有效测试、有效教学、有效使用

Valid Testing,Effective Teaching,and Valid Test Use

中国是考试大国,各种考试难计其数。但是,人们对考试的现状并不满意,因此对"测试反拨作用"、"测试后效"的讨论成为人们关注的话题;但在讨论中也存在一种泛化的倾向。无疑,正面反拨作用和正面后效是一项好的考试的必要条件。语言测试工作者在设计一个考试项目时必须力求做到考试能够正确地引导教学,并且能够对社会产生良好的后效。同时应当清醒地看到,考试的作用实际上是有限的,考试即使能够对教学产生正面反拨作用,也是一种长效作用;另一方面,考试是在一定的社会环境中进行的。所谓后效,只有当考试结果被实际使用以后才会发生,而考试结果的使用本身是一种社会性决策,不是单纯的测试学术问题,并不在语言测试工作者能够控制的范围之内。因此必须全面看待考试、教学和考试结果的使用三者之间的关系。事实上考试有好坏之分,教学也有好坏之分,考试结果的使用还有正确与否、恰当与否的区别,不能一概而论。这里有学术问题,有社会问题;有测试问题,有教学问题;有测试的内容问题,有测试的形式问题;纠结在一起,需要擘肌分理,一一澄清,否则无法得出正确的结论。笔者认为,考试、教学和考试结果的使用,三者构成一个系统,要发挥系统的作用,三者必须协调。实际上三者是不同的过程,虽然密切相关,但毕竟不是同一回事,应当区分开来,各司其职、各尽其责。只有各方正确处理好各自的关系,做到有效测试、有效教学、有效使用,才有可能找到正确的解决之道,取得整个系统的最佳效果。

China is not only the country where examination as an institution originated, but also a big testing power where numerous testing programmes, national, provincial and local, are in active practice, involving millions of student testees every year. These are truly large scale high-stakes tests, because the future of many young people is dependent on the test results. There is, however, a dissatisfaction with the present status of testing practice, which results in a lot of discus- sions in the literature about the washback effects and also the social impact of testing. It is noticed that there is a tend- ency of over-generalization in the discussion. In fact, the role that testing can play in education is limited. Educational tests do not take place in testing tubes, rather, they take place within certain social contexts. A testing programme will have its social impact only when the test results are put to use, and test use is by nature a decision-making of the so- cial dimension, not a pure academic activity and is often beyond the control of the language tester. Therefore, it is im- perative to take a systems approach to the relationship among testing, teaching, and test use. In fact there are good tests and bad tests, just as there is good teaching and bad teaching, and also proper use and misuse of test results. A number of issues are mixed up here： academic issues as well as social ones, testing as well as teaching issues, issues concerning the content of tests as well as the form of tests, etc. These need to be clarified one by one before a solution could be found. Testing, teaching and test use form an integrated system. They are different, though closely related, processes. People （test stakeholders） involved need to coordinate and each do their best to ensure the validity of testing, effec- tiveness of teaching and the validity of test use, before the best system effect can be achieved.