A Comparative Analysis On The Listening Subtests In New Cet-4 And Ielts

CET-4 is a widely used English test in China and has influenced a lot of non-English major students in China's colleges. The test result is considered as a criterion for judging whether the students are good at English or not. Some companies even use the result of CET-4 to decide whether the candidates should be hired. IELTS is one of the most popular English tests in the world and in China, and many people take part in this exam too.Though CET-4 has exerted great influence in China, some people still criticize that it cannot check the students' real listening and speaking abilities. So, in 2006, CET-4 experienced a great reform. The CET test we use now is called New CET test to differentiate from the old one. But New CET-4 is still criticized by some scholars that it is not communication-oriented and it cannot meet the demand of College English Curriculum Requirements.The author has conducted a research on the comparative analysis of various characteristics of listening subtests between New CET-4 and IELTS in order to find out the language testing theories behind them and the good and weak points of these two tests. Basing on the research results, the author gives some suggestions to the New CET-4 designers on the improvement of listening test quality and provides some implications for teachers and learners.To enable a sufficient sampling effort, the author has collected six past tests of New CET-4 (from 2006-2008) and six sample tests of IELTS (from books issued by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and Longman/Global IELTS Corporation). Quantitative method is employed in the research.The comparative analysis of listening subtests in New CET-4 and IELTS is conducted from four aspects-the analysis of the testing aims, construct, operationlisation, and scoring systems. It is found that the listening subtest in IELTS represents the current trend: communicative language testing approach. While for the listening subtest in New CET-4, structuralist is still the dominate approach. It is hard to realize the goal of test: to measure testees' communicative ability. It is urgent for the test designers to change the input materials and test tasks. Some recommendations about the improvements of the New CET-4 are mentioned in the paper.The author hopes that the implications and suggestions can be useful for the improvement of CET-4 test, and in turn, promote the college English education in China.