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Analysis on the quality of questions for the application of English knowledge in the middle school entrance examination
—Take the English test questions for the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination as an example
Ding Jiming
Abstract: This article takes the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English test paper as the research object, and analyzes the quality of single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze-the-blank questions from the aspects of test point distribution, test question design or chapter characteristics, test point characteristics, etc. The results show that the topics selected for the cloze-filling questions are close to students' lives, the length of the cloze-filling questions are appropriate, and the difficulty is reasonable; the test points of the single-choice questions are extensive and reasonable, which are based on the foundation and highlight the key points; but there are also some areas that need to be improved, such as the distribution of the cloze-filling styles and the distribution of single-choice test points in individual years is relatively concentrated. Based on this, in terms of designing test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the middle school entrance examination, the cloze-filling should be diverse in text and a wide selection of materials; the single-item fill-in-the-blank test should be gradually reduced, and the test should be appropriately replaced by discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank test questions.
Keywords: English high school entrance examination; English knowledge application; question quality
1. Questions raised
In 2014, the structure of the college entrance examination English test paper was reformed, and the single-item fill-in-the-blank questions that had been used for many years were abolished, and instead of grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions (Liu Qingsi et al., 2013), but at the same time, the cloze-in-the-blank questions that test the comprehensive language ability were retained. Grammar fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze fill-in-the-blank questions are part of the application of language knowledge in the college entrance examination English test paper. The English test papers for high school entrance examinations in most parts of the country still retain single-item fill-in-the-blanks and cloze-in-the-blanks. Among them, the "Applying English Knowledge" part of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper structure includes single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze-in-the-blank questions (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2016-2019).
Anhui Province's "Outline of the English Examination for Junior High School Academic Proficiency" (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline") (2016-2019) pointed out that single-item fill-in-the-blanks mainly test grammar knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, idioms, communication terms and various common expression methods. Students must make judgments based on fully understanding the meaning of the question stem, through the logical relationship before and after the sentence or the connection between dialogue and communication before selecting the correct option (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2016-2019). The gestalt tests students' ability to accurately judge and select verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs or other words that conform to the semantics and usage of a specific context based on understanding the main theme of the article and the internal connection between sentences and paragraphs (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2019).
found through searching the literature that in the existing domestic literature, some studies on single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions mainly explore their answering skills and high-scoring strategies from the perspective of exam-oriented (Wu Suqin, 2015; Cheng Caiyun, 2020); some documents discuss the proposition characteristics of single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions (Zhang Shunsheng, Chen Tian, 2014; Yang Lili, Chen Xian, 2020); some documents study the validity of single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions (Ding Jiming, 2012; He Wenfang, 2020); while there are not many research literatures specifically on the application of language knowledge in the English middle school entrance examination (Zhang Zhifu et al., 2014). In order to explore the quality of the test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the high school entrance examination, this study selected the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper as the research object. On the basis of understanding the test points distribution of single-choice questions, the chapter characteristics of the test design or cloze-filling blanks, the test points characteristics, etc., the question quality and question characteristics of the "English Knowledge Application" test questions are further explored. On the basis of enriching the insufficient research in this field, it is intended to provide reference for improving the high school entrance examination questions and optimizing the high school entrance examination review strategy.
2. Research methods
(I) Research objects
The language knowledge application part of the Anhui Provincial English High School Examination Paper includes two major questions: single fill-in-the-blanks and cloze-in-the-blanks. Therefore, the analysis object of this study is the language knowledge application test questions for the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper.
(II) Analysis Framework
This study mainly discusses the quality of the language test questions of the English test papers in Anhui Province from 2016 to 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Outline of Anhui Province Junior High School Graduation Examinations), the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2011 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the "Curriculum Standards"), Bachman & Palmer (1996), and the analysis framework of the college entrance examination English test questions studied by Gu Xiangdong and others (2008). The quality of the test questions for the language knowledge application of the English test papers in the Anhui Province from 2016 to 2020 was discussed from the aspects of the distribution of test points, the design or chapter characteristics, and the characteristics of the test points. The analysis framework is shown in Table 2.2.1.
(III) Data statistics and analysis
Researchers conducted statistics and analysis of each question type in the "Applying English Knowledge" section of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Paper based on the analysis framework. To ensure the reliability of the data, two teachers in the language test research direction analyzed the test questions respectively. For areas with differences, the two teachers discussed them together and finally reached an agreement.
3. Results and discussion
(I) Single-item fill-in-the-blank
1. Test point distribution
Single-item fill-in-the-blank test points refer to the key points reflected in the selection of test questions ( Li Xiaoju , 1997). The distribution of test points can be analyzed from three aspects: lexic, syntax and communication terms. Lexics involve the form and usage of words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, modal verbs , etc.; syntax involves sentence types, sentence components and rules of word making, such as subject-predicate consistency, attributive clause , etc.; communication usage involves the use of language forms in the communication context.
