语言测试:“可靠的”现代主义对“负责的”后现代主义的青睐

Language Testing: from Reliable Modernism to Responsible Post-modernistic Enchantment

语言测试研究被认为是社会科学研究中最保守的、最典型的现代主义实证研究。本文分析了现代主义垄断下的语言测试研究的三个基本领域 :1 )第二语言习得理论的创建 ;2 )阅读理解文本的阐释 ;3 )语言测试研究的道德规范建设。指出语言测试研究作为一种社会行为已经开始了研究方法上的本质性的变化。虽然作为社会行为的语言测试研究仍试图据守于现代主义阵营 ,但其中却渗透着后现代主义的理念 :个别性、不确定性、阐释性与即时性。

Language testing research, a typical example of positivism, is usually considered the most conservative field in social science research. This article examines language testing research from three perspectives: 1) establishment of second language acquisition theory; 2) text interpretations of reading comprehension; and 3) ethics of language testing research. It points out that while language testing research as a social practice still tries to be in the camp of modernism, it is nonetheless infringed by postmodernism thoughts, and that language testing researchers have actually been adopting postmodernism theoretical perspectives - individuality, indeterminancy, interpretation, and immediateness - and gradually changing their research methodology.