| Previous researchers and educators at home and abroad have done substantial studies on the field of validity of reading.However,studies on English reading of the Senior High School Entrance Exam are limited in China and there has been no validity study of the English reading comprehension of Senior High School Entrance Exam in Anhui(SHSEEA).Therefore,it's necessary to investigate the validity of English reading comprehension of SHSEEA so as to provide some suggestions for testing instructors to improve the validity of reading comprehension,and help teachers and students of junior high schools in Anhui have a better understanding of the validity of reading comprehension of SHSEEA.This study investigated the validity of English reading materials of SHSEEA based on the socio-cognitive validity framework.The research questions are: 1)To what extent does the English reading comprehension of SHSEEA from 2017 to 2021 have content validity?2)What about the scoring validity of the English reading comprehension of SHSEEA? 3)To check criterion-related validity,can the scores on the English reading comprehension of SHSEEA predict students' English academic achievement ? 4)To explore face validity,what are the views of students and English language teachers on the validity of English reading comprehension of SHSEEA?In order to answer these four questions,the mixed method research design was utilized,and 145 students from 2 junior high schools and 4 English teachers from 3 junior high schools participated in this study.For content validity,theoretical analysis was employed to analyze the reading materials of the English comprehension of SHSEEA from2017 to 2021.Nine parameters(response method,weighting,channel of presentation,text length,discourse mode,sentence length,readability,lexical resources and topics)under two dimensions(task setting and linguistic demands)were checked based on the framework of reading validity,the National English Curriculum for Compulsory Education(NECCE)and syllabus.The data were processed by excel,Coh-metrix,text readability calculator and Compleat Lexical Tutor.For scoring validity,participants were asked to complete the test paper for this study,and their scores were processed by Excel and SPSS to calculate item difficulty,item discrimination and internal consistency.For criterion-related validity,the linear regression method in SPSS was used to explore the relationship between the students' scores on the English reading comprehension of SHSEEA and their scores on the final test to confirm the predictive validity.For face validity,it was investigated by exploring teachers' and students' perceptions of the current exam via questionnaires and interviews.Data from questionnaires was processed by SPSS and data from interviews was analyzed by textual analysis.This study found that the content validity of SHSEEA reading comprehension was relatively high on the whole.The weighting,text length,discourse mode,sentence length,readability,lexical resources and topics of reading comprehension were reasonable,but the response method and channel of presentation of reading comprehension should be enriched.The result of item difficulty,item discrimination and internal consistency supported that the scoring validity was great.Scores students got in the reading part of SHSEEA were proved significantly predictive of their scores on the final test,suggesting that the criterion-related validity was high.Students and teachers all identified with the validity of English reading comprehension of SHSEEA,indicating that the face validity was good.On the basis of the results,this study suggests that some measures should be taken to increase content validity;convenient channels for teachers and students to give their suggestions for improving the validity of reading comprehension should be established;furthermore,the teaching of learning strategies like cognitive strategies for students should be enhanced. |
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