From Table 3.1.1.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions cover 9 lexical methods, such as nouns, verbs (phrases), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions (phrases), modal verbs, tense and passive voice ; there are two types of syntax to be tested, namely object clauses and adverbial clauses . It can be seen from this that the test points for the English single-item fill-in-the-blank questions of the Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination from 2016 to 2020 are wide, and they cover the basic and commonly used knowledge points to varying degrees. The limited number of questions is taken into account the examination of various knowledge points. Overall, the distribution of test points in the test paper is more reasonable and the overall situation is better. However, statistics have found that (Table 3.1.1.1), the examination of lexical methods in the past five years has also focused on verbs, such as the tense, voice, verbs (phrases) and modal verbs; it has been tested three times in five years when it is completed. The coverage of the test sites is so concentrated, which is not conducive to comprehensive examination of the candidates' grammar and vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, this study recommends that single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions should be balanced as much as possible in the distribution of test points such as vocabulary, grammar, and communication terms.
2. Question design
(1) Context and corpus
From Figure 3.2.1.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions have rich topics, a wide range of contexts, and a relatively real and vivid corpus. There are 20 topics involved in the "Curriculum Standards". The top five are interpersonal communication, daily activities, family, friends and people around them, personal situations, and schools, which are relatively close to the reality of students' lives.
2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination single-item fill-in-the-blank questions focus on testing students' ability to use English knowledge to solve problems in a micro context, and each question is a micro context, where the answers focus on semantic understanding and slight memory of grammar knowledge. The language is friendly, natural, authentic, authentic, and has a sense of the times and is rich in humanistic colors. For example, in 2016, Question 36 talks about " animal protection ", so that students can care about the world around them; Question 39 teaches students to be patient; Question 42 involves "health" topics, reminding students to develop the habit of exercise every day; Question 43 involves "Mid-Autumn Festival" to promote Chinese traditional culture; Question 44 advocates "green life", etc. Question 33 of 2017 talks about the "New Silk Road" as a good opportunity to communicate with foreign countries; Question 36 reminds candidates to "hold on to dreams to have no regrets"; Question 38 mentions "family affection"; Question 43 encourages "promoting hometown culture", etc.Question 32 of 2018 mentioned the "secrets of language learning"; question 33 "price-saving sales of supermarket refrigerators"; question 39 tells candidates that "care about others will help students get along well with each other"; question 42 mentions "independence ability"; question 43 praises Yuan Longping as the greatest scientist in rice cultivation. The "70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" in 2019, and the "5G Technology " in 35. The "high-speed rail" in question 22 in 2020; the "people's livelihood project" in question 23; the 24-year-old "China has established in-depth friendship with countries around the world and cooperate closely in many fields"; the "environmental protection" in question 27; the 30-year-old "We should put away our mobile phones and do more exercises" and other topics reflect the educational significance and characteristics of the times. The infusion of these topics makes the test questions full of vitality, which is conducive to guiding students to learn languages and learn living languages in combination with life (Gu Xiangdong, Li Jie, 2008). However, the context created by some test questions is just a decoration, and it cannot be effective in testing candidates' mastery of language knowledge through context, and it may not necessarily reflect students' actual language application ability.
cases 1. I am surprised at the new look of my hometown, for it ______ a lot over the years. (2017-34)
A. changed B. hanges
C. will change D. has changed
Example 2. —It’s ten years since we came here.
—How time flies! We ______ in China for so long. (2019-34)
A. work B. worked
C. will work D. have worked
examples 3. — The air here is much fresher than before.
—Exactly! We ______ a lot of trees in the past few years. (2020-27)
A. planted B. were planting
C. have planted D. will plantt
The above test questions are single-choice questions aimed at examining the application of language knowledge. Although the context ratio of Examples 2 and 3 is sufficient, candidates can only remember that time adverbials such as "over the years", "for so long", "in the past few years" are only used in conjunction with the current completion time, and they do not need to answer questions through context to determine the answer. This is contrary to the question setting principle advocated by Cheng Xiaotang (2018) that "giving a specific communication situation and problems that need to be solved, students need to obtain and process information according to the requirements of the situation, and solving specific problems."
(2) Question stem and option
2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions are generally scientific and standardized, and are in line with the single-choice question proposition requirements of Li Xiaoju (1997) for "correct language, authentic, appropriate, concise, avoid bias, and clear test points". The test points of the options are similar, the length, structure, and category of the options are relatively consistent, the arrangement and combination of the option components are more reasonable, and the interference design of the interference items is moderate.
(II) Clothing in the blanks
1. Chapter characteristics
(1) Subject, genre, difficulty, length
0 The chapter characteristics of the chapter include subject, genre, difficulty and length. Among them, the topics mainly refer to 24 topics in Appendix 4 of the "Curriculum Standards". Genre refers to narrative, explanatory, argumentative and applied texts in the traditional sense. The evaluation index of text difficulty is readability, and the Flesch value can be calculated through the "Spelling and Syntax" function in Microsoft word tools. If the readability value is 50~60, it is generally considered to be "more difficult"; if it is located at 61~70, it means "medium" in difficulty; if it is located at 71~80, it means "easier"; if it is located at 81~90, it means "more easy" (see Table 3.2.1.1.2). The length of the text is the total number of words in the chapter.
can be seen from Table 3.2.1.1.1. The 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Fill in Blanks covers the subject matter of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination is relatively narrow, and only involves life stories, personal experiences, social life, philosophical stories and scientific and technological innovation. Among them, the number of chapters of life stories and personal experiences is 3, accounting for 60% of the total. There is only one chapter in scientific and technological innovation, but it is the first time involved in 2020. The genre includes narrative, explanatory and application text, but does not involve argumentative essays. It may be because the narrative essay is easy to understand, real and friendly, highly coherent, and has relatively complete content, which can better test the candidates' ability to obtain answers using discourse levels (Wang Qiuyan et al., 2008), with a number of as high as 6.
