The Role Of Testing Method--An Analysis Of Testing Method Influences On Reading Comprehension Of Non-English Major Freshmen

Testing is a very important means to evaluate the result of teaching, and at same time it can offer a feed back for the future English teaching. Therefore, the research on testing is of necessity. In this thesis, the research, with the role of testing method as the focus, is conducted from the perspective of English reading comprehension. And the subjects of the experiments are the 112 freshmen majoring either computer or electronics in Beijing Forestry University. Two tests are performed on the 112 subjects and the relation between the results of different testing methods, one in the form of multiple-choice and the other in the short answer form, is analyzed so as to give readers a general idea of the testing method influences on both the testing results and the test takers.The thesis includes five chapters: the first chapter is an introduction, in which the purpose and the starting point of the research is talked about; in the second chapter, the part of the literature review, some concepts and theories concerned are stated including two aspects as reading comprehension and test; the third chapter called the research method, in which the concrete design and implementation of the research are introduced, including experiments of both the tests and the questionnaire; in the fourth chapter, the results of the experiments and detailed analyses are given; the fifth chapter is the conclusion part, with some indication drawn from the research as well.The result of the research shows the different testing methods will exert an influence on the results and the difference is statistically significant. It can be concluded that the items in the short answer form are more difficult than those in the multiple-choice form and the possible reasons causing this phenomenon are given inthe thesis. In the two tests, the rankings of the test takers are rather similar and the calculated correlation between the results of the two tests is also high enough to conclude that the two different testing methods measure the same ability of the English learners. Besides the results of the two tests, the testing method will also exert some influences on the test takers' performances on different tests and their future English study, which is called the wash back of test. The wash back offered by the tests should not be neglected and the different testing methods will instruct the English learners to apply different learning methods and different attitudes in their future study. On the basis of the status quo of English teaching in China, especially the English teaching of the non-English major students, it is obvious that the reading tests in the form of multiple-choice are more commonly used. Of course this form has its own advantage but in the thesis, according to the research, the form of short answer is more recommendable, especially in tests on smaller scale so as to improve quality of English test and as well as the English teaching.