This paper details the development and validation of the multiple-choice cloze test for the Hong Kong SAR Government's English language benchmarking initiative. The paper briefly describes the background to and rationale behind the benchmarking initiative. It then discusses how well the test worked and the suitability of a cloze test for use with teachers in a high-stakes examination context. The paper describes two cloze tests, set within the Reading Test component of the test battery, which were destined to be used as specimen benchmark test material and prepared for trailing, together with an established anchor test with known values. Efforts were made to include item types which tapped more than mere lexical / grammatical features, e.g., features of discourse and cohesion. The means which emerged on the two cloze tests would appear to indicate that the difficulty levels of the cloze tests trailed for use with teachers are appropriate. Item discrimination figures were also high