According to the calculation results, the average readability of the cloze test questions in the past five years is 65.6, indicating that the text material is the "standard" as a whole, and the difficulty level is only reaching the English level of seventh and eighth grade students in the United States (see Table 3.2.1.1.2), which meets the "Outline" requirement for the "moderate difficulty" of the cloze text. However, from a diurnal perspective, only the readability of B in 2017 and A and B in 2020 meet the "standard", and the rest of the difficulty level did not meet the "standard", indicating that the selection of cloze-blank texts in Anhui Province's high school entrance examination papers did not follow the principle of readability. Although there are no rigid regulations on the length of the text, 350~500 words are more suitable ( Liu Runqing , Han Baocheng, 2007, quoted from Ding Jiming, 2012). Due to the limitations of the English vocabulary they have learned and their own language level, it is appropriate for junior high school graduates to have a length of 150 to 250 words. The analysis found that the length of all cloze essays is within the control range above (see Table 3.2.1.1). The minimum 155 words and the maximum 192 words. However, judging from the average number of words in the cloze-filling articles in each year, they are controlled between l50 and 200 words (see Table 3.2.1.1).
(2) Delete word spacing
Setting the space spacing of the cloze is also an important indicator of the characteristics of the chapter. The difficulty of the cloze text is not only affected by the text itself, but also closely related to it. If the word deletion is too small, such as less than 5 words, it may cause the sentence to be fragmented and candidates may not be able to understand the content of the chapter; if the word deletion is too long, it may reduce the difficulty of the test questions, thereby reducing the validity of the test questions. However, the existing literature does not have a unified regulation on the design of the spacing of word deleting in cloze-filling and blanks. Some researchers believe that the spacing of word deleting should be no less than 3 words (Li Xiaoju, 1997), while others believe that the spacing of word deleting should be 5 to 10 words (Henning, 2001). It can be seen from Table 3.2.1.2.1 that the minimum word spacing for cloze-filling in the past five years is 4 words, and the maximum word spacing is 29 words. Moreover, the average word spacing for all test questions is between 12 and 16 words, slightly higher than the ideal distance proposed by experts. But overall, the word spacing for cloze-filling in the Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test from 2016 to 2020 meets the basic requirements of the English test for cloze-filling in the High School Entrance Examination English Test.
2. Test point characteristics
(1) Test point level
Test point level refers to how broad the context the subject needs to consider when doing the questions to determine the best answer, that is, what level of context is restricted by (Li Xiaoju, 1997). This restrictive context can be divided into four different levels from small to large: word level (W); phrase level (P); sentence level (S); discourse level (D). The word level means that you can determine the answer by looking at only words and without looking at the context outside the word; the word level means that the words you need to fill in have a fixed collocation relationship with the words before or after it. As long as you look at the words before or after the space, you can determine what words you need to fill in in the space; the sentence level refers to what words you need to fill in in the space, which can be determined within this sentence without exceeding the scope of the sentence; the discourse level refers to what words you need to fill in in the space to be determined at the discourse level. The higher the level of the test points, the more it can test the candidates' ability to understand the discourse.
Table 3.2.2.1.1 shows that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloveshow test for the discourse level has the largest number of questions (54), accounting for 54% of the total number of questions, followed by the sentence-level questions (45), accounting for 45% of the total number of questions. There is only one question at the phrase level, and there is no test question that tests the word level. The higher the level, the more the discourse can test the subject's true ability to use language (Li Xiaoju, 1997). Looking at the past five years, more than half of the questions of the cloze test questions require candidates to exceed the sentence level and choose answers that match the situation of the article based on the overall content, structural level and context of the article, reflecting the propositional idea of "highlighting discourse".
(2) Focus factor
Focus factor refers to different factors such as grammatical idiomatic coordination, meaning, rhetoric that each test point needs to examine (Li Xiaoju, 1997). Focus factors are divided into meaning factors, collocation factors and grammar factors. Among them, the meaning factor is the most important factor in the test of the cloze test.
From Table 3.2.2.2.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Filling-Blank Test focus is the absolute proportion. There is only one question for the common combination, but no grammar involves, which is consistent with the results of Ding Jiming (2012)'s study on the 2005-2012 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Filling-Blank Test focus. Synchronous analysis shows that the proportion of questions whose focus factors are meanings far exceeds the proportion of questions whose focus factors are idiomatic collocation and grammar every year. Most questions mainly focus on semantic analysis questions, especially on the selection of contextual meanings, and there are almost no pure grammar test questions. The four options can comply with the grammatical rules if they do not associate with the meaning of the entire sentence or the contents of the context. Only by using the context and the meaning of the entire sentence can the correct answer be selected. This fully highlights the propositional characteristics of "vocabulary contextualization".
3. Test point distribution
cloze test point distribution refers to the distribution of word categories or phrase types of deleted words, such as verbs (phrases), nouns (phrases), adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions (phrases), etc.
