Content Validity Study On Reading Comprehension Tests Of Grade Nine

Chinese examinations are numerous, among which Junior Middle School Students’Academic Proficiency Exam (JAPE) is the first important test for junior middle schoolgraduates. It shows the location of individuals in a group and explains the individualachievements of gifted inferior to the selection examination. The simulated test of JuniorThree is a diagnostic exam. It is designed for the Junior Three students to prepare JAPE. Thepurpose is to solve or diagnostic problems which is used to determine the Junior Threestudents’ practical ability and curriculum gap between the targets, so that the teaching can bereally aimed at students need. The simulated test record for the students of Junior Three is ofgreat importance and also much to the teachers and their family concerns. It has a stronginfluence on all the people above. In recent years, the simulation test attracts more and moreattention. However, in the current study, the study about the simulation test is relatively rare.No scientific evaluation has ever been made concerning the test and no systematic andcomprehensive research has ever been conducted to guide the test design.In the current domestic study on the English language test, validity problem is a hot spotbecause the validity test can reflect if the examination can reach target extent or not, which isthe most important quality index. In the test, the test validity, will directly affect the selectionof functions. In the examination of English test several language skills are tested, but readingcomprehension ability is considered to be the most important part. Reading, in particular, isone of the most important abilities for foreign language learners. It is an important means notonly for knowledge acquisition, but also for enjoyment. Accordingly, reading comprehensiontest is considered to be the most important part in the simulated test of Junior Three. Englishreading teaching has always been the focus of English teaching in China’s classroom. We,therefore, can conclude that a reading comprehension test of good quality will ensure thesuccess of the simulation test of Junior Middle School Students’ Academic Proficiency Exam.So the validity study on reading comprehension test is of representative."Jinan Foreign Languages School English Teaching Development Plan (2010 - 2014 )"clearly states the ten tasks for the academic year of 2011-2012. One of them is" adjust andcreate the testing methods and types based on the goals of teaching skills ". In view of this, Iwill take the reading test in the two simulated tests of April and May, 2011 for Grade three inJinan Foreign Language School as the object of research. The content validity of all thereading comprehension tests is evaluated by adopting a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first aim of the study is to assess these reading comprehensiontests scientifically, and to encourage their improvement. The second purpose of the study is toimprove English reading teaching and make some practicable suggestions for designingreading test.With method of literature study, the thesis of the author first did a number of research onreading comprehension test and content validity of a variety of information, tried tounderstand the related history and status quo of my research, and formed a literature review ofprevious research, based on the obtained inspiration and ideas; and then the author used theinformation to help define the research core concept and theoretical basis. The questionnairesurvey method is used to study the processes and principles of designing readingcomprehension tests.Then, combined with the nature of reading, an investigation is made to explore how thecontent of the reading comprehension section reflects the corresponding requirements laiddown in "Compulsory Education Curriculum Standards in English" and "Junior MiddleSchool Academic Proficiency Exam Program of Jinan city in 2011--English". The contentvalidity of reading comprehension test of the simulation test for the students in the third gradeof Jinan Foreign Language School in April and May, 2011 is inspected and verified from twoaspects: the factors of the reading comprehension materials and the factors of the readingcomprehension questions. The two aspects include the length, the theme, the genre of thereading materials and the language, the difficulty as well as test sites of the readingcomprehension questions.Finally, some principles and methods are proposed in order to regulate the contentvalidity of reading comprehension test. They will also help optimize the design of readingcomprehension test and improve its quality.The conclusions reached in the aforementioned study are as follows:The reading comprehension tests of the simulated test for the students in the third gradeof Jinan Foreign Language School in April and May, 2011 are in accordance with therequirements in both "Compulsory Education Curriculum Standards in English" and "JuniorMiddle School Academic Proficiency Exam Program of Jinan city in 2011 --- English". Thesetests are well designed. They cover all the reading skills which must be tested. We should saythe reading comprehension tests have high content validity. These are several advantages anddisadvantages on the reading comprehension materials:1. The selection of the reading materials is close to the students’life and full ofideological content and educational value. But the shortcoming is that the selection is not rich enough.2. The genre of the reading materials is narrative, which meets the requirements of"Compulsory Education Curriculum Standards in English" but the genre is not variousenough.3. The arrangement of the reading materials meets the principle that they should bearranged from the easy one to the difficult one according to their length and difficulty. Thedifficulty of Passage A and Passage B had no obvious difference. That is the weakness.4. As for the language, the difficulty and the test sites of the reading comprehensionquestions, the factors of them conforms to the test making principles. The weakness is thelength of Passage A’s questions is a bit longer than that of Passage B’s.5. The average difficulty of the reading materials in the two simulated tests of April andMay, 2011 is respectively 0.7 and 0.73, which is in compliance with the requirement of"Junior Middle School Academic Proficiency Exam Program of Jinan city in 2011-- English".The requirement is that the difficulty coefficient should be about 0.7 in the control.