Aligning National Matriculation English Test(NMET) With The Common European Framework Of Reference(CEFR)

This thesis reports on a linking study designed to align the National Matriculation English Test(NMET)with the Common European Framework of Reference(CEFR)and provide empirical evidence on which to base claims about the connection between them.It was a small-scale research focusing on the receptive skills of NMET,taking the test paper of the year 2015 in Jiangxi province as an example,namely the National English Test PaperⅠ.The main aim of this study was to establish a link between listening and reading tests of NMET and the CEFR levels as well as provide empirical evidence to prove the link.It was conducted under the guidance of the suggested procedures and approaches set out in the Relating language examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning,teaching,assessment(CEFR): A Manual(CoE 2009),and linking stages of familiarization,specification,standardization and empirical validation.In the first stage,the judges’ common familiarization with the CEFR and consistency among them in all activities was repeatedly checked to ensure the reliability and trustfulness of the whole linking process.The first link was built in specification through content delineation and interpretation.A proportion of forms provided in the Appendix of the Manual were filled to describe the content coverage and test type of NMET in terms of receptive skills.Then the claimed levels of both skills were further corroborated in the stage of standardization using the basket method.The judges were required to determine CEFR level that a test taker should reach to answer the items correctly and calculate the cut-off scores of both skills of NMET at which the examinees could be regarded as having acquired a particular CEFR level.A comparison between NMET listening test and TOEFL_iBT listening test as well as a self-assessment of test takers’ own English proficiency were made inthe last external validation stage.Sufficient qualitative and quantitative evidences were collected to validate the claimed CEFR level A2/B1 of the receptive skills of NMET.