From the overall distribution of test points in Table 3.2.3.1, the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English cloze test design conforms to the proposition principle of "real words are the main and function words are the auxiliary". The focus of the examination in the past five years is verbs (phrases), nouns (phrases) and adjectives (phrases), with the proportions being 37%, 32% and 19%, respectively. No function words were examined from 2019 to 2020. In comparison, the distribution of test sites in the first three years was relatively wide. The test points in the last two years only involved real words and did not test function words, which may be related to the choice of discourse. Because the actual words are designed to test the meaning, designing the actual words as a test point can guide candidates to understand the chapter. However, function words are equally important. For example, prepositions can affect the structure of language, and conjunctions can test candidates' understanding of the context of the chapter. Therefore, this study suggests that in the future cloze test questions, the examination of function words should be appropriately added.
4. Question suggestions
This study conducted statistics and analysis on the "Applying English Knowledge" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper. The results show that the "Applying English Knowledge" test questions have high quality. However, at the same time, it was also found that there were shortcomings such as uneven distribution of the cloze-shaped fill-in-the-blank genre, control of readability, and the distribution of single-item fill-in-the-blank test points in individual years. Based on this, this study attempts to provide the following suggestions on the design of the test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the middle school entrance examination:
1. This study found that the genre of the cloze text from 2016 to 2020 is relatively concentrated, and all six articles are narrative essays. Although narrative essays have the characteristics of strong readability and relatively complete stories, from the perspective of the backlash effect on teaching, if narrative essays are constantly examined, teachers and students may reduce their attention to articles in other genres. In real life, students will not only be exposed to narrative essays. Therefore, the selection of text genres in the middle school entrance examination should be as diverse as possible in the selection of text genres, including argumentative essays, explanatory essays, narrative essays, and applied essays. Try to make the two genres cross-appearance every year to avoid the same genres in the two genres in the year. In addition, in terms of the test point design of cloze-shaped blanks, the proportion of function words such as conjunctions and prepositions can be appropriately increased, because conjunctions and prepositions are often related to the connection and coherence of the article; from the discourse level, the proportion of function words such as prepositions and conjunctions should also be appropriately increased.
2. Single-item fill-in-the-blank questions have the advantages of wide coverage, strong controllability in difficulty, small impact between test questions, and high test reliability. Therefore, this question type was also adopted in the Anhui Provincial High School Examination Paper from 2016 to 2020. However, according to the research of some domestic experts and scholars (Gu Xiangdong, Li Jie, 2008), there are flaws that cannot be ignored in single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions, such as not meeting the requirements of communication language test theory, poor orientation to English teaching, and easy input of incorrect information to students. The 2020 college entrance examination paper (except for Tianjin and Jiangsu papers) and 42 of the 159 high school entrance examination papers in 2020 have "discourse-type grammar fill-in-the-blanks" questions. With the further deepening of the reform of the middle school and college entrance examinations and the new curriculum reform, single-item fill-in-the-blank questions will inevitably be replaced by discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions.Therefore, this study recommends abolishing single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and designing scientific and reasonable discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions to adapt to the trend of examination reform and teaching reform.
5. Conclusion
The high school entrance examination is not only the main basis for measuring whether students meet the level five provisions in the "Curriculum Standards" and one of the important basis for enrollment of high school schools. This study draws on Bachman & Palmer (1996)'s task feature framework and other related language test theories and the analysis framework of college entrance examination English test questions studied by Gu Xiangdong and others (2008), and combined with the "Curriculum Standards" and the "Outline" from 2016 to 2020, the quality of the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Paper from 2016 to 2020 was discussed. The results showed that the The "English Knowledge Application" test questions have high quality, among which the single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions have a concentrated distribution of test points in individual years. It is recommended that the "discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank test questions be replaced by the question; the genre and subject of the text in the cloze fill-in-the-blank test questions meet the requirements of the "Outline", and the test point level and focus factors are mostly medium and high-level questions and questions focusing on the significance of the test, and there are almost no low-level questions; however, there are still some problems in terms of genre distribution and control of the readability of the text. The article puts forward corresponding suggestions on these issues, such as increasing the readability of the text, increasing the text subject matter, and diversifying the genre, in order to achieve the propositions of this question becoming more and more perfect and reasonable.
Note: This article is the stage research result of the Hefei Education Science Planning Project "Research on Anhui English High School Entrance Examination Questions Based on Core Disciplines (HJG20004)".
Thank you for following "Yongda English"!
Analysis on the quality of questions for the application of English knowledge in the middle school entrance examination
—Take the English test questions for the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination as an example
Ding Jiming
Abstract: This article takes the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English test paper as the research object, and analyzes the quality of single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze-the-blank questions from the aspects of test point distribution, test question design or chapter characteristics, test point characteristics, etc. The results show that the topics selected for the cloze-filling questions are close to students' lives, the length of the cloze-filling questions are appropriate, and the difficulty is reasonable; the test points of the single-choice questions are extensive and reasonable, which are based on the foundation and highlight the key points; but there are also some areas that need to be improved, such as the distribution of the cloze-filling styles and the distribution of single-choice test points in individual years is relatively concentrated. Based on this, in terms of designing test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the middle school entrance examination, the cloze-filling should be diverse in text and a wide selection of materials; the single-item fill-in-the-blank test should be gradually reduced, and the test should be appropriately replaced by discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank test questions.
