透析大学英语四、六级机考的优点与不足

大学英语四、六级机考自2008年12月以来,已在全国1000多所高校试点,并取得了很大成功。本研究主要从机考的内容、形式、效果和考生对机考的适应性角度分析了大学英语四、六级机考的优点与不足,以期为不断丰富和完善大学英语四、六级机考奠定基础。     

关于新形势下大学英语教学新策略的思考

全国大学英语四、六级上机考试已成为四、六级考试发展的重要趋势.文章分析了四级机考与传统四级考试的区别,探索了新形势下大学英语教学的新策略.     

大学英语四、六级机考的几点启示

2008年12月首次推出的四、六级机考拉开了我国大学英语考试大改革的序幕,从而也成为全国关注的焦点。文章回顾了大学英语四、六级考试改革历程,简述了机考的现况及意义,并探讨了由机考引发的启示,以期能对高校英语教学改革有所启发。     

大学英语四、六级机考的影响及应对策略

大学英语四、六级机考试点改革无论是考试形式还是考试内容都有巨大改变,进一步体现了英语高等教育的要求。作者通过问卷调查法分析四、六级机考的利弊,针对新形式考试的特点为大学生提出相对应的策略,以更好地适应改革。     

针对英语四、六级机考听力题型谈提高大学生英语听力策略

2008年底教育部实行了大学英语四、六级机考试点改革,与传统的笔试相比,题型和内容都有较大改动,特别是听力部分的变化比较大,这也显示出听力在机考中的地位尤为重要。本文通过分析四、六级机考听力题型与听力过程中遇到的障碍,从基础知识掌握、文化背景了解、听力方法、对机考的重视程度等方面阐述了如何提高大学英语听力能力,旨在更好地适应改革,进而提高英语水平。     

浅析大学英语四、六级机考

为适应大学英语课程新教学目标的需要,大学英语四、六级考试改革启动,并于2008年12月开始机考试点。本文在介绍机考特点的同时。就如何提高学生英语综合应用能力并有效地应对机考带来的新变化从师生两个角度给出了建议。     

四、六级机考下的理工院校大学英语教学策略——以河南省三所高校为例

在四、六级考试改革的大背景下,通过对河南省理工院校大学英语教学实际的调查,找出其在大学英语教学中存在的问题并分析其原因;从认知学和复合型人才培养的角度,探讨四、六级机考模式下学校如何进行大学英语教学改革。     

大学英语四、六级口语机考对大学英语教学的启示

大学英语四、六级口语考试实行机考是口语测试手段的一个重大突破,本文对这一新形式的考试进行了介绍,并通过问卷调查的方式分析了口语机考实行后学生出现的问题和面临的挑战,从而对大学英语教学提出了见解和看法。     

大学英语四、六级机考适应性调查研究

研究采用问卷与访谈的方式,调查了考生对大学英语四、六级机考的适应状况。结果显示:总体而言,考生能够适应机考。考试各部分按考生的适应程度高低排序为阅读、写作、综合、听力,考生对机考的听力部分呈现不适应。从学习适应性的四个方面来看,考生在观念、态度上接受机考;身心方面能够适应机考,但不能较好地适应考试方式与环境。导致适应不良的原因包括:平时教学与机考脱节,缺乏上机、上网的操作等。为了促进机考的适应性,文章提出了加强听说教学、改革评估模式、增加网络自主学习机会等建议,同时也指出:机考自身的设计有待改进。     

应对大学英语四、六级机考的教学改革模式

大学英语四、六级考试从1987年起施行至今,经历了数次变革,但仍然存在很大的弊端,最大的问题就是束缚了学生语言综合能力,特别是听说能力的发展。而机考的推行,是一次颠覆式的革命,在题型设计、听力选材及考试方式等方面都做了相当大的改革,特别是加大了听力难度和比重。大学英语四、六级机考旨在提高学生英语综合运用能力,特别是听说能力。这次改革对学生提出了更高的要求,同时也对外语教师未来的教学提出了一个新的思考。本文通过分析机考带来的一系列挑战,提出了应对的教学方法和改革模式。     

考试文件上传系统的设计与实现

计算机的考试会有大量的考试文件需要提交.考试文件上传系统通过HTML表单获取学生提交文件的信息,使用ASP无组件上传类将文件上传到服务器上,并进行文件重命名等操作,实现对考试文件的统一管理.利用相应的编程方法和技巧,设计出符合实际需求的各种考试文件上传系统,可改变传统提交考试文件的方式,减轻教师负担,提高工作效率.     

