A Study On The Content Validity Of The Gaokao English Listening Comprehension Test

Gaokao is a very significant large-scale examination in the stage of basic education in China,and the society pays high attention to it.Nowadays,there are relatively few studies on the content validity of the Gaokao English listening comprehension tests in Chongqing in recent years.Therefore,exploring relevant tests is of great significance to enrich theories and guide the practice of "teaching,learning and testing." This study systematically analyzes 12 sets of English listening comprehension tests used in the Gaokao in Chongqing from 2011 to 2020 through quantitative and qualitative research,to find the validity characteristics of the corresponding test at this stage,analyze the causes of the characteristics,and provide suggestions for English teachers,students,and test designers on "teaching,learning and testing."Referring to the curriculum standards,examination syllabus and other critical research results,and based on Bachman and Palmer’s framework of task characteristics,this study constructs a content validity analysis framework for data analysis.By using textual analysis,qualitative comparative analysis and other research methods,researchers collected,analyzed,and summarized the data related to content validity in this study from three dimensions:the input features(including variables associated with the text and the speakers),the expected response characteristics(including types of answers and the coverage of listening skills),the relationship between textual input and expected response(including correlation and dependence).The study found that these 12 sets of listening comprehension tests in recent 10 years have the following features:(1)topic selection basically meets the relevant regulations,but some years have the characteristics of uneven topic distribution and obvious difference in proportion,and less or no natural science topics are involved;(2)The length of text is basically reasonable,but from the perspective of time,the stability of text length is not high and there are obvious fluctuations;(3)The readability of listening discourse is well controlled.The level is stable and the difficulty is moderate;(4)The speech speed of the audio may be too fast for senior high school students,but considering the factors such as the discriminability,internal structure setting and content presentation forms of the audio,it is necessary to maintain the current speech speed;(5)Most of the questions are "one out of three" single choice questions,and the settings of"read the questions first and then listen to the audio","listen to the short dialogue once,and listen to the long dialogue and monologue twice" are maintained,which is suitable for the listening comprehension ability of most candidates in Chongqing;(6)Most subjects only need candidates to match the listening materials,and there are few tests on high-level skills;(7)Narrow relevance accounts for a relatively high proportion,that is,the test focuses on details,and the correct answer directly depends on the audio material itself.Overall,the content validity of the Gaokao English listening comprehension test in Chongqing from 2011 to 2020 is high,but there is a gap with the relevant standards in some aspects.Considering the guiding role of Gaokao,following suggestions are put forward for test design and English teaching in senior high schools:first,English teachers should change their thought,promote learning by teaching,study the curriculum standards,grasp the new trend of the Gaokao,combine traditional teaching with multimodal teaching,cultivate students’ multiple skills,and pay attention to listening comprehension strategies as well as examination-related mental health problem.Then,students should lay a solid foundation,enrich learning materials,and pay attention to both listening comprehension and oral expression.Finally,test designers should update and enrich topics of listening materials,improve students’ core competencies in all aspects,maintain the consistency of tests’ difficulty levels,length,and audio speed,improve the validity of test questions,and appropriately increase the percentage of subjective questions.