Analysis And Teaching Research On The New HSK Five - Level Reading

The New HSK not only provides a formal method for assessing a students level of accomplishment in learning Chinese, it also offers students a means to measure their own progress. Certainly, teaching Chinese as a foreign language is a dynamic disciplin, and advancements in the field will exert an influence on the New HSK syllabus as well as inform the method and mode of examination. Aligning teaching and learning objectives with the HSK curriculum, and integrating the HSK into the teaching and learning process, will have a strong bearing on HSK examinee’s results.This article presents the statistical analysis conducted on the type, content and other aspects of exam questions derived from 26 compilations of actual reading and comprehension questions taken over the period 2010-2013.From these findings it was ascertained that set questions displayed certain patterns and characteristics, and therefore provided a useful reference which ellucidated both teachers and students preparations for HSK reading comprehension component.The New HSK Level 5 reading comprehension section can be divided into three parts according to question type as follows:complete by filling in the blanks part; selecting an entry that corresponds in meaning with the topic; and reading comprehension based on a long reading passage part. The exam questions found in the ’fill in the blanks’ part fall into two categories:words and expressions and short sentences. The words and expressions tested can be further qualified as being either notional or functional. There is a far higher proportion of notional words tested than funtional words. In the short sentences and the fill in the blanks, the length of the designated answer options (number of Chinese characters) is not very consistent. However, there are four basic options presented in numerical sequence. There are some specific answer options for questions which are designated with a comparatively large discrepancy in length. Statistical analysis revealed there to be a correlation between the length (number of Chinese characters) of an answer option and the probability of it being the correct answer. The longest answer option had the largest probability of being correct, while the shortest answer option had the lowest probability of being correct. In the section where you have to select an entry that corresponds in meaning with the original text, every option is intended to perplex and cause interference. These kinds of questions can be divided into five types on the basis of the interference option set: misattribution; enlarging or diminishing the scope; the ’red herring’ deception; out of thin air and five classes.Thus, cognicent of these devices, the examinee can eliminate the intended interference and successfully formulate the correct answer.The New HSK reading comprehension corpus possesses authenticity, novelty, diversity, impartiality and substance. Statistical anlaysis on the corpus of actual questions and subject matter has revealed, that before 2013, the rate of repetition in the corpus of The New HSK level 5 reading comprehension section was quite high. After 2013, although the corpus was not completely identical, there still appeared repetition.Through the above statistical analysis, one can sum up that questions assigned for the New HSK level 5 reading comprehension section follow a regular pattern and have regular characteristics, and there is also a regular pattern for designating answer options. Taking into account vocabulary range, level of background knowledge, reading skill etc, a number of teaching and learning strategies have been put forward concerning the HSK level 5 reading comprehension section, which clearly explain the importance of vocabulary. Five vocabulary memory strategies have been put forward:morphemic word guessing; syntactic word guessing; guessing by mutual interpretation of the word; and guessing a word by its context.Through anlaysis of real questions from the reading comprehension section, it has been put forward that aquiring background knowledge is vital in order to effeciently and correctly answer questions. Therefore it is suggested that teachers be well acquainted with idioms, fables, and notable personages in Chinese culture, as well as understand famous Chinese cities and regions etc in order to broaden students background knowledge. In light of the regular patterns and characteristics inherent in the types of questions assigned to the reading comprehension section, one may enumerate a number of commonly used reading techniques, for example, the principle of ordering and the method of test and verify one by one, with the aim of raising the proportion of correct responses and thereby improve test results of examinees.