A Contrastive Study On The Validity Of PRETCO (B) And TOEIC Bridge

Language testing refers to the measuring of certain target participants'competence by testing their presentative activities manifested from such competence (Li Xiaoju, 1997). It is believed that language testing, aiming at a measurement of the competence of the participants, should be accurate and fair enough. According to test designers, validity is bound to funtion as an essential factor in language testing, and it's believed to be able to show whether a language testing program and design is good, fair and feasible in deed.By analyzing and comparing the validity results of two sample tests, this paper reports on an empirical study which is supposed to include:comprehensively working out the validity analysis of the objective items from a PETCO and a TOEIC bridge sample test paper; comparing the validity analysis results, looking for shared feature of these two tests in proposition; thus finding out the validity advantages and disadvantages on these two tests in terms of representing the participants' communicative competence. The sample test of PRETCO was adapted from the test paper of January of 2005, consisting of 30 multiple-choice question items while the sample test of TOEIC Bridge, which is made up of 22 multiple-choice question items, was from a shortened version of the same test.Sixty first-year Resources Environment and Urban Management majoring undergraduates from the school of city and environmental science of City College of Dongguan University of Technology participated in this study. To these students, English is a compulsory course in their university courses and they are supposed to pass PRETCO at the end of their second semester, which it is usually in late June, as a necessary condition for their university diploma. So freshmen with less preparation for either of the two tests, to some extent, are likely to reflect the real and most trustable results under this study purpose. All the students concerned in this research participated in the two sample tests separately in December 2,2009 and in December 9,2009. Afterwards, relevant data was put under analysis by the statistic tool of Gitest3+system.This study has attained the following findings:1)Both PRETCO and TOEIC Bridge are proved to be of fair validity. At the same time, the good news is that either of the tests bears some validity features that present hints for the perfection of the other.2) PRETCO and TOEIC Bridge share a similar advantage with its high passing rate and fair difficulty. Both of the tests, on the other hand, take on their own particular features which distinguish them from each other.Although the study is a preliminary investigation into the validity comparison on PRETCO and TOEIC Bridge, it is enlightening in that the findings may have some implication for test proposition and the implication may reach even further to English teaching and curriculum innovation.