Abstract
This paper describes Rasch-based approach for comparison of English listening comprehension between two important English language tests, i.e., General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) in Taiwan and College English Test (CET) in China Mainland. A total of, 141 students of non-English majors of Jiaxing University were randomly chosen to take a mixed listening test with 15 questions from GEPT (high-intermediate) and 10 questions from CET (Band 4), respectively. All the data thus collected were processed using Gitest, with both subject ability and test difficulty compared. The results show that all the test items, as expected, are well moderated and calibrated. The correlation (= 0.61) shows that the difficulty level is fit for our subjects, but further confirmation is to be resorted by administering the same test items to the students of the similar ability level in Taiwan in the same manner. In the authors’ view, this is a pioneer yet significant comparison. More cooperation and collaborative efforts are needed in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
For more details, please visit http://www.gept.org.tw/.
- 2.
For more details, please visit http://www.cet.edu.cn/.
- 3.
For interested readers, please contact the author for details about GITEST. Ten features are listed below for reference:
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1.
Written in BASIC according to Rasch Model ;
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2.
It assumes binary (right-wrong) scoring;
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3.
Designed for applications of both CTT and Rasch to practical testing problems;
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4.
Maximum likelihood (ML);
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5.
Tests of fit for individual items;
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6.
Analysis of multiple subtests in one pass;
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7.
Item analysis and test paper evaluation and report;
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8.
Feedback for teaching and testing improvement
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9.
Linking of 2 test forms through common items (good for test equating);
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10.
200 items/10,000 candidates/in a single run; (Benjamin 1979; Shichun 1985; Quan 2004, 2013).
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1.
- 4.
MET is abbreviated from Matriculation EnglishTest, a most competitive and influential entrance examination for higher education launched by Examination Authority under Ministry of Education, P.R.China. The annual participants amounts to 10 million or so.
References
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and our foreign counterparts for suggestions that greatly helped improve the paper. Our thanks also go to Yang Hong of Jiaxing University who did one way or another to contribute to the present research project and their further cooperation will also be appreciated.
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Zhang, Q., He, G., Mu, H. (2015). A Rasch-Based Approach for Comparison of English Listening Comprehension Between CET and GEPT. In: Zhang, Q., Yang, H. (eds) Pacific Rim Objective Measurement Symposium (PROMS) 2014 Conference Proceedings. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47490-7_9
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