211 / 2018-04-10 17:22:08

Content Validity of the University Entrance Examination in Shanghai, China: Bachman and Palmer’s model of language ability

Content validity,university entrance examination in China,language ability

全体主题 > Standards in validating language assessments

The University Entrance Exam (UEE) plays a vital role in the Chinese education system. English Language is one of the compulsory subjects in the Shanghai University Entrance Examination. Yet despite it being a high-stakes exam for over nine million senior high school students each year, there is little research demonstrating that the UEE is of an appropriate quality.

This paper investigates whether the Examination tests students’ language ability with reference to the Bachman and Palmer model (1996). A study of the past 10 years’ (2005-2014) English Language Exam papers for university entry in Shanghai was conducted that used qualitative content analysis as a methodological tool. Test items or test tasks in different sections in the past ten years’ UEE papers – listening comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing, and speaking sections – were checked, analyzed and identified against Bachman and Palmer’s model of language ability. In this study, the analysis was validated by asking a colleague to independently check all items against the areas of functional knowledge, and the inter-coder reliability checks reached 99% agreement with the coding of the researcher.

This paper has summarized what was tested in the UEE and how closely UEE content matched with Bachman and Palmer’s model of language theory. The UEE has covered many components of language ability in grammatical knowledge, textual knowledge, and strategic competence but very few in functional knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge. In sum, this study has shown that the UEE bears an uneven relationship to Bachman and Palmer’s model of language theory.

This paper presented here aims to offer a thorough analysis of the English Language Examination for university entry in Shanghai. It will be a useful resource for policy-makers, universities, schools, teachers, students and other stakeholders.