If a task is to be included in a reliable test, its features and the level of difficulty should be specified so that we know it is appropriate to the examinees. Beginning from Skehan＇s （1998） cognitive perspective ...If a task is to be included in a reliable test, its features and the level of difficulty should be specified so that we know it is appropriate to the examinees. Beginning from Skehan＇s （1998） cognitive perspective of task features in L2 instruction, the study compares the performance of two kinds of writing tasks from CET （College English Test） in China in order to verify whether the hypothesized task difficulty set by Skehan＇s cognitive framework can predict the actual performance of the examinees in testing context. The study also investigates the examinee＇s own perception of test tasks and the relationship between such perception and their performance. The results of the study show that more cognitively demanding tasks tend to generate greater level of task difficulty and thus elicit poorer examinee performance. However, it does not find enough evidence that there is some systematic competition between accuracy, fluency and complexity in the performance. It also shows the examinees＇ own perception of difficulty is variable and cannot be relied on. There is some reasonable self-awareness of the quality of their performance in terms of accuracy and fluency, but not complexity. It concludes to suggest that the two types of tasks should not be treated as parallel in CET in view of the observed difference on the examinees＇ performance.展开更多
文摘If a task is to be included in a reliable test, its features and the level of difficulty should be specified so that we know it is appropriate to the examinees. Beginning from Skehan＇s （1998） cognitive perspective of task features in L2 instruction, the study compares the performance of two kinds of writing tasks from CET （College English Test） in China in order to verify whether the hypothesized task difficulty set by Skehan＇s cognitive framework can predict the actual performance of the examinees in testing context. The study also investigates the examinee＇s own perception of test tasks and the relationship between such perception and their performance. The results of the study show that more cognitively demanding tasks tend to generate greater level of task difficulty and thus elicit poorer examinee performance. However, it does not find enough evidence that there is some systematic competition between accuracy, fluency and complexity in the performance. It also shows the examinees＇ own perception of difficulty is variable and cannot be relied on. There is some reasonable self-awareness of the quality of their performance in terms of accuracy and fluency, but not complexity. It concludes to suggest that the two types of tasks should not be treated as parallel in CET in view of the observed difference on the examinees＇ performance.
