English Language Assessment and the Chinese Learner

Liying Cheng, Andy Curtis, Liying Cheng, Andy Curtis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135213862
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

'This volume addresses a very timely and important topic, and provides both broad and in-depth coverage of a number of large-scale English tests in China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and about the Chinese learner.' – Lyle F. Bachman, From the Foreword

Building on current theoretical and practical frameworks for English language assessment and testing, this book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, relevant picture of English language assessment for students in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and for Chinese learners of English around the world. Written by well-recognized international scholars in language testing, it covers:

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• the history of tests and testing systems, issues and challenges, and current research in China

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• both test-designers' and test-users' points of view on test development and test validation within a range of political, economical, social, and financial contexts in China

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• theoretical/conceptual perspectives on the use of the English language assessment at different levels, including societal, university, and schools

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• empirical research related specifically to test development, curricular innovation, and test validation

Given the long history of objective testing and its extensive use in Chinese society, and considering the sheer number of students taking various tests in English in China and elsewhere, an understanding of the impact of English language testing is essential for anyone involved in testing and assessment issues in China and elsewhere in the world. This is a must-read volume for testing and assessment policy makers, curriculum designers, researchers, ESL/EFL materials writers, graduate students, and English language teachers/researchers at all levels.

Part I
Setting the Scene

1 The Realities of English Language Assessment and the Chinese Learner in China and Beyond

Liying Cheng, Queen’s University
Andy Curtis, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The historical fact that an examination history in China can be traced back to the imperial period nearly 2,000 years ago, together with the enormous number of Chinese students who are learning English, and taking English tests, in China and elsewhere in the world, make a book of this nature a necessary endeavor. The puzzle of how the imperial examination system originated and developed in ancient China, how that system impacted examination systems in other Asian countries, Europe and North America, and how western modern testing theories have been reintroduced to China, shaping English language assessment in China today, creates a fascinating space and time within which valuable lessons can be learned. This opening chapter will first introduce the broad Chinese context and delineate the concept of the Chinese Learner. It will then offer a brief history of English language education and assessment in China. Finally it offers a roadmap to the readers of this book within the validity framework which illustrates the views from both the test developers and test users within the Chinese contexts.

As has been documented by many scholars, objective testing began in China during the Han dynasty (Spolsky, 1995). Such testing was used in Imperial China to select the highest officials of the land (Arnove, Altback & Kelly, 1992; Hu, 1984; Lai, 1970), which were probably the first civil service examinations ever developed in the world. To avoid corruption, all essays in the Imperial Examination were marked anonymously, and the Emperor personally supervised the final stage of the examination (see Chapter 2 for details). In addition, throughout Chinese history, testing and examinations have been seen by the general public as ways of encouraging the development of talent, to upgrade the performance of schools and colleges, and to counter to some degree, nepotism, favoritism, and even outright corruption in the allocation of scarce opportunities (Cheng & Qi, 2006; Bray & Steward, 1998; Eckstein & Noah, 1992). To this day, testing and examinations remain very powerful forces in China (Li, 1990), so much so that they are sometimes used for purposes beyond that for which they are intended (Cheng, 2008; see also Chapters 3 and 4).

In China, for students to be successful in school means taking numerous tests and examinations throughout their schooling. Major public examinations are required to enter junior and senior secondary schools, university, and postgraduate education (see Chapters 11 and 16). Examinations continue to be used for the selection of government officials, for the promotion of academics and professionals, and for obtaining better employment involving international communication. Among these tests and examinations, English is used most often as the gatekeeper for these purposes in China (Cheng, 2008).

Currently, more than 27 million Chinese university students are learning English and taking English tests (http://www.hnedu.cn/). Chinese students are among the five largest groups of both TOEFL (see Chapter 7) and IELTS (see Chapter 8) test-takers. They are also among the largest groups of international students studying at English medium universities in North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Given the long history of objective testing and its extensive use in Chinese society, and considering the sheer number of students taking various tests of English in China and elsewhere, an understanding of the impact of English language assessment as illustrated in this book is essential for testing and assessment policy-makers, curriculum designers, researchers, ESL/EFL materials writers, graduate students, and English language teachers/researchers at various levels who are involved in testing and assessment issues in China and elsewhere in the world.

