The Application Of Formativeassessment To English Reading Test For Non-English Majors In Vocational Colleges

With the development of educational reformation, more and more people realize that formative assessment is an important component of assessing English teaching and learning for non-English majors in vocational colleges. Based on theories of humanism, constructivism, and multi-intelligence, formative assessment is believed to be a feasible way to cultivate students'interests and enhance their learning ability. It can diagnose the students'progress, evaluate the teaching effects, guide the process of learning and teaching timely and effectively, predict next steps of learning, and grade the different students. In the process of teaching and learning, teachers can cultivate students'learning interests and improve English teaching and leaning by providing immediate and effective feedback to students with observation, interview, questionnaires, dialogue journals, portfolios and so on.Based on the theories about formative assessment and English reading test, a study has been made to find out formative assessment can improve the English reading ability for non-English majors in vocational colleges. The study lasts the whole semester from March, 2010 to July, 2010. Sixty non-English major sophomores from two classes are involved in this experiment, with one class as the experimental class, another as the control class. In the pre-test, in order to know about students'English reading level and interests in the two classes, the author gives the two classes an English reading test and questionnaire. During the study, the English reading test papers and portfolios are used in experimental class while they are not used in control class. In the post-test, students are tested by English reading test papers and questionnaires are carried out in the two classes. Then scores of the two tests are compared between the experimental class and control class. The pre-test scores of students in experimental class are compared with that of post-test. The author analyzes the data and then comes to a conclusion—formative assessment can promote the English reading abilities for non-English majors in vocational colleges.From the research results, the author gets some implications for teachers, students, teaching syllabus and teaching materials. Teachers should give feedback to students in time, and master detailed information about formative assessment to establish teaching model.Teachers should take part in teacher training, learn about some new theories such as formative assessment and apply these theories to teaching process; teachers should spend more time and energy communicating with students to encourage them to make assessment. Students should change the state of passive learning, improve their autonomous learning abilities and develop confidence in English reading. In order to improve students'practical abilities, formative assessment and summative assessment should be combined in the evaluation of teaching. The teaching materials should be practical and various so as to cultivate students'reading interests...