Keywords: English high school entrance examination; English knowledge application; question quality
1. Questions raised
In 2014, the structure of the college entrance examination English test paper was reformed, and the single-item fill-in-the-blank questions that had been used for many years were abolished, and instead of grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions (Liu Qingsi et al., 2013), but at the same time, the cloze-in-the-blank questions that test the comprehensive language ability were retained. Grammar fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze fill-in-the-blank questions are part of the application of language knowledge in the college entrance examination English test paper. The English test papers for high school entrance examinations in most parts of the country still retain single-item fill-in-the-blanks and cloze-in-the-blanks. Among them, the "Applying English Knowledge" part of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper structure includes single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and cloze-in-the-blank questions (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2016-2019).
Anhui Province's "Outline of the English Examination for Junior High School Academic Proficiency" (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline") (2016-2019) pointed out that single-item fill-in-the-blanks mainly test grammar knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, idioms, communication terms and various common expression methods. Students must make judgments based on fully understanding the meaning of the question stem, through the logical relationship before and after the sentence or the connection between dialogue and communication before selecting the correct option (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2016-2019). The gestalt tests students' ability to accurately judge and select verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs or other words that conform to the semantics and usage of a specific context based on understanding the main theme of the article and the internal connection between sentences and paragraphs (Anhui Provincial Institute of Educational Sciences, 2019).
found through searching the literature that in the existing domestic literature, some studies on single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions mainly explore their answering skills and high-scoring strategies from the perspective of exam-oriented (Wu Suqin, 2015; Cheng Caiyun, 2020); some documents discuss the proposition characteristics of single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions (Zhang Shunsheng, Chen Tian, 2014; Yang Lili, Chen Xian, 2020); some documents study the validity of single-item fill-in-the-blank and cloze-filling questions (Ding Jiming, 2012; He Wenfang, 2020); while there are not many research literatures specifically on the application of language knowledge in the English middle school entrance examination (Zhang Zhifu et al., 2014). In order to explore the quality of the test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the high school entrance examination, this study selected the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper as the research object. On the basis of understanding the test points distribution of single-choice questions, the chapter characteristics of the test design or cloze-filling blanks, the test points characteristics, etc., the question quality and question characteristics of the "English Knowledge Application" test questions are further explored. On the basis of enriching the insufficient research in this field, it is intended to provide reference for improving the high school entrance examination questions and optimizing the high school entrance examination review strategy.
2. Research methods
(I) Research objects
The language knowledge application part of the Anhui Provincial English High School Examination Paper includes two major questions: single fill-in-the-blanks and cloze-in-the-blanks. Therefore, the analysis object of this study is the language knowledge application test questions for the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper.
(II) Analysis Framework
This study mainly discusses the quality of the language test questions of the English test papers in Anhui Province from 2016 to 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Outline of Anhui Province Junior High School Graduation Examinations), the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2011 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the "Curriculum Standards"), Bachman & Palmer (1996), and the analysis framework of the college entrance examination English test questions studied by Gu Xiangdong and others (2008). The quality of the test questions for the language knowledge application of the English test papers in the Anhui Province from 2016 to 2020 was discussed from the aspects of the distribution of test points, the design or chapter characteristics, and the characteristics of the test points. The analysis framework is shown in Table 2.2.1.
(III) Data statistics and analysis
Researchers conducted statistics and analysis of each question type in the "Applying English Knowledge" section of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Paper based on the analysis framework. To ensure the reliability of the data, two teachers in the language test research direction analyzed the test questions respectively. For areas with differences, the two teachers discussed them together and finally reached an agreement.
3. Results and discussion
(I) Single-item fill-in-the-blank
1. Test point distribution
Single-item fill-in-the-blank test points refer to the key points reflected in the selection of test questions ( Li Xiaoju , 1997). The distribution of test points can be analyzed from three aspects: lexic, syntax and communication terms. Lexics involve the form and usage of words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, modal verbs , etc.; syntax involves sentence types, sentence components and rules of word making, such as subject-predicate consistency, attributive clause , etc.; communication usage involves the use of language forms in the communication context.
From Table 3.1.1.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions cover 9 lexical methods, such as nouns, verbs (phrases), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions (phrases), modal verbs, tense and passive voice ; there are two types of syntax to be tested, namely object clauses and adverbial clauses . It can be seen from this that the test points for the English single-item fill-in-the-blank questions of the Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination from 2016 to 2020 are wide, and they cover the basic and commonly used knowledge points to varying degrees. The limited number of questions is taken into account the examination of various knowledge points. Overall, the distribution of test points in the test paper is more reasonable and the overall situation is better. However, statistics have found that (Table 3.1.1.1), the examination of lexical methods in the past five years has also focused on verbs, such as the tense, voice, verbs (phrases) and modal verbs; it has been tested three times in five years when it is completed. The coverage of the test sites is so concentrated, which is not conducive to comprehensive examination of the candidates' grammar and vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, this study recommends that single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions should be balanced as much as possible in the distribution of test points such as vocabulary, grammar, and communication terms.
