COMPUTER-DELIVERED ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING TEST IN ZHONGKAO: TEST-TAKER PERCEPTION, MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

 

Hengzhi Hu

The National University of Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia, p108937@siswa.ukm.edu.my

Abstract

Against the backdrop that dynamic educational reforms in China have necessitated more flexible assessment of students’ proficiency in English as a foreign language, an endeavor has been made to organize computer-delivered English listening and speaking tests (CDELSTs) in the domestic agenda of high-stakes tests, such as Zhongkao (also known as the Senior High School Entrance Examination). To understand the complicated factors involved in this innovative assessment mode, the author identified three pertinent variables, namely test-taker perception, motivation and performance, from previous research and examined them quantitatively in a specific Chinese city where the initiative on the organization of CDELSTs has been launched. A random sample of 584 year-nine students who were going to take the CDELST in Zhongkao was recruited and completed a mock CDELST and a questionnaire. Descriptive analyses indicated the participants’ acceptance of computer-based testing mode, acknowledgement of test importance and considerable effort put into the test, whereas they had reservations about the test validity. Inferential analyses suggested that test performance was correlated with perceived test validity, computer delivery and test-taking effort, with perceived test importance being of no account. Regardless of the discrepancy or compatibility between these findings with previous ones, this research is valuable in the manner that it will inform the test developers and organizers of the voices coming from students as the most pertinent stakeholders and encourage the refinement of CDELST design and administration.

Keywords:computer-delivered test, high-stakes English test, test-taker perception, test-taker motivation, Zhongkao