| As a large scale standardized test, College English Test Band 4 has been regarded as one of the most important proficiency English examinations in China, and its influence can never be undervalued. It is an important supplementary tool to measure students'English competence and then offer guidance for college English teaching and learning. The present language test approach is the communicative approach, which is represented by Bachman'language test theory. Under the influence of the communicative language ability, CET-4 test has undergone reforms so as to meet the current social requirements which pay more emphasis on college students'listening and speaking ability. The new CET-4 appears in the year 2006, and since then the validity especially the validity of the listening subtests is brought into question and discussion by students, teachers, and all the concerned educators.Since the validity of a test is in a dynamic process, therefore the validity of the latest CET-4 which is carried out in December 18th 2010 is well worth research, although validity researches have been done on previous tests. Due to the limitation of space and energy, here in this study, only the listening subtest of the latest CET4 is focused on, and the purpose of this study is to find out whether the test is of validity from the following three aspects: construct validity, content validity and use / user response validity.In order to assure the truthfulness and credibility of the result, various research methods are employed. Firstly, the research is carried out by means of logical analysis of the test material. Secondly, the research is implemented with instrument of questionnaire for students. The results of the research can be summarized as follows:1) Firstly, the latest CET-4 is of high construct validity. The layout of the question items conform to and just satisfy the requirements of the national syllabus of the CET-4 test.The question items designed in the test paper have covered all the seven language skills demanded in the syllabus, and can truly examine test takers'language competence including grammatical competence, textual competence, illocutionary competence, and sociolinguistic competence.2) Secondly, the latest CET-4 has content validity to some degree. The conclusion is that the topics of the listening material cover a wide range, while the selection of task types is of low validity, because the task types are monotonous and can not fully stimulate students'interactiveness. The genre and subject matter are reasonable, the length and speed are medium, however, the pronunciation and intonation of the audio input are too consummate, which is a threat to the authenticity and validity of the listening subtest.3) Thirdly, the use or user response validity is proved to be the same with the conclusions gathered from logical analysis. As to the use validity, 62.3% of the surveyed students take the test as positively influential. Most of the surveyed students think that the CET-4 listening subtest has positive impacts on their listening competence.The conclusion is that the latest CET-4 test (2010) has comparatively high validity from the three aspects. However, some problems also exist, for example: the extension of variety of task types should be taken into consideration; more natural and real life audio input should be employed; the use or user response validity is well worth consideration, especially those negative responses.It is hoped that findings and suggestions made by the present study will contribute to the improvement of CET-4 with beneficial backwash effects, and finally promote the college English education in China. |
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