十一所院校英语专业1984年毕业班英语能力测试结果分析

Report on the Results of a Test Among Graduating English Majors of 11 Universities

1 总的情况1.1 测试的设计 本测试的目的是要了解全国高等院校英语专业学生毕业时的英语水平,作为制定高年级语言教学大纲的依据。测试的对象是全国各种不同类型的院校。各校教学的内容、方法和进度都不一样,因此测试不可能是以所教内容为依据的成绩测试(achievementtest)。测试也不是为了区别考生的优劣进行排比选拔,因此也不应该是排比测试(norm-

A test to measure the English proficiency level of English majors at graduation was conductedin 1984 among graduating students of English from 11 Chinese universities and colleges. The testis designed as a criterion-referenced performance test, the criterion being whether the candidates canand how well they can perform with English a set of tasks which English-major graduates are expectedto be able to perform. The tasks are specified in terms of the following parameters: text type,topic area, task type, meaning being communicated and enabling skills required. Such Specification havemade it possible for us to analyse the results and pin-point the areas and degrees of the candidates'strengths and weaknesses, which in turn may help in identifying and gauging problems existing inthe relevant university English-as-major courses. One general finding from such analysis is thatmost candidates are stronger in doing form-focused language exercises isolated from sociolinguisticcontexts and void of communicative value, but weaker in doing meaning-focused tasks under theconstraints of aspecific sociolinguistic context and serving a communicative purpose. This findingvery likely points to a failure, to a greater or lesser degree, of university English courses to putEnglish teaching in o communicative context.