汉译英作为新CET语法结构测试题型的效度研究.pdf

also holds the similar view: “validityis a unitary concept. Although evidence may be accumulated in many ways, validity always refers to the degree to which that evidence supports the inferences that are made from the scores. The inferences regarding specific uses of a test are validated, not the test itself.” (American Psychological Association 1985: 9) Note that this definition points out it is misleading to speak simply of the validity of test scores. Validity has to do with the way we interpret or use the information gathered through the testing procedure. Henning (1987: 89) defines validity as follows: “validity in general refers to the appropriateness of a given test or any of its component parts as a measure of what it is purported to measure…it follows that the term valid when used to describe a test should usually be accompanied by the prepositionfor . Any test then may be valid for some purposes, but not for others.” As Henning states, a test proves to be valid for one purpose may not for others. That is a reasonable consequence of the fact that validity refers to the appropriateness of inferences made from test results. We design different tests to make inferences about different abilities. A test developed to measure students’ grammatical ability may lack validity when it is used to assess their oral competence, for the inferences we want to make are different. 2.1.2 Different aspects of validity A number of testers and researchers have investigated different aspects or types of validity. Alderson (2000: 171) suggests three types of validity: internal, external and construct validity. Internal validity is concerned with test content analysi