The Chinese Learner and the Chinese Context

China (Traditional Chinese Character:

Simplified Chinese Character:

¹; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōngguó²) is a cultural region, an ancient civilization and a nation in East Asia. It is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than five millennia. As one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, China has the longest continuously used written language system of the world. The People’s Republic of China, commonly known as China or abbreviated to PRC (Simplified Chinese:

Traditional Chinese:

Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) is a vast geographical region of about 9.6 million square kilometers accommodating more than one-fifth of the world’s population (over 1.3 billion in 2008). The majority of China exists today as a country known as the People’s Republic of China, but China also represents a long-standing civilization comprising successive states and cultures dating back more than 5,000 years. The chapters in this book come from the testing contexts of mainland China (officially The People’s Republic of China), Hong Kong (officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of The People’s Republic of China

), and Taiwan (officially The Republic of China), which are treated as geographical rather than political regions. China is used in this book to refer to both the People’s Republic of China—mainland China³, but also refers to China in its broadest and most inclusive sense.

The Chinese Learner, as referred to in the title of the book, refers to: “students from Confucian-heritage cultures (CHC) such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan, [who] are taught in classroom conditions .… [with] large classes, expository methods, relentless norm-referenced assessment, and harsh climate” (Watkins & Biggs, 2001, p. 3). The Chinese Learner defined in this book considers “the Chinese learner as a whole person, not only as a student, and is [are] aware of factors … nonetheless important to student outcomes” (Coverdale-Jones, 2006, p. 148). The Chinese Learner in our book consists of mainly Chinese students and test-takers in/ from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. These students are studying within the broader Chinese context in China and Asia, and in English-medium of instruction (EMI) universities around the world. These test-takers take English language tests designed and administrated locally in China and internationally. Chinese students and test-takers within the discussion of the book mainly consist of those studying at the school, university, and postgraduate levels. It is, however, not the aim of this book to discuss the cultural, psychological, and pedagogical learning styles of this group of learners (see Language Culture Curriculum, 19(1), 2006 for a range of such issues discussed in relation to the Chinese Learner; Rastall, 2004). Rather, the focus of this collection is to portray these Chinese students and test-takers within their English language assessment contexts in and beyond China.

It is essential to point out here to the readers of the book that we have referred to China beyond mainland China in its current state, and the Chinese Learner in a broader sense. When this term is used in singular in this book, it is written as the Chinese Learner. When used in the plural, it is written as Chinese Learners. In addition, Chinese society and the Chinese Learner also go beyond the political and geographical definition (boundary) of what the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is today.

History of English Language Testing and Examinations

The testing and examination history in China can be classified as Ancient, Modern and Current periods (Zhang, 2005). The Ancient examination period, which was dominated by the imperial examinations system

was the longest historical period, stretching from the origins of the examinations around 2200bc until when the imperial examinations were abolished in 1905 (see Chapter 2 for details). The Modern examination period started with the influence of western education and sciences in 1862 and the establishment of the Metropolitan Institute of Foreign Languages

until the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, with the Current examination period starting in 1949 and lasting until the present day. All our chapters, except for Chapter 2, discuss the testing and examinations in this Current period (1949–now). The Ancient examination period will be dealt with in Chapter 2. The Mode...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword by Lyle F. Bachman
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• The Editors
• PART I Setting the Scene
• PART II Validity and Test Validation: Views from Test Designers
• PART III Test Use and Consequences: Views from Test-Users—Test Quality: Theoretical/Conceptual Points of View
• PART IV Test Use and Consequences: Views from Test-Users—Test Quality: Empirical Studies
• PART V The Link between Test Validity and Validation, and Test Use and the Consequences: Conclusion and Beyond
• List of Contributors