Aligning Chinese Senior Three High School Student's English Proficiency With The Common European Framework Of Reference

The Common European Framework of Reference: Learning,Teaching,Assessment(CEFR)was officially published by the Council of Europe in 2001.It aims to promote the transparency and coherence in language teaching and learning of its member countries.It has drawn much attention internationally since its publication.There are many attempts aligning language tests with the CEFR.It also facilitates the establishment of a unified framework of reference for language teaching and learning in some countries and areas.Being acknowledged of its significance,the CEFR is favored by some scholars in China.They are aware of the need to build a unified standard for foreign language teaching and learning in China.There have been some studies on the CEFR.Among them,many studies discuss its implications for foreign language teaching and learning in China.Besides,some studies have been conducted to align tests like PACE,CET-4,CET-6 and TEM-4 with the CEFR while others align learner's language proficiency with the CEFR.However,the majority of the studies on the CEFR so far focus on college students.There is only one attempt that concerns high school students.This study aims to fill this gap by paying attention to the English proficiency of senior high school students,who attract much attention from the society.In order to align the English proficiency of senior three high school students in Guangdong Province with the CEFR,this research combined a qualitative study and a quantitative study.First,this paper made an intuitive alignment by matching the descriptors of the National Curriculum Standards for Normal Senior High School(Curriculum Standards)with those of the CEFR.The proficiency of senior three high school students was intuitively situated at Level B1.Then,it used five forms of equated questionnaires to conduct a questionnaire survey.Students were required to finish a self-assessment questionnaire.The data of student's self-assessment was analyzed by Winsteps,a Rasch model computer program.At last,some teachers and students were invited for an interview.This study found that the English proficiency of senior three high school students in Guangdong province was situated at Level B1 of the CEFR.