2. Question design
(1) Context and corpus
From Figure 3.2.1.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions have rich topics, a wide range of contexts, and a relatively real and vivid corpus. There are 20 topics involved in the "Curriculum Standards". The top five are interpersonal communication, daily activities, family, friends and people around them, personal situations, and schools, which are relatively close to the reality of students' lives.
2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination single-item fill-in-the-blank questions focus on testing students' ability to use English knowledge to solve problems in a micro context, and each question is a micro context, where the answers focus on semantic understanding and slight memory of grammar knowledge. The language is friendly, natural, authentic, authentic, and has a sense of the times and is rich in humanistic colors. For example, in 2016, Question 36 talks about " animal protection ", so that students can care about the world around them; Question 39 teaches students to be patient; Question 42 involves "health" topics, reminding students to develop the habit of exercise every day; Question 43 involves "Mid-Autumn Festival" to promote Chinese traditional culture; Question 44 advocates "green life", etc. Question 33 of 2017 talks about the "New Silk Road" as a good opportunity to communicate with foreign countries; Question 36 reminds candidates to "hold on to dreams to have no regrets"; Question 38 mentions "family affection"; Question 43 encourages "promoting hometown culture", etc.Question 32 of 2018 mentioned the "secrets of language learning"; question 33 "price-saving sales of supermarket refrigerators"; question 39 tells candidates that "care about others will help students get along well with each other"; question 42 mentions "independence ability"; question 43 praises Yuan Longping as the greatest scientist in rice cultivation. The "70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" in 2019, and the "5G Technology " in 35. The "high-speed rail" in question 22 in 2020; the "people's livelihood project" in question 23; the 24-year-old "China has established in-depth friendship with countries around the world and cooperate closely in many fields"; the "environmental protection" in question 27; the 30-year-old "We should put away our mobile phones and do more exercises" and other topics reflect the educational significance and characteristics of the times. The infusion of these topics makes the test questions full of vitality, which is conducive to guiding students to learn languages and learn living languages in combination with life (Gu Xiangdong, Li Jie, 2008). However, the context created by some test questions is just a decoration, and it cannot be effective in testing candidates' mastery of language knowledge through context, and it may not necessarily reflect students' actual language application ability.
cases 1. I am surprised at the new look of my hometown, for it ______ a lot over the years. (2017-34)
A. changed B. hanges
C. will change D. has changed
Example 2. —It’s ten years since we came here.
—How time flies! We ______ in China for so long. (2019-34)
A. work B. worked
C. will work D. have worked
examples 3. — The air here is much fresher than before.
—Exactly! We ______ a lot of trees in the past few years. (2020-27)
A. planted B. were planting
C. have planted D. will plantt
The above test questions are single-choice questions aimed at examining the application of language knowledge. Although the context ratio of Examples 2 and 3 is sufficient, candidates can only remember that time adverbials such as "over the years", "for so long", "in the past few years" are only used in conjunction with the current completion time, and they do not need to answer questions through context to determine the answer. This is contrary to the question setting principle advocated by Cheng Xiaotang (2018) that "giving a specific communication situation and problems that need to be solved, students need to obtain and process information according to the requirements of the situation, and solving specific problems."
(2) Question stem and option
2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions are generally scientific and standardized, and are in line with the single-choice question proposition requirements of Li Xiaoju (1997) for "correct language, authentic, appropriate, concise, avoid bias, and clear test points". The test points of the options are similar, the length, structure, and category of the options are relatively consistent, the arrangement and combination of the option components are more reasonable, and the interference design of the interference items is moderate.
(II) Clothing in the blanks
1. Chapter characteristics
(1) Subject, genre, difficulty, length
0 The chapter characteristics of the chapter include subject, genre, difficulty and length. Among them, the topics mainly refer to 24 topics in Appendix 4 of the "Curriculum Standards". Genre refers to narrative, explanatory, argumentative and applied texts in the traditional sense. The evaluation index of text difficulty is readability, and the Flesch value can be calculated through the "Spelling and Syntax" function in Microsoft word tools. If the readability value is 50~60, it is generally considered to be "more difficult"; if it is located at 61~70, it means "medium" in difficulty; if it is located at 71~80, it means "easier"; if it is located at 81~90, it means "more easy" (see Table 3.2.1.1.2). The length of the text is the total number of words in the chapter.
can be seen from Table 3.2.1.1.1. The 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Fill in Blanks covers the subject matter of the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination is relatively narrow, and only involves life stories, personal experiences, social life, philosophical stories and scientific and technological innovation. Among them, the number of chapters of life stories and personal experiences is 3, accounting for 60% of the total. There is only one chapter in scientific and technological innovation, but it is the first time involved in 2020. The genre includes narrative, explanatory and application text, but does not involve argumentative essays. It may be because the narrative essay is easy to understand, real and friendly, highly coherent, and has relatively complete content, which can better test the candidates' ability to obtain answers using discourse levels (Wang Qiuyan et al., 2008), with a number of as high as 6.