Inexperienced and Anxious Computer Users: Coping With a Computer-Administered Test of Academic Skills

This study assessed the degree to which computer-based administration contributes to test performance differences among examinees. Inexperienced or anxious computer users answered computer-based reading and mathematics questions from a new teacher licensing test. They also answered paper-and-pencil analogues of these questions. While taking the computer-administered tests, half of the examinees had access to on-line familiarization materials only; the other half had additional help from a test supervisor. Results showed that (a) extra assistance from a test supervisor did not have a noticeable effect on test performance, (b) performance on test sections administered later during the session showed no evidence of improvement from practice on earlier sections, (c) most of the variation in performance on the computer-administered tests was explained by performance on the paper-and-pencil analogues rather than by attitudes toward computers or experience with them, and (d) examinees were more positive about the computer-based tests after testing than before. The conclusion was that on-line test familiarization proved adequate for the anxious/inexperienced computer users in the study and that computer-based test administration did not unduly affect examinee performance. The implications of the study are discussed with respect to evaluating new and emerging alternative modes of assessment.     

Validity Issues in Computer-Based Testing

Advances in technology are stimulating the development of complex, computerized assessments. The prevailing rationales for developing computer-based assessments are improved measurement and increased efficiency. In the midst of this measurement revolution, test developers and evaluators must revisit the notion of validity. In this article, we discuss the potential positive and negative effects computer-based testing could have on validity, review the literature regarding validation perspectives in computer-based testing, and provide suggestions regarding how to evaluate the contributions of computer-based testing to more valid measurement practices. We conclude that computer-based testing shows great promise for enhancing validity, but at this juncture, it remains equivocal whether technological innovations in assessment have led to more valid measurement.     

The Effects of Effort Monitoring With Proctor Notification on Test-Taking Engagement,Test Performance,and Validity

When we administer educational achievement tests, we want to be confident that the resulting scores validly indicate what the test takers know and can do. However, if the test is perceived as low stakes by the test taker, disengaged test taking sometimes occurs, which poses a serious threat to score validity. When computer-based tests are used, disengagement can be detected through occurrences of rapid-guessing behavior. This empirical study investigated the impact of a new effort monitoring feature that can detect rapid guessing, as it occurs, and notify proctors that a test taker has become disengaged. The results showed that, after a proctor notification was triggered, test-taking engagement tended to increase, test performance improved, and test scores exhibited higher convergent validation evidence. The findings of this study provide validation evidence that this innovative testing feature can decrease disengaged test taking.     

交互式网上考试系统的开发研究

为了实现交互式网上考试系统的开发,以电工电子技术课程网上考试系统的开发过程为实例,介绍了如何采用SQL Server2000和VB技术,开发具有随机抽题、网上考试、远程管理、教师评阅等功能的网上考试系统的思路与方法。     

An Examination of English Teachers' Opinions About the Ontario Grade 9 Reading and Writing Test

