On The "Usefulness" Of Compound Dictation As A Test Method In CET Tests

College English Test (CET) underwent a reform in 2006. The proportion of its listening comprehension section was increased from 20% to 35%. Compound dictation, one test form in this section was changed from an alternative to a must, accounting for 10% of the total score, and its quality has direct influence on the overall reliability and validity of CET.Compound dictation, a unique Chinese test method of EFL, made its first appearance in CET4 in 1997 and two years later, it was found in CET6. Though it has been ten years since it was first introduced into CET, no systematic study has ever been conducted to examine its"usefulness". In this paper, with Bachman and Palmers'theory as the framework, both quantitative and qualitative analyses have been conducted to determine its"usefulness". It is hoped that this study will contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of CET.Two listening tests were administered to a sample of 60 students who were sophomores from a college and had taken CET 4 about three months before. Two test papers were designed, employing the same listening material, but different test methods—multiple choice (MC) and compound dictation (CD). Since the 60 students came from two listening classes, they were divided accordingly into two groups, and each group took one of the two test papers.Meanwhile, two questionnaire surveys were conducted to collect students and teachers'opinions on CD. After finishing the test papers, the 60 students were required to fill out the questionnaire immediately. As for the questionnaire for teachers, it was not until CET scoring time that it was conducted. 24 college English teachers responsible for the scoring of compound dictation participated in the survey.By analyzing the data collected from both listening tests and questionnaires, all the aspects of"usefulness"of CD were discussed. It is found that CD enjoys higher construct validity, but lower reliability compared with MC; the washback of CD is positive, while the authenticity of its listening material is not high; meanwhile, most participants recommend that balanced development should be adopted when selecting the topic of listening material; when it comes to the task design, CD is more like a combination of listening and cloze and the task design of cloze can be used as a source of reference for CD; though with some disagreements, the scoring criteria of CD in CET win the applause of most teachers.CD is not perfect, though. Despite its"imperfection", however, most teachers and students still consider CD as a useful test method on the whole.