Validity Study Of English Tests For Secondary School Entrance Exams In Haikou Based On English Curriculum Standards

This research aims at exploring validity of English tests for Secondary School Entrance Exam in Haikou. Supporting theories of this research are communicative language testing theories, validity theories and English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(English Curriculum Standards for short). This research is mainly consisted of three stages.At the first stage, this research summarizes the standards of evaluating content validity and construct validity by reviewing former related studies and researches. Then, this research analyses content validity and construct validity of selected English tests in Haikou from the year 2011 to 2014 based on the teaching objectives proposed by English Curriculum Standards. The last stage of this research provides suggestions to solve the problems found in previous analysis.There are four research methods employed in this research. The first research method is documentary method. This research is based on previous theoretical and empirical studies and researches on language testing and validity. The second research method is comparative analysis. This method focuses on analyzing content validity and construct validity of selected tests. Analysis criteria are summarized from previous studies and researches. The third research method is statistical method. In order to demonstrate the analysis results explicitly,data collected from test analyzing are presented in forms. The fourth research method is interviewing. To find out possible reasons causing validity defects of selected tests, the author interviewed junior high school English teachers to inquire their ideas about validity.The results of this research reveal that Secondary School Entrance English tests of Haikou from 2011-2014 chose appropriate content for students and listed clear evaluation standards. Besides, teachers helped students prepare for the test before testing. These factors are positive to the realization of high test validity. However, there are defects of selected tests in validity. First of all, testing content and testing objectives are not closely related. Second,testing purposes are implicit. Third, negative backwash effects brought by selected tests maylead to failure of achieving teaching objectives proposed by English Curriculum Standards.There are three causes of validity defects of selected tests: 1. Junior high school teachers in Haikou believe that teaching is exam-oriented. 2. English teaching of junior high school in Haikou has not achieved the 5th grade objectives which are required by English Curriculum Standards. 3. The testing purposes of English tests for Secondary School Entrance Exam are implicit. Suggestions for improving validity of selected tests are as follows: 1. Junior high school teachers should work with college teachers to improve their theoretical knowledge of language testing and teaching skills in junior high school classrooms. 2. Test designers should equip themselves with testing theories. 3. Junior high school teachers should use language testing theories and validity theories to do researches on English tests.