On The Disparity Of Validity In Direct And Indirect Testing Of English Writing

In the age of information when science and technology as well as the trend of globalization are developing rapidly, the curricular of secondary education in the whole world is faced with a revolution,which aims at fostering physically and mentally healthy human beings. Since the 1990s, our basic education of English reached a new stage. In many ways, in the system of education, the contents and methods of educational tests have bad effects on the full development of teenagers. Ideally, English tests should serve the English language teaching, but in fact teaching is now in a passive position. Unfortunately, however, teachers have little knowledge of language testing. The key to whether the English tests are successful lies in how to develop and design the English language test paper. The standard of evaluating foreign language learning depends on the concepts of validity and reliability. The validity reflects the appropriateness of a test while reliability is used to indicate if the test results are stable and consistent.Language testing is connected closely with language teaching, but testing is not always effective in assessing language teaching. Tests are needed to obtain feedback on learning progress of students. Tests are also needed when rational educational decisions are to be made in order to ensure effective teaching and improve teaching quality. Language testing, however, is a complex matter. Why and when is a test set, who are to be tested, and what is to be included in a test? These questions determine the actual testing procedure and may lead to different effects with respect to the quality of a test. So being cautious is to be needed in designing and setting test papers for examinations. In terms of teaching, tests favorable to language teaching are needed and efforts should be made to make testing serve teaching.The dissertation consists of five chapters. The first chapter is Introduction, presenting the background of the research as well as its significance. The second chapter is Literature Review, which introduces relevant concepts of language testing, different interpretations of testing principles, and rationale of this research. The third chapter illustrates the research design, including specific research questions, subjects to be selected for the study, instruments to be used for data collection, and the research procedure. The fourth chapter analyzes the data collected and presents the tendencies discovered. The last chapter is Conclusion, which includes the major findings of the research, its limitation, and implication for practical teaching.