A Content Validity Study Of TEM Reading Comprehension (1997-2008)

TEM is criterion-referenced proficiency test and has been in operation nation-wide for nearly twenty years. In 2005, TEM4 and TEM8 have undergone some changes in test format and content. Zou Shen (1997) has conducted a validation study on TEM from 1993 to 1996. Since then, few longitudinal content validity study of reading comprehension in TEM is conducted. Therefore, this thesis will assess the content validity of reading comprehension in TEM from 1997 to 2008 with reference to the following three questions: 1) to what extent do the reading comprehension parts of TEM4 and TEM8 meet the requirements in the teaching and testing syllabuses? 2) what are the differences in TEM reading comprehension before and after the innovation? 3) what are the differences between reading comprehension parts of TEM4 and TEM8?Based on Bachman & Palmer's framework of task characteristics, the author puts forward a revised framework for validating reading comprehension with the help of the teaching and testing syllabuses and combining with the characteristics of TEM reading comprehension part. The revised framework includes the setting, the test rubrics, the input, the expected response, and the relationship between input and expected response. In terms of the five characteristics in the revised framework, the thesis has examined 24 TEM papers, including 97 careful reading passages, 110 fast reading passages and 560 question items.Results show that TEM reading comprehension has a high content validity. It can be manifested in the following three aspects: 1) most characteristics of reading passages in TEM meet the requirements in the relevant teaching and testing syllabuses, such as the adoption of different types of genre, the wide coverage of topics, the appropriate difficulty, etc. 2) the changes of TEM reading comprehension parts after the innovation manifest the changes of the requirements in the teaching and testing syllabuses. 3) reading comprehension parts of TEM8 are more difficult than those in TEM4, which reflects the different requirements of the teaching and testing syllabuses to different bands.At last, some implications for both test designers and English major teachers and learners are put forward.