According to the calculation results, the average readability of the cloze test questions in the past five years is 65.6, indicating that the text material is the "standard" as a whole, and the difficulty level is only reaching the English level of seventh and eighth grade students in the United States (see Table 3.2.1.1.2), which meets the "Outline" requirement for the "moderate difficulty" of the cloze text. However, from a diurnal perspective, only the readability of B in 2017 and A and B in 2020 meet the "standard", and the rest of the difficulty level did not meet the "standard", indicating that the selection of cloze-blank texts in Anhui Province's high school entrance examination papers did not follow the principle of readability. Although there are no rigid regulations on the length of the text, 350~500 words are more suitable ( Liu Runqing , Han Baocheng, 2007, quoted from Ding Jiming, 2012). Due to the limitations of the English vocabulary they have learned and their own language level, it is appropriate for junior high school graduates to have a length of 150 to 250 words. The analysis found that the length of all cloze essays is within the control range above (see Table 3.2.1.1). The minimum 155 words and the maximum 192 words. However, judging from the average number of words in the cloze-filling articles in each year, they are controlled between l50 and 200 words (see Table 3.2.1.1).
(2) Delete word spacing
Setting the space spacing of the cloze is also an important indicator of the characteristics of the chapter. The difficulty of the cloze text is not only affected by the text itself, but also closely related to it. If the word deletion is too small, such as less than 5 words, it may cause the sentence to be fragmented and candidates may not be able to understand the content of the chapter; if the word deletion is too long, it may reduce the difficulty of the test questions, thereby reducing the validity of the test questions. However, the existing literature does not have a unified regulation on the design of the spacing of word deleting in cloze-filling and blanks. Some researchers believe that the spacing of word deleting should be no less than 3 words (Li Xiaoju, 1997), while others believe that the spacing of word deleting should be 5 to 10 words (Henning, 2001). It can be seen from Table 3.2.1.2.1 that the minimum word spacing for cloze-filling in the past five years is 4 words, and the maximum word spacing is 29 words. Moreover, the average word spacing for all test questions is between 12 and 16 words, slightly higher than the ideal distance proposed by experts. But overall, the word spacing for cloze-filling in the Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test from 2016 to 2020 meets the basic requirements of the English test for cloze-filling in the High School Entrance Examination English Test.
2. Test point characteristics
(1) Test point level
Test point level refers to how broad the context the subject needs to consider when doing the questions to determine the best answer, that is, what level of context is restricted by (Li Xiaoju, 1997). This restrictive context can be divided into four different levels from small to large: word level (W); phrase level (P); sentence level (S); discourse level (D). The word level means that you can determine the answer by looking at only words and without looking at the context outside the word; the word level means that the words you need to fill in have a fixed collocation relationship with the words before or after it. As long as you look at the words before or after the space, you can determine what words you need to fill in in the space; the sentence level refers to what words you need to fill in in the space, which can be determined within this sentence without exceeding the scope of the sentence; the discourse level refers to what words you need to fill in in the space to be determined at the discourse level. The higher the level of the test points, the more it can test the candidates' ability to understand the discourse.
Table 3.2.2.1.1 shows that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloveshow test for the discourse level has the largest number of questions (54), accounting for 54% of the total number of questions, followed by the sentence-level questions (45), accounting for 45% of the total number of questions. There is only one question at the phrase level, and there is no test question that tests the word level. The higher the level, the more the discourse can test the subject's true ability to use language (Li Xiaoju, 1997). Looking at the past five years, more than half of the questions of the cloze test questions require candidates to exceed the sentence level and choose answers that match the situation of the article based on the overall content, structural level and context of the article, reflecting the propositional idea of "highlighting discourse".
(2) Focus factor
Focus factor refers to different factors such as grammatical idiomatic coordination, meaning, rhetoric that each test point needs to examine (Li Xiaoju, 1997). Focus factors are divided into meaning factors, collocation factors and grammar factors. Among them, the meaning factor is the most important factor in the test of the cloze test.
From Table 3.2.2.2.1, it can be seen that the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Filling-Blank Test focus is the absolute proportion. There is only one question for the common combination, but no grammar involves, which is consistent with the results of Ding Jiming (2012)'s study on the 2005-2012 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Gloves Filling-Blank Test focus. Synchronous analysis shows that the proportion of questions whose focus factors are meanings far exceeds the proportion of questions whose focus factors are idiomatic collocation and grammar every year. Most questions mainly focus on semantic analysis questions, especially on the selection of contextual meanings, and there are almost no pure grammar test questions. The four options can comply with the grammatical rules if they do not associate with the meaning of the entire sentence or the contents of the context. Only by using the context and the meaning of the entire sentence can the correct answer be selected. This fully highlights the propositional characteristics of "vocabulary contextualization".
3. Test point distribution
cloze test point distribution refers to the distribution of word categories or phrase types of deleted words, such as verbs (phrases), nouns (phrases), adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions (phrases), etc.
From the overall distribution of test points in Table 3.2.3.1, the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English cloze test design conforms to the proposition principle of "real words are the main and function words are the auxiliary". The focus of the examination in the past five years is verbs (phrases), nouns (phrases) and adjectives (phrases), with the proportions being 37%, 32% and 19%, respectively. No function words were examined from 2019 to 2020. In comparison, the distribution of test sites in the first three years was relatively wide. The test points in the last two years only involved real words and did not test function words, which may be related to the choice of discourse. Because the actual words are designed to test the meaning, designing the actual words as a test point can guide candidates to understand the chapter. However, function words are equally important. For example, prepositions can affect the structure of language, and conjunctions can test candidates' understanding of the context of the chapter. Therefore, this study suggests that in the future cloze test questions, the examination of function words should be appropriately added.
