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1、WhatDoesLanguageTestingHavetoOffer?,英语教育论文 Advancesinlanguagetestinginthepastdecadehaveoccurredinthreeareas:(a)thedevelopmentofatheoreticalviewthatconsiderslanguageabilitytobemulticomponentialandrecognizestheinfluenceofthetestmethodandtesttakercharacteristicsontestperforman
2、ce,(b)applicationsofmoresophisticatedmeasurementandstatisticaltools,and(c)thedevelopmentof “communicative”languageteststhatincorporateprinciplesof “communicative”languageteaching.Afterreviewingtheseadvances,thispaperdescribesaninterfactionalmodeloflanguagetestperformancethat
3、includestwocomponents,languageabilityandtestmethod.Languageabilityconsistsoflanguageknowledgeandmetacognitivestrategies,whereastestmethodincludescharacteristicsoftheenvironment,rubric,input,expectedresponse, andrelationshipbetweeninputandexpectedresponse.Twoaspectsofauthenti
4、cityarederivedfromthismodel.Thesituationalauthenticityofagiventesttaskdependsontherelationshipbetweenitstestmethodcharacteristicsandthefeaturesofaspecificlanguageusesituation,whileitsinterfactionalauthenticitypertainstothedegreetowhichitinvokesthetesttaker’slanguageability.T
5、heapplicationofthisdefinitionofauthenticitytotestdevelopmentisdiscussed. Since1989,fourpapersreviewingthestateoftheartinthefieldoflanguagetestinghaveappeared(Alderson,1991;Bachman,1990a;Skehan,1988,1989,1991).Allfourhavearguedthatlanguagetestinghascomeofageasadisciplineinit
6、sownrightwithinappliedlinguisticsandhavepresentedsubstantialevidence,Ibelieve,in supportofthisassertion.Acommonthemeinallthesearticlesisthatthefieldoflanguagetestinghasmuchtoofferintermsof theoretical,methodological,andpracticalaccomplishmentstoits sisterdisciplinesinapplied
7、linguistics.Sincethesepapersprovide excellentcriticalsurveysanddiscussionsofthefieldoflanguage testing,Iwillsimplysummarizesomeofthecommonthemesin thesereviewsinPart1ofthispaperinordertowhettheappetite ofreaderswhomaybeinterestedinknowingwhataretheissues andproblemsofcurrent
8、interesttolanguagetesters.Thesearticles arenontechnicalandaccessibletothose