A Study Of Cloze Design In College English Tests

This thesis reports a study of cloze tests in college English tests, with a focus on the analysis of cloze test items, especially discourse items. The purpose of the study is to investigate to what extent the current cloze design presents cloze test as a discourse-based integrative test, thus to provide some guidance for cloze design in the future.In this thesis, cloze tests from three sources are studied: CET-4 sample papers, CET-4 practice tests and teacher-designed cloze tests. Cloze test items are divided into three categories based on discourse theories: grammar items, vocabulary items and discourse items. Detailed analysis generates the following findings:Discourse items occupy a prominent position in current cloze tests in college English tests. Discourse items in CET-4 sample papers account for 67.8%. Practice tests contain an average percentage of 64.2% discourse items. As to teacher-designed cloze tests, discourse items account for 54.4 %. The proportion of discourse items in CET-4 sample papers shows a steady trend, while in practice tests and teacher-designed cloze tests there exists sharp individual difference.A closer examination of discourse items reveals some features in the concrete design of discourse items. Discourse items test test takers' discourse comprehension from cohesion level and coherence level. Discourse items include multi-items and single-items. Multi-items test testees' macro-reading abilities as well as micro-language skills with one test item. While single-items test separated ability. Besides the difference of multi-items and single-items, some technical problems are revealed in the concrete design of discourse items such as unscientific deletion rate, mistakened distractors, etc.Through the investigation of cloze tests in college English tests, this thesis reveals the extent to which the current cloze test items are discourse-based and reveals some problems in the concrete design of discourse items. This study is expected to provide some guidance for cloze design in the future.