This study examines test appropriateness for constructing the most effective CTest.
The following tests were administered to 42 college freshmen from April
1992 through May 1992: the Second Grade Test of the Society of Testing English
Proficiency (STEP), A Comprehensive English Language Test/or Learners o/English
(CELT) Listening, a Dictation test, and four C-Tests whose tests used Narration,
Explanation, Description, and Argumentation. Results indicate the following:
First, the reliability of the Narration C-Test is the highest ( r c: 0.928). Second,
there is a fairly high correlation between the scores of the STEP test and the
Narration C-Test. Third, there is a very low correlation between the scores of CTests
and the CELT Listening Comprehension test. Fourth, there is a very low
correlation between the scores of the C-Tests and the Dictation test. The study
therefore indicates that a C-Test which uses a long narration text seems to be a
promising means of measuring a language leamer's overall language proficiency,
and what a C-Test measures seems different from what a listening test and a
Dictation test measure. Further research is needed to investigate the correlations
between the Narration-based C-Test and a more reliable criterion test like the
TOEFL.
Date:
June 1994
Page No.:
41
Writer(s):
Akihiko Mochizuki, Aichi University of Education
PDF:
