AStudyofValidityandReliabilityofContent―asedWritingbyEnglishMajorStudents.docVIP

AStudyofValidityandReliabilityofContent―basedWritingbyEnglishMajorStudents 　　【Abstract】In nature， writing is a linguistic， social-cultural and cognitive activity. Through assessment， students’ practical language competence could be reflected， what can also be reflected are the teacher’s success or teaching deficiency. This study takes assignments from two undergraduate classes， the contents and scores of the students’ writings are analyzed by reliability and validity， with the aim of obtaining a feedback which would be helpful to future teaching and learning. 中国论文网 /1/viewhtm　　【Key words】reliability； validity； writing 　　1. Introduction 　　Effective language test measures how many teaching goals have been achieved， how much knowledge students have learned in order to get positive washback effects of the instruction implemented. Writing is regarded as important aspect of language output. Writing test is valued as one of the most scientific and effective ways to evaluate learners’ language proficiency， and thus becomes an important and necessary component of many large-scale English tests. 　　2. Students’ writing test 　　Diverse types of language test exist and they differ from one another due to the test method and purpose. They can be classified into different perspectives， but the following four types are most common：proficiency test， diagnostic test， placement test and achievement test. 　　This paper is based on achievement tests taken by two English Major classes. In the test， students are asked to write compositions based on short stories from the textbook， and the composition should contain two parts：a short review and a literature criticism. The length of the composition is not strictly limited and the number of students is around 40. 　　2.1 Achievement test 　　Achievement test is generally divided into two types：final achievement test and progress achievement test. As the terms indicate， “final achievement test is conducted at the end of a study course”；w