An Evaluation of a Testing Model for Listening Comprehension.
Ji Kangli · 1995
A model for testing listening comprehension in English as a Second Language is discussed and compared with the Test for English Majors (TEM). The model in question incorporates listening for: (1) understanding factual information; (2) comprehension and interpretation; (3) detailed and selective informaticn; (4) global ideas; (5) on-line tasks (i.e., immediate or concurrent); and (6) retrospective tasks. Each of these elements is explained. It is argued that this approach draws on schema theory: how the listener traces the speaker's flow of thought and tries to establish significance through related facts by means of top-down or bottom-up skills. It is also claimed that the speaker is thus actively engaged in information-seeki.ng through phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic representations, to obtain a clear picture of what has been conveyed. In contrast to this model, it is suggested that the listening segment of the TEM presents some testing problems, particularly the fill-in-the-gap portion that odes not conform to the principle of short-term memory and transforms the listening task into something like a cloze test. Contains 15 references. (MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************