1.绪论
1.1研究内容
近年来英语专业八级阅读难度有所上涨，对阅读难度及阅读速度等方面都更加接近大纲要求，加强了相应的考试强度和效度。但根据考试大纲要求，阅读文章的题材和体裁选择上增加广告等近年来末出现的体哉类型。此外，学生在复习迎考时，应注意英语专业四级基础词汇的掌梶，并多阅读英美报刊充实背景知识，锻炼阅读相应难度文草的能力。In recent years, as the advance of globalized society，an exploding desire forEnglish talents has appeared，along with the increasing need to engage in internationaltrade, to communicate with English-speaking people, and to become a well supportedcitizen. With this trend, it is now known to all that English achievement testing hasbecome an inseparable component of language instruction. As http://www.1daixie.com/dxyylw a result, the popularityand influence of English achievement tests CET-4, CET-6, TEM-4, and TEM-8, (CETstands for College English Test, TEM stands for Test for English Majors) began toincrease rapidly, non-English majors are requested to take CET-4 and CET-6; Englishmajors have to pass the rest two. TEM, as its name suggests, has become one of themost prestigious and important achievement tests in China. Organized by the NationalForeign Language Teaching Advisory Committee, under the Higher EducationDepartment of the Ministry of Education, TEM-8 is a top level English achievementtest, in China and one of the most prestigious national standardized Englishachievement tests for English majors. A certificate will be issued to students who havepassed the exam, which might influence their future job-hunting.
As the function of evaluation is “the final step in the sequence towards masteryof content and accomplishment of objective", (Chastain, 1988: 338), it is vital to beinformed with the purpose of the TEM-8 exam beforehand. As specified in theleaching Syllabus for English Majors, the main task of teaching at this stage is to “tofoster a solid foundation of English knowledge, to acquire specialized knowledge ofEnglish language and related fields，to broaden and to strengthen the sensitivity tocultural differences, and to enhance comprehensive English capability incommunication.” Accordingly, under the guidance of leaching Syllabus for EnglishMajors and the Testing Syllabus for TEM-8, stipulated by the State EducationCommission of China，TEM-8 is held in March every year, with the aim “to examinethe enforcement of the teaching syllabus, especially the level of comprehensivelanguage capability and communication competence, so as to promote the implementof the teaching syllabus and relatively to improve teaching quality”. Apparently，TEM-8 belongs to the category of criteria-based achievement test, which evaluates thetest takers' single and overall language abilities.
1.2Research Purpose研究目的
In sight of the significance of TEM-8 test and its reading comprehension,http://www.1daixie.com/dxyylw thenecessity to assess its value is evident. To assess its content validity and vocabularywill surely assist learners and test designers to have a better and deeper understandingof its importance and authority.
This study intends to explore the quality of reading test in the TEM-8 based onthe framework of task characteristics. The reading materials will be examined in termsof length of the words, distribution of new information, readability, pragmaticcharacteristics, reading skill coverage, etc, so as to offer a fresh perspective andapproach to organize advanced reading teaching. The findings are assumed to haveimplications for test designers, teachers, learners and potential test takers who areconcerned with reading tests. Conducting this study may be beneficial in thefollowing aspects:
2.文献综述
在参与评估的测试之前，重要的是先了解本质语言知识的不同意见和观点，反过来又导致在测试的结构和内容的变化。历史语言生活测试的性质，语言学习或语言能力有着不同的系统、方法和结果，有着不同的观点和看法。In the field of language ability and language testing, there was not a single andstable kind of definition, yet an ever-evolving and maturing system. Generallyspeaking，these theories can be divided into three periods: pre-scientific period，psychometric-staicturalist testing period and psycholinguistic-sociolinguistic period，i.e. communicative language testing period.
Language testing theories came along with the development of foreign languageteaching. Usually the period before the 1940s is called the pre-scientific languagetesting. As its name suggests, despite the development of linguistics, there was nosystematic theory on language testing at this period. Foreign language teaching wasmostly based on tradition and experience. This period relied heavily on teacher'ssubjective assessment of learner's ability to speak and/or write the language.Language was considered the combination of grammatical, lexical and phonologicalknowledge. As a result, language testing was taken as a tool to measure thisknowledge. The design of language tests were mostly left to the experience andjudgment of teachers or test designers.
Chapter Ⅱ Theoretical Concerns of Reading................................ 27-33
2.1 The Significance of Reading............................. 27-28
2.2 Theories of Reading Process............................. 28-29
2.2.1 Bottom-up Model............................. 28
2.2.2 Top-down Model .............................28
2.2.3 Interactive Model............................. 28-29
2.3 Schema Theory .............................29
2.4 Reading Tasks .............................29-32
2.4.1 Reading material............................. 29-31
2.4.2 Reading skills .............................31-32
2.5 Special requirements .............................32-33
Chapter Ⅲ Research Study .............................33-53
3.1 Research Objectives............................. 33-34
3.2 Research Design .............................34-38
3.2.1 Material description............................. 35-36
3.2.2 Data collection .............................36-37
3.2.3 Data analysis .............................37-38
3.3 Research Results and Discussion .............................38-53
3.3.1 Characteristics of the settings............................. 38-39
3.3.2 Characteristics of the input .............................39-50
3.3.3 Expected response .............................50-53
Conclusion结论
Though it is specified in the testing syllabus and has been a long term practicethat multiple choice question is the form of test in reading comprehension, the paperargues that “multiple-choice items, measures whether the testee ‘knows’ and‘understands’ what to do when confronted with a problem situation, but it cannotdetermine how the testee actually ‘will’ perform in that situation.” (Gronlund, et1990:177), the communicative ability deserves more attention. Multiple Choicequestions ensure the impartiality and stability of the test, yet the communicativeinteraction of testee's language ability is hammered by the test form.
The genre and topics of the reading materials should be widened. As the datashow, the selection of materials of various topics and genres is not only requested bythe syllabus but also beneficial for the knowledge structure of the students, it isadvised that the selection of reading materials in TEM-8 should widen its topic andgenre. Besides the topic of culture and daily life, serious works of society, science andtechnology, biography should also be included in the tests. The authenticity of thereading materials should also be increased. As communicative tests require tests toprovide materials that one may confront in the actual situation, it is necessary tointroduce the authentic materials that the native readers may read. Passages withgeneral knowledge of culture and society does not serve the purpose of providingauthentic materials, while increasing materials in business, economic and the introduction of graphs and charts, advertisement is inevitable.
As for English learners, data from the test shows that in recent year, the overalldifficulty of passages of TEM-8 have increased evidently. Compared with the test in2004 and 2005，the overall length of passage, sentence length, and speededness haveall respectively enhanced its difficulty. Therefore, to train one into adapting to therequirements stipulated in the teaching and testing syllabi in the related area isnecessary.