Interest in the use of large-scale achievement testing for accountability purposes and to drive instructional reform has been increasing in Canada. In the 1995 publications in Interchange, several researchers debated the merits and demerits of standardized achievement testing, including among the latter a tendency to reduce the curriculum and overemphasize routine learning (i.e., "teaching to the test"). Almost no studies have found empirical evidence for such testing's purported benefits. We set out to investigate these issues in Ontario: We present findings from a mail survey designed to find out, from Grade 9 and Grade 10 English teachers in Ontario, their perception of the quality of the Ontario Grade 9 literacy testing program and the effects it has had on the teaching and learning processes. Based on the responses of 107 teachers, our results paint a negative picture of teachers' opinions of the Grade 9 test in terms of its quality and its impact on teaching and learning. Three years after the Grade 9 test was first introduced, Grade 9 and 10 English teachers are still not convinced of its value. Our findings (and those from two other similar surveys) appear to suggest, at least based on teachers' self-reporting, that the purposes of the test — improving the quality of education and learning — as envisioned by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training have not been met. These findings support those of other assessment impact studies in Canada, namely British Columbia and Alberta, regarding the adverse consequences of large-scale standardized testing (either multiple-choice test or performance-based assessment), and the lack of evidence for its purported positive educational influences. We recommend future research to investigate further the validity and the educational impact of the provincial tests and the reasons responsible for the observed impact or lack of it, and to determine resources, such as teacher training and materials, that are necessary to supplement the provincial testing program's effort to improve teaching and learning.     

The impact of immediate test score reporting on university students' achievement emotions in the context of computer-based multiple-choice exams

Test-taking is an emotion-laden event for many students. Typically, negative emotions are highest at the start of an examination and are replaced by positive emotions as the exam progresses. The impact of computer-based testing and immediate score reporting on students' emotions has not been examined. In Study 1, we evaluated university students’ emotions at the end of a computer-based exam and found positive emotions more strongly endorsed than negative. In Study 2, we replicated this finding and used a quasi-experimental pre-post design to examine how emotions changed in response to real examination scores. Exam scores presented immediately had significant positive effects on relief, pride, and hope and negative effects on anxiety and shame even after controlling for the corresponding emotion at the end of the exam. The one exception was anger, which was not impacted by examination score. No interaction effects were found.     

Low-stakes performance testing in Germany by the VERA assessment: analysis of the mode effects between computer-based testing and paper-pencil testing

The German school system employs centrally organized performance assessments (some of which are called “VERA”) as a way of promoting lesson development. In recent years, several German federal states introduced a computer-based performance testing system which will replace the paper-pencil testing system in the future. Scores from computer-based testing are required to be equivalent to paper-pencil testing scores so that the new testing medium does not lead to disadvantages for students. Therefore, the current study aimed at investigating the size of the mode effect and the moderating impact of students’ gender, academic achievement and mainly spoken language in everyday life. In addition, the variance of the mode effect across tasks was investigated. The study was conducted in four German federal states in 2019 using a field experimental design. The test scores of 5140 eighth-graders from 165 schools in the subject German were analysed. The results of multi-level modelling revealed that students’ test scores in the computerized version of the VERA test were significantly lower than in the paper-pencil version. Students with a lower academic achievement were more disadvantaged by the VERA computerized test. The results were inconsistent regarding the interactions between testing mode and students’ gender and mainly spoken language in everyday life. The variance of the mode effect across tasks was high. Research into different subjects and in other federal states and countries under different testing conditions might yield further evidence about the generalizability of these results.

     

Toward a framework on how affordances and motives can drive different uses of scaffolds: theory, evidence, and design implications

One way to help students engage in higher-order thinking is through scaffolding, which can be defined as support that allows students to participate meaningfully in and gain skill at a task that is beyond their unassisted abilities. Most research on computer-based scaffolds assesses the average impact of the tools on learning outcomes. This is problematic in that it assumes that computer-based scaffolds impact different students in the same way. In this conceptual paper, we use activity theory and the theory of affordances to build an initial theoretical framework on how and why K-12 students use computer-based scaffolds. Specifically, we argue that affordances and motives drive how and why K-12 students use computer-based scaffolds. Then we examine empirical studies to gather preliminary support for the framework. Implications for research on and the design of computer-based scaffolds are explored.     

An Evaluation of the IEL TS Speaking Test

This paper analyzes the characteristics of the IELTS Speaking Test against the requirements for effective testing in Bachman and Palmer's(1996) test usefulness framework, which include the six qualities of reliability, validity, authenticity, interactiveness, practicality and impact. In particular, it examines the test on criteria including fluency and coherence; lexical resource;grammatical range and accuracy; and pronunciation(IETLS official website). It includes a judgment about its value.