A Study On The Validity Of Reading Comprehension In Shandong Province Matriculation English Tests (2006-2013)

Validity, as an important index to measure the quality of an examination, generally refersto the content validity, which shows to what extent the test content achieves the expected goal.According to the New English Curriculum Standard, English is the main language of highschool language education. As one of the three major courses of the college entranceexamination, whose status has never been wavered. In Shandong Province MatriculationEnglish Tests (2006-2013)(hereinafter referred to as Shandong Tests(2006-2013)), the totalscore of the reading comprehension adds up to40points in the whole paper, whichcontributes the most to the whole paper. Moreover, according to the2014ShandongMatriculation Entrance Test Premise, under the precondition that the total score remains150points, the score of reading comprehension increases to50points, which further illustrates theimportant role of it. The domestic studies of Matriculation Entrance English Tests mainlyfocus on two aspects: one is on the synchronic or diachronic validity study on the NationalMatriculation Entrance English Tests; the other is the independent proposition ofMatriculation Entrance Test of different provinces and cities. At present, the diachronicvalidity study on reading comprehension of Shandong Tests (2006-2013) is comparativelyinsufficient. Therefore it is both necessary and important to do further studies in this field。The purpose of this paper is to analyze the texts and questions of reading comprehensionof Shandong Tests (2006-2013), aiming to investigate the features and validity of readingcomprehension in Shandong Tests (2006-2013)(including number of words, readability,theme, types of literature); and the features and validity of objective question types of readingcomprehension in Shandong Tests (2006-2013)(proportion and distribution included).The main findings are as follows: Based on the analysis of the33articles of the readingcomprehension materials, the vocabulary tested is relatively stable and consistent with therequirement in the New Curriculum Standard of English. The themes are extensive, involvingall aspects of social life. The reading materials are generally concerned with practical life andrich in the flavor of the times, cultural knowledge, interest and ideology. The main types ofliterature are narrative and expository texts, which includes a memoir in narratives and atechnological invention in expository text. Text readability meets the requirements. As for the objective questions, they focus more on understanding details and reasoning ability.Consequently the reading comprehension materials and questions of Shandong Tests (2006-2013) generally have adequate validity.Based on these findings, the author tries to put forward some suggestions as to theteaching and testing of reading comprehension. Students should be encouraged to readoriginal articles in English widely, esp. narrative and expository texts. Teachers should paymore attention to cultivate students’ understanding details and reasoning ability. In testing,more amount of application essays might be attempted to further foster students’ ability ofactual language use.