A Case Study Of How Foreign Teachers Test English Speaking In China

In recent decades,China's education reforms placed great emphasis on English language teaching.Consequently,many colleges and universities have responded by recruiting international talents,mainly native English teachers.Previous research shows that mobility of foreign teachers is high and that there is lack of teaching objectives and systematic teaching.Their assessments to student are various and differ from each teacher.Most foreign teachers assess students using communicative tests and rate student according to their own criteria.As to measure students' oral proficiency fairly in all directions,each test is different from the aspect of test direction,content,patterns and evaluation criteria.It is worthwhile for teaching administration groups to gain better understanding of how foreign teachers' test students and what their assessment criteria are.In order to understand the current situation of the foreign teachers' English speaking tests and their assessment criteria,this research addressed the following questions.1)How do foreign teachers test students' English speaking in China?2)What components are included in the English speaking assessment criteria by foreign teachers?3)What improvements can be made for their assessment criteria for speaking tests?This research uses a case study of the assessment criteria by four foreign teachers in a provincial college(G college)in Guangzhou.An interview and document analysis were used as instruments for data analysis.Bachman's Communicative Language Ability was used as the theoretical base.The framework of Speaking Scale of the China's Standards of English(CSE-SS)is used to compare the components of the foreign teachers' assessment criteria.By analyzing the components and characteristics of the assessment criteria,the research found that some foreign teachers focus on the content of the test answers and some supernatant language competence in their assessment criteria;assessment criteria differ from each teacher even for the same course which is an indication of disunity.Some of the assessment criteria do not cover the full-scale of language use in speaking.The research explores the explanations for the findings and gives recommendations.Research findings suggest colleges to provide professional training to the foreign teachers according to the current Chinese national conditions on English teaching and assessments and enhance the administration of foreign teachers' teaching and assessing.Foreign teachers are suggested to study CSE scale and adjust their assessment criteria to keep with CSE scale so as to adapt to the new methods English teaching and assessing.A framework of assessment criteria components is also suggested to the foreign teachers.