A Study On The Difficulty And Discrimination Of English Reading Comprehension Test In Shanghai Senior High School Entrance Exam

English Reading Comprehension Test (ERCT) is one of the major sections (about 37%) in Shanghai Senior High School Entrance Exam (SSHSEE), a test widely used in Shanghai, so it is an important measurement of candidates'accurate reading comprehension ability. However, there is little research into ERCT. Most researchers only study testing points and the skills of solving problems from the angle of dealing with exams. Therefore, from the angle of educational measurement, this thesis analyzes the difficulty and discrimination of ERCT in SSHSEE, in the hope to judge whether the scores accord with students'English language ability.Based on reviewing the reading comprehension and testing theories, the present researcher conducted a practical study into the ERCT in SSHSEE. The subjects of this study are 30 Grade Nine students in my class, who take 2009 Beijing SHSEE (Curriculum Standards Paper) as a standard exam to measure their English reading ability, as well as the ERCT of 2008 and 2009 for my data collection. Statistical software SPSS is used to analyze the correlations of reading tests scores and students'English language ability. In addition, according to the exam results, the difficulty and discrimination of following items are worked out:True or False, Multiple Choice, Cloze Test (choice), Cloze Test (fill in) and Short Answer Questions, the data are then compared and analyzed in detail both qualitatively and quantitatively.The results of this study indicate:(1) The scores of ERCT in SSHSEE accord with students'English language ability. (2) The difficulty of ERCT is medium, partial to easy; discrimination is acceptable, but the proportion of the testing questions with over 0.3 discrimination is not very high, to be adjusted.Finally, some suggestions are made for the design of ERCT in SSHSEE and the teaching of English teachers.