Content Validity And Response Validity Of Listening Comprehension In IELTS Test

The IELTS test is an international standard English language test for non-native English speakers,which mainly tests listening,speaking,reading and writing these four areas.It is one of the necessary requirements for studying abroad or immigrating to English-speaking countries.There is no doubt that listening plays an important role in language learning.For candidates preparing to study abroad or emigrate,the improvement of listening level will help improve their standardized test scores and cultivate their ability to acquire integrated information in language communication in English-speaking countries in the future.In IELTS,listening is a very important part of the whole test,so improving the validity of IELTS listening test is to help improve the effectiveness of IELTS in selecting talents.Therefore,it is necessary to verify and study the validity of IELTS listening test.In this paper,in order to analyze validity of IELTS listening test,all IELTS listening questions in Cambridge IELTS Test in Volume 13,14,15 and 16 published by Cambridge University Press are selected as the research objects.In addition,20 students in Grade two of International Department of Nanchang No.3 Middle School are taken as the research objects.The paper tries to answer following three questions :1)What are the characteristics of text input in IELTS listening test?2)What are the characteristics of expected answers in IELTS listening test?3)What is the response validity of the IELTS listening test?Based on Bachman and Palmer’s test task characteristic framework,the author established IELTS listening test task characteristic framework.Through qualitative and quantitative analysis,the content validity of the listening test was verified from two aspects: input characteristics(length,subject,speed and accent)and expected response(inscription type and listening skills).The answer validity of listening test is analyzed by studying the process of answering the questions.Through research,the following conclusions are drawn.1)In terms of content validity,the length of the input text of IELTS listening test is stable and increasing in an orderly way.Listening materials cover a wide range of topics,including daily life and academic fields.The speaker speaks at a steady pace,with a variety of accents.2)In terms of content validity,the expected answers word-filling tasks of IELTS listening test are relatively narrow in terms of part of speech,mainly nouns.As for the expected listening skills,it mainly focuses on the acquisition of the detailed information and integrate information.The general idea of the main idea or deductive skills are not tested,so the listening skills involved are not comprehensive enough.3)In regards to response validity,the overall response validity is at a normal level.Details questions have a high response validity,while information integration questions have a low response validity.There are also limitations in this study,and corresponding feasibility suggestions and future research direction are put forward in view of the deficiencies found in the research.The verification of test is a long research process,which requires researchers to conduct in-depth research from multiple dimensions,so that the research related to validity can be fully developed empirically.