摘 要

阅读理解在英语测试中普遍占据很大的比重，英语专业八级考试同样如此。 如何提高阅读理解部分的成绩成为影响八级考试成绩关键因素之一。本研究以

59 名英语专业大四学生为研究对象，探究英语专业八级阅读测试中所考察的阅读构念的组成成分及各成分对阅读测试成绩的影响力。因子分析表明英语阅读构念包含 5 个成分，分别为：理解文章隐性意义；把握细节；猜测生词和短语意思；了解写作意图或态度；掌握篇章大意。回归分析表明：理解文章隐性意义的阅读技能对阅读测试成绩的影响最大，把握细节的阅读技能次之。这提醒我们，在今后的阅读教学过程中，要格外重视这两种技能的训练，从而帮助学 生全方位提升英语阅读理解的能力。

关键词：英语专业八级考试；阅读理解；构念；因子分析；回归分析

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 1
   1. Domestic research 1
   2. External research 2
3. Methodology 3
   1. Research questions 3
   2. Subjects 3
   3. Data collection 3
   4. Date analysis 4
4. Results 4
   1. Analysis of sub-skills in reading tasks through factor analysis 4
   2. Comparison of significance of five sub-skills 7
5. Discussions 11
6. Conclusion 11
   1. Enlightenment of reading sub-skills 11
   2. Summary 12

A Study on the Construct Validity of Reading Test in TEM-8

1. Introduction

TEM-8 is an official examination designed for English majors to test after four years’ learning whether they have gained the required English proficiency yet. Since the TEM-8 certificate has somehow gained considerable social value and value in finding a job in China, many graduates attach much importance to it. In most cases, reading comprehension weighs the most in an examination compared to other sections in it, and it is the same case with TEM-8. Prior to the up-to-date reformation of TEM-8, reading test always accounts for 20% and after the reform the proportion increases by 10% which is up to 30%, including 14 multiple choices and 8 short-answer questions. In terms of the increases of percentage, there is more of an emphasis on the reading part in TEM-8.

However, studies concerning reading sub-skills and the construct of reading comprehension are still insufficient. Investigations reveal that researchers who look into the construct validity of TEM-8 prevailingly focus on test-taking process, that is whether testees’ thinking process coincides with test-makers’ expectation or not (Hou P15). The specific reading sub-skills are short of discussion. Hence, this paper focuses on exploring the sub-skills concealed in TEM-8 reading tasks, and is also aimed to investigate the relationship between reading sub-skills and the test takers’ reading performance in TEM-8.

1. Literature Review

Domestic research

Reading, as an integrative process, involves diverse skills. In Language Testing and Its Methods, Liu (1991) stated that there are eight skills employed

in reading: 1) recognition of letters and knowledge of relationship between letters and pronunciation; 2) recognition of words and phrases; 3) understanding words and phrases in contexts; 4) understanding sentence structure; 5) recognition of reference and other cohesive devices; 6) understanding extended passages and the ability to get main ideas; 7) recognition of implied meaning and the ability to draw conclusions; 8) ability to give one’s own views on the content in the text.

The testing specifications for the reading comprehension in TEM-8 (Zou, 1997) also have already defined some specific skills that constitutes reading comprehension: 1) guessing unknown vocabulary words in the context; 2) understanding lexical or grammatical cohesion, e.g. pronoun reference; discourse makers, e.g. transitional words or phrases; 3) understanding logical relations within the sentence; 4) understanding paraphrase of given information; 5) understanding grammatical notions, e.g. cause and effect, example and details and comparison and contrast.

As to the construct validity of reading comprehension, Zhang (2015) presented the fact that 94.54% of subjects make choices by getting skilled at grammar, 90.70% by abundant vocabulary, 87.27% by making main idea and details clear and 69.09% by common sense.

External research

During the reading process, a number of sub-skills are adopted in understanding a passage. Spearritt (1972) suggested some subs-skills including recalling word meanings, drawing inferences from the context, recognizing the writer’s purpose, tone and mood, and following the structure of a passage—that is, recognizing salient features of paragraph organization.

Rosenshine (1980), after inspecting a number of studies on reading skills, concluded that there are seven skills involved: “ recognizing sequence, recognizing words in context, identifying the main idea, deducing detail, drawing inferences, recognizing cause and effect, and comparing and

contrasting.