Assessing Listening for Chinese English Learners : Developing a Communicative Listening Comprehension Test Suite for CET

This book reports in detail the newly developed Communicative Listening Comprehension Test (CLCT) for the National College English Test (CET) of China. A coherent framework of communicative listening comprehension assessment is constructed as the theoretical foundation. Based on a survey of Chinese college students'' English listening needs and an analysis of listening tasks in influential English listening course books and public tests, CLCT-4 and CLCT-6 test specifications are developed. Finally, sample papers are produced and posteriori studies are conducted to examine the difficulty and usefulness of the newly developed task type in two CLCT tests. As an example of successful integration of theory and practice, this research provides valuable insights into listening test development for other large-scale tests.

This book reports in detail the newly developed Communicative Listening Comprehension Test (CLCT) for the National College English Test (CET) of China. Following the principles of communicative testing in general and test construction approach proposed by Bachman and Palmer (1996) in particular, the project develops CLCT for CET-4 and CET-6. The research begins with the construction of frameworks of listening task characteristics and communicative listening ability. Subsequently, based on a survey of Chinese college students'' English listening needs and an analysis of listening tasks in influential English listening course books and public tests, CLCT-4 and CLCT-6 test specifications are developed. Finally, sample papers are produced and a series of posteriori studies are conducted to examine the difficulty and usefulness of the newly developed notes-completion task type in two CLCT tests. As an example of successful integration of communicative testing theories and test construction practice, this research provides valuable insights into listening test development for other large-scale tests.