Description

Shumian Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (Written Chinese Proficiency Test, SHSK) consists of three papers:

• Paper 1: Basic knowledge and application principles of written Chinese (45 minutes) 
• Paper 2: Chinese cloze test (15 minutes)
• Paper 3: Writing and composition (90 minutes)

Intended educational value

It will be used for predicting the graduating students' level of performance in workplace after their graduation.

Example of application

The test has actually been incorporated as one of the component tests of Graduating Students’ Language Proficiency Assessment (Chinese strand) for all UGC-funded graduating students of PolyU's bachelor's degrees in semester 1 of 2008/09.

Evaluation/Comments

The newly revised SHSK, which went through two pilot tests in 2007 and 2008 for statistical evidence (Appendix I), was found to be statistically valid (Appendix 2).  For each paper in the SHSK, there is a solid theoretical grounding for validation and further development.

Paper 1 (Appendix 3)

There are 45 multiple-choice items in Paper 1, which covers five essential aspects of the ability to understand text.  The items in each of these aspects are written with reference to the corresponding linguistic theory:

1. Functional alternation of sentence patterns: syntactic form and propositional meaning
2. Linking textual meaning/collocation: text cohesion and coherence
3. Retrieval of information order: thematic/ information development
4. Identification of semantic redundancy: textual/ information redundancy
5. Text comprehension: text processing

This format of Paper 1 has been found to be statistically valid in that the test items in it have been shown to be satisfactory on the whole in terms of discriminative power (rpbis > 0.3). (Appendix I)

Paper 2: Chinese cloze test (Appendix 4)

The Chinese cloze test in Paper 2 the SHSK bridges Paper 1 that assesses reading ability (in multiple-choice format) and Paper 3 that judges writing ability in general and for communication (composition and practical writing), so that the test is able to capture fully the receptive and productive aspects of literacy. During the development stage, scholars from the Section of Language Teaching, Institute of Applied Linguistics, Ministry of Education, PRC came to CBS to join the study on two occasions in 2007/08. The cloze test went through two pilot trials, and om Decembe 2008 had come to the stage for a large-scale experiment. The results indicated that the design of the cloze test was a valid format in theory and practice.

Paper 3 (Appendix 5)

As one of the language tests of PolyU's GSLPA, the SHSK has the function of predicting graduating students' level of performance in the workplace after their graduation. The existing Paper 3 (writing and composition) requires each participant to complete two pieces of writing: an argumentative/ expository essay and a practical writing task such as a letter, news release or leaflet. The current theory of task-based assessment was adopted for the item construction of the practical writing tasks by providing authentic materials as far as possible, sufficient context and specific goals for each item. In this regard, students perform writing tasks similar to those they may have to perform in the workplace, and thus the content validity of the SHSK has been further improved.

Appendix 1. Statistical Report of the Pilot Tests (/edc/tdg/userfiles/file/488W_CBS/App1.pdf)
Appendix 2. Statistical Report of the First Formal Run (/edc/tdg/userfiles/file/488W_CBS/App2.pdf)
Appendix 3. Evaluation Report (/edc/tdg/userfiles/file/488W_CBS/App3.pdf)
Appendix 4. Structure of Paper 2 (/edc/tdg/userfiles/file/488W_CBS/App4.pdf)
Appendix 5. Structure of Paper 3 (/edc/tdg/userfiles/file/488W_CBS/App5.pdf )