Studies On The Measuring Capacity Of Cloze In Language Testing

Any language testing method is not only a tool but also the object to test. The preciseness and the definition of the range of measurement of a measuring tool will directly affect the qaulity of measurement. Cloze tests were developed in 1950s' by Wilson Taylor. They are based on the Gestalt psychology which refers to the apparent ability of individuals to complete a pattern once they have grasped the structure of the pattern. Applied in linguistics, the Gestalt psychology conveys the practicality of cloze.As a popular and important testing device, cloze test has been holding the attention of the related people for a long time. So it is profoundly meaningful to do researches and make explorations on cloze tests. This paper gives a panoramic description of cloze test, including theories, quality-analyzing methods, and the tendency of further studies. I have made some general statements on cloze test in the light of previous researches done by experts both at home and abroad. Hope this paper can help people with a further understanding towards cloze test.This paper consists of six chapters.Chapter 1 is a preface, in which there is an overall comment on cloze tests and a brief introduction to the structure of the thesis.Chapter 2 gives a comprehensive description of cloze test, including its theory, and classification. In this part, comparisons are made by means of table 2.1 to demonstrate the advantages and problems of each kind of cloze procedures. The result of thecomparisons will give an idea of the future development of clozetests.Chapter 3 focuses on the evaluation of cloze test. The quality of a test has strong impacts on test takers as well as on the realization of testing purposes, therefore, the evaluation of tests is of primary concern to test developers and test users. The evaluation of a cloze test is done mainly from three aspects: reliability, validity, and discrimination. A variety of methods for test evaluation are introduced in this chapter.There are many theories regarding cloze test in chapter 2 and chapter 3, while chapter 4 sets its emphasis on classroom rather than test applications of cloze. Actually, there are numerous ways to make use of cloze, and it is worthy to do further researches in this field.At present, MC cloze is widely-used in many large-scale foreign language examinations, so in chapter 5 studies are narrowed down to the analysis of the advantages and defects of MC cloze. Some suggestions about the improvement of MC cloze are also put forward in this chapter.The analysis and studies of the previous chapters mean to make a generalization and to define the measuring capacity of cloze tests. With more and more applications of cloze tests, further researches are needed in this field. It is of great importance to do the pre-testing, to construct tests, and to analyze test results in a scientific way.