A Tentative Study On The Application Of Cloze Test To Middle School English Testing

In middle school English teaching area, a great reform is going on in the light of the English curriculum criteria for middle school. As the organic part of middle school English teaching, testing plays an important role in the reform. Without scientific testing methods, the curriculum criteria can not be carried out successfully. So it is necessary to do some research on middle school English testing techniques. The cloze test as a common type of testing technique is widely used in middle school English testing. It is one of the necessary sub-tests in all kinds of middle school English examinations. But there are always arguments about the construct validity of cloze tests. What cloze tests really measure and their backwash effects in middle school English teaching are still unclear. Thus we need to discuss the construct validity of the cloze test and its application to middle school English testing.Based on Bachman's theory about communicative language ability, by analyzing the construct validity of cloze test and investigating the correlation between cloze tests and other test components in a middle school English examination, this thesis points out cloze tests nearly concern every facets of communicative language ability, and different types of cloze emphasize different aspects of it. Thus we have proved from both theoretical and empirical aspects that the cloze test is an integrative testing technique which measures communicative language ability. Further more, the construct validity of cloze tests coincides with the requirements of the English curriculum criteria for middle school, whose aim is to train students'capabilities of comprehensive language application.The thesis also analyzed the application of cloze tests to middle school English testing on the basis of an investigation about the usage of cloze tests in senior high school entrance examinations and college entrance examinations. It is found that the function of cloze tests in middle school English testing is not very clear. Most designers only concern for its assessment of grammatical and textual knowledge, but neglect its assessment of other aspects of communicative language ability. As for types of cloze used in middle school English examinations, the multiple-choice cloze test is the most widely used, although it has fatal drawbacks in function. The rational cloze test which is more powerful than the multiple-choice cloze in function is seldom used. Other types of cloze tests are never employed in middle school English testing. The ambiguous function and the inappropriate types prevent cloze tests from functioning properly in middle school English testing.According to the investigation results and the theoretical discussion, two suggestions of improving the application of cloze tests to middle school English testing are proposed. First, the author provides a checklist of communicative language ability to help clarify the abilities a cloze test aims to measure, and this checklist can also help designers choose the proper type of cloze for a particular test purpose. Second, the author points out teachers should seriously implement the English curriculum criteria for middle school to train the students'capabilities of comprehensive language application. This is the most effective way of preparing for cloze tests.