Construct Validation Study On Listening Sub-test In Tem-4—From Communicative Language Testing Theory

Nowadays an increasing number of companies and institutes regard English as a prerequisite of recruiting talents in society. Generally speaking, some English majors who perform excellently in such exams are prone to enjoy the superiority in job-hunting. Judging from this, Test for English Majors (Grade Four) has more and more impact so that any layman acknowledges its significance. One of the most important parts of TEM-4, listening sub-test, cannot avoid earning plenty of attention from lots of teachers and students without doubt. Among them, lots of scholars overseas and domestically are engaged in probing into listening sub-test, especially its construct validity in order to assure the test measures accurately what it is intended to measure. That is to say, the listening sub-test in TEM-4has already tested the intended language ability under test specification. The famous linguist, Bachman puts forward a systematic framework of communicative language ability and validity. Weir analyzes the classification of listening skills of English language which can be considered as valuable references for studying validity of the listening test. At home, a prestigious scholar, Zou Shen does do researches on internal validity and external validity of TEM-4approximately in1996. There are other prominent scholars as well, such as Li Xiaoju and Liu Runqing. They contribute a lot to the study of validity and reliability of the language test. However, this research is based on the communicative language testing, and it gives a detailed and in-depth picture on construct validation of listening sub-test in TEM-4in2005,2006and2007. Furthermore, construct validity of listening sub-test is checked by analyzing conversations, passages, news broadcasts and dictations in both quantitative and qualitative ways.In this thesis the goal is to check construct validity of listening subtests of TEM-4in2005,2006and2007. It proves that listening skills measured in the subjective and objective listening sub-tests of TEM-4are in line with language abilities required in test specifications and testing syllabuses in a quantitative research. All the parts in the listening sub-test in TEM-4possess high construct validity to much extent. The listening skills examined in the listening sub-test of TEM-4belong to communicative language ability (CLA) in light of Bachman. In the process of testifying construct validation actual performance on language ability from test-takers and language competence required in the syllabuses are analyzed carefully. In this way it can throw much light upon teaching and learning of English listening.At first, on random sampling, an experiment is conducted among eighty-two selected English majors in the second school year. They are busy learning English in preparation for TEM-4for two years in an engineering university. The students are tested on the listening sub-test of TEM-4from2005to2007on the morning of the same day each month for three times. With the help of teachers, the papers are scored according to the strict scoring standards of listening sub-test in TEM-4from Shanghai Foreign Language University. Then data on scores, the number of test-takers and language skills checked in the listening sub-test are arranged and recorded in the Social Package for Statistics Software (SPSS) and data derived from relevant functions can be used for verifying construct validity of the listening test in TEM-4. At last, the checked listening skills in TEM-4are classified according to Weir’s theory and then the classified listening skills are compared with language competence in the light of Bachman’s theory. The analyses can prove the listening sub-test in TEM-4is the communicative language test. Therefore, those results from scientific analyses can account for construct validation of listening sub-test under communicative language testing.By means of the qualitative research, a conclusion has safely reached that almost all of listening skills in TEM-4are correspondent to test specification, and it demonstrates that listening skills meet the requirements of testing syllabuses. Moreover, most of listening skills are parts of language competence, a subcomponent of CLA. Namely, the listening sub-test of TEM-4is the communicative language test. In the research mainly internal correlation analysis and factor analysis are applied in the quantitative way. Both of them contribute to verifying construct validity of listening sub-test in TEM-4. The internal correlations in the research remain approximately from0.267to0.842. It indicates correlation is both reasonable and high and four parts have tested correspondent language abilities. From factor analysis, the factor loadings are from0.436to0.842, and the number is far higher the accepted value. Factor cumulative variance amounts to50.658%, and it can interpret variance excellently. The conclusion is that the listening sub-test is highly valid in construct to much extent.In the thesis construct validity of the listening sub-test in TEM-4is analyzed carefully. The results of the research assist teachers and students to recognize that the listening sub-test proves to be valid from the perspective of communicative language testing. The research provides future language learning and teaching valuable feedbacks as well. Teachers can cultivate students the listening skills in class in the approach of communicative language testing. On the other hand, learners are better at learning and acquiring language competence checked in the listening sub-test in class. In addition, this thesis supplies some theoretical references for future study on construct validity of the communicative language test.