4. Question suggestions
This study conducted statistics and analysis on the "Applying English Knowledge" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Test Paper. The results show that the "Applying English Knowledge" test questions have high quality. However, at the same time, it was also found that there were shortcomings such as uneven distribution of the cloze-shaped fill-in-the-blank genre, control of readability, and the distribution of single-item fill-in-the-blank test points in individual years. Based on this, this study attempts to provide the following suggestions on the design of the test questions for the application of English language knowledge in the middle school entrance examination:
1. This study found that the genre of the cloze text from 2016 to 2020 is relatively concentrated, and all six articles are narrative essays. Although narrative essays have the characteristics of strong readability and relatively complete stories, from the perspective of the backlash effect on teaching, if narrative essays are constantly examined, teachers and students may reduce their attention to articles in other genres. In real life, students will not only be exposed to narrative essays. Therefore, the selection of text genres in the middle school entrance examination should be as diverse as possible in the selection of text genres, including argumentative essays, explanatory essays, narrative essays, and applied essays. Try to make the two genres cross-appearance every year to avoid the same genres in the two genres in the year. In addition, in terms of the test point design of cloze-shaped blanks, the proportion of function words such as conjunctions and prepositions can be appropriately increased, because conjunctions and prepositions are often related to the connection and coherence of the article; from the discourse level, the proportion of function words such as prepositions and conjunctions should also be appropriately increased.
2. Single-item fill-in-the-blank questions have the advantages of wide coverage, strong controllability in difficulty, small impact between test questions, and high test reliability. Therefore, this question type was also adopted in the Anhui Provincial High School Examination Paper from 2016 to 2020. However, according to the research of some domestic experts and scholars (Gu Xiangdong, Li Jie, 2008), there are flaws that cannot be ignored in single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions, such as not meeting the requirements of communication language test theory, poor orientation to English teaching, and easy input of incorrect information to students. The 2020 college entrance examination paper (except for Tianjin and Jiangsu papers) and 42 of the 159 high school entrance examination papers in 2020 have "discourse-type grammar fill-in-the-blanks" questions. With the further deepening of the reform of the middle school and college entrance examinations and the new curriculum reform, single-item fill-in-the-blank questions will inevitably be replaced by discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions.Therefore, this study recommends abolishing single-item fill-in-the-blank questions and designing scientific and reasonable discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank questions to adapt to the trend of examination reform and teaching reform.
5. Conclusion
The high school entrance examination is not only the main basis for measuring whether students meet the level five provisions in the "Curriculum Standards" and one of the important basis for enrollment of high school schools. This study draws on Bachman & Palmer (1996)'s task feature framework and other related language test theories and the analysis framework of college entrance examination English test questions studied by Gu Xiangdong and others (2008), and combined with the "Curriculum Standards" and the "Outline" from 2016 to 2020, the quality of the "English Knowledge Application" test questions in the 2016-2020 Anhui Provincial High School Entrance Examination English Paper from 2016 to 2020 was discussed. The results showed that the The "English Knowledge Application" test questions have high quality, among which the single-item fill-in-the-blank test questions have a concentrated distribution of test points in individual years. It is recommended that the "discourse-type grammatical fill-in-the-blank test questions be replaced by the question; the genre and subject of the text in the cloze fill-in-the-blank test questions meet the requirements of the "Outline", and the test point level and focus factors are mostly medium and high-level questions and questions focusing on the significance of the test, and there are almost no low-level questions; however, there are still some problems in terms of genre distribution and control of the readability of the text. The article puts forward corresponding suggestions on these issues, such as increasing the readability of the text, increasing the text subject matter, and diversifying the genre, in order to achieve the propositions of this question becoming more and more perfect and reasonable.
Note: This article is the stage research result of the Hefei Education Science Planning Project "Research on Anhui English High School Entrance Examination Questions Based on Core Disciplines (HJG20004)".
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Research on the Quality of English Knowledge Application in Senior High School Entrance Examination
———Taking English Test Questions of Anhui Senior High School Entrance Examinations from 2016 to 2020 as Examples
Ding Jiming
Abstract: Taking “the Application of English knowledge” in the English test paper of Anhui senior high school entrance examinations from 2016 to 2020 as the research object, this paper analyzes the proposition quality of single cloze and cloze from the aspects of test site distribution, test design or text characteristics, test site characteristics, etc. The results show that the topic of cloze is close to students’ life, the length of the text is appropriate and the difficulty is reasonable; The test sites of single choice questions are extensive and reasonable, which is based on the foundation and highlights the key points; However, there are still some problems to be improved, such as the uneven distribution of cloze styles and the centralized distribution of individual cloze test sites in individual years. Therefore, in terms of the order of the questions in the application of English language knowledge in the senior high school entrance examination, cloze should be diversified in text types and widely used in material selection; for single item filling, the proportion of the test should gradually be reduced and replaced by textual grammar.
Key words: English high school entrance examination; the use of English knowledge; proposition quality
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