Mapping the Listening Test of the Jiangsu Senior High School Entrance Examination onto the CSE
Abstract
As the first comprehensive English proficiency scale for English learners in China, China’s Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) aims to provide a transparent and consistent set of standards of English proficiency to enhance the communication between English teaching, learning and testing. It plays a significant role in promoting the cohesion of various learning stages and improving quality of examinations. This study examines the consistency between listening tests of the senior high school entrance examination (Zhongkao) in Jiangsu Province, China and the CSE Listening Scale with an aim to understand whether the educational outcomes are reflective of the nationally recognized proficiency standards and provide insights to inspire more effective cultivation of the English listening ability.
Through the analysis of sample listening papers and scripts from 2019 to 2023 by using the CSE Listening Scale descriptors as the main framework, the findings showed that Jiangsu Zongkao listening tests had a high consistency with the CSE Listening Scale in terms of diverse text types, familiar topics, appropriate proportion of new words and reasonable range of subskills tested. Discrepancy was also identified in the speech rate of the sampled tests, which was much higher than the requirements of CSE. Suggestions were made for junior high school English listening teaching and assessment. First, teachers should develop better understanding of the CSE Listening Scale and integrate it in everyday practice. Second, teachers should provide ample resources and support to expose students to different listening input. Last, teachers should also focus on cultivating students’ independent learning ability and diversifying their listening learning strategies in their daily life.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/13616
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