汉译英作为新CET语法结构测试题型的效度研讨.pdfVIP

Chapter 1 Introduction For centuries, grammar has occupied a central role in language teaching and learning. The study of grammar was not just considered an essential feature of learning, but was thought to be sufficient for learners to actually acquire another language (Rutherford, 1988). The belief is reflected by the dominance of grammar in language pedagogy and testing. In class, teachers mainly focus on presenting and explaining grammatical structures. Language learners are frequently tested on these areas largely by discrete-point measurement such as multiple-choice items. Although the central role of grammar in language acquisition has remained unquestioned, grammar pedagogy and assessment have encountered much debate among language educators and testers. In the field of grammar assessment, some educators and scholars have pointed out that the overuse of multiple-choice items, which are largely based on the perspectives of structural linguistics, cannot keep pace with the way grammar is currently viewed. However, there remains a lack of consensus on what type of assessment tasks might best test grammatical abilities. Due to the above reason, some famous large-scale examinations, such as TOFEL and CET, no longer include a separate section for testing grammar. Instead, grammar assessment merges into all the parts in the test paper. Although the vocabulary and structure part has been eliminated from the new CET, we see the advent of a new test type: Chinese-English translation. In the test specifications provided by the National College English Testing Committee, it is clearly stated that Translation is chiefly to examine stu