（ ZouShen,2005 ） .Thedifferencebetween“washback”and “impact”:A language test can have macro impacts on society or the education system, or micro impacts on individuals, and regard washback as an aspect of impact on individuals（. Bachman and Palmer:
1996）.Washback refers to how tests affect teaching and learning, impactcoverstheirbroaderinfluenceoneducationandsociety.
（Hamp-Lyons：1997）
In the whole education system, teaching and testing are the two most important factors, which are interrelated and interdependant, and have a relationship of what Hughes（1989）called ‘partnership’. In the perspective of the relationship inherent between teaching and examination,ithasbeenwidelyassumedandacknowledgedthat testing influences teaching. However, it is not until 1950 that some scholars intendedly set their eyes to the influence of a test on teaching and learning. At the macro level of the whole education system, for example, Vernon（1956：116） first claimed that examination distorted curriculum and teachers taught to a test. At the micro level of language education system, in the 1980s, more researchers（kellaghan et al,
1982；Alderson, 1986；Smith et al, 1989；Pearson, 1988；Hughes,
1989）studied the washback and most of them came to conclude that language testing exerted negative influence on language teaching and learning, such as: narrowing the curriculum（Madaus, 1988）, losing instructional time（Smith et al, 1989）, reducing emphasis on skills that requirecomplexthinkingorproblem-solving（Frederiksen,1984； Darling-Hammond & Wise, 1985）, teaching to a test and so on. Others, however, saw washback in a more positive way. Pearson （1988：107） considered good examinations as beneficial to teaching and learning. Alderson（1986：104）evenclaimedforinnovationsoflanguage curriculum through innovation of language testing.
The washback of MCQ testing in NCEE on teaching and learning is clearly negative. It leads to deviation of the purpose of English teaching. It is well known to all that the real purpose of learning English is to communicate with people who speak English.So the most important thing is being able to speak it out and understand what’s listened. However, NMET in NCEE misleads the candidates to believe that getting high scores in the examination shows his level of English. While about 80% of MCQs is the key of their high scores. So MCQs are naturally favored by teachers and students.
As a result, the students consider that to learn English well is to be good at doing multiple-choice questions. And the teachers focus on teaching how to do multiple-choice questions. They spend much timeonteachingtheskillsfordoingMCQs,suchasguessing,excluding etc.. The students can do even without understanding the topic or text.
For example: 30,32. In NMET of NCEE 2005 Shanghai Part II
（II Grammar and Vocabulary）
30. More than a dozen students in that school _________abroad to study medicine last year.
A. sent B. were sent C. had sent D. had been sent
32. He got well-prepared for the job interview, for he couldn’t risk ________ the good opportunity.
A. To lost B. losing C. To be lost D. being lost
For 30 , through “exclusion” , for it is last year, so exclude C and D, it is of passive voice, exclude A, then come out the correct answer B.
For 32,A and C are excluded for risk connected with nouns , and it is of active voice , so exclude D, and get the correct answer B. Candidates can get the correct answer without understang the meaning. Thus being good at doing MCQs can’t tell the real level of students’ ability ’of using language and communication in English. Thus this deviates the purpose of learning English.
It is very difficult to design the testing, especially for beginners. The designers should undergo a rigorous training and make a pre-test. Four options of each question , should be similar in length and be independent and the distracters should be equally distracting and distinguishable and be fit for testing（Weir 1990:44）. So it is of high requirements and high difficulty for the propositioner.Currently in our country, language tests on Reading Compre-hension do not reach a certain degree of distinction. Some of them do not compose of four similar items. And for many questions, the answer is the original sentence in the text. So the candidates can find the answer directly from the text.
Forexample:2005NationalCollegeEntranceExamination
（Shanghai）, Part IV（IV Reading Comprehension, A, 65,66）.
65．Scientists believe that_______.
A. some babies are born with a sense of direction
B. people learn a sense of direction as they grow older
C. people never lost their sense of direction
D. everybody possesses a sense of direction from birth
66. What is true of seven-year-old children according to the passage?
A. They never have a sense of direction without maps.
B. They should never be allowed out alone if they lack a sense of direction.
C.Theyhaveasenseofdirectionandcanfindtheirway around.
D. They can develop a good sense of direction if they are driven around in a car.
The sentence “Scientists say we are all born with a sense of direction, but it is not properly understood how it works.” can be found in Paragraph 2 of the article. And the sentence “Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way around. However, if they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car, they never develop the skills.” can be found in Paragraph 3. So the candidates can find the correct answers（65. D, 66. C）directly from the article.
Ⅴ、Conclusion
To sum up, MCQ do more harm than good. So the author suggest that.①MC be made authentic,such as information matching,picture finding etc. ②Increase the weighting of constructed responses for listening, and reading. ③Cancel MC items for grammar and vocabulary.
④Provide choice for students more writing, reading tasks for students to choose from. ⑤Write and arrange questions in accordance with the cognitive requirements of different items.
Scores for MCQ should be reduced and questions which can test candidates’ ability for applying language should be increased. Such as: Reading comprehension, can be given in the form of answering question, true or false,completing sentences, filling in forms or pictures, matching meanings between paragaphs etc. Cloze, can be used by students to fill in the missing word, the first letter of the wordcan also be given to reduce the difficulty. As for listening, can ask the candidates to choose pictures matches with the contents, complete sentences, fill in forms or pictures etc. Oral testhas been added on to NCEE, thus the most important aptitude for language has been emphasized. Only shall we adjust proportion between MC and non-MC question andimprove the contents of the test, can we enhancethevalidityofNCEEandfosterstudents’abilityfor applying language and studying-for-life, change“dumb English” situation and joint tracks with international English teaching.
References
1 Alderson, J. C. 1986. Innovations of Language Testing in Portal（ed）: 93～10
2 Alderson, J. C. & D.Wall. 1993. ‘Does Washback Exist?’ Applied Linguistics . 14：115～29
3 Bachman, L. F. 1997. Fundamental Consideration in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
4Bachman,L .F.& Palmer,1996.Language TestinginPractice. Oxford: Oxford University Press
5 Bailey, K.M. 1996. ‘Working for washback: a review of the washback concept’. Language Testing.13/3
6 Huges, A 1989 Testing for language teachers ［M］Cambridge: CUP Chapter 3:Kinds of tests and testing，9～21
7 Zuo Shen.1998. English Language Testing—Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
8 Werir, C 1990 Communicative Language Testing. ［M］ New York: Prentice Hall Chapter 4: Test Methods，42～79
9成善德.从语用学看近年来 NMET 的构卷效度.外语与外语教 学（增刊），1999
10邓卫东.对高考英语题型改革的建议.试题研究（高中英语），2002（369）
11 黄大勇、杨炳均. 语言测试的反拨效应研究概述. 外语教学与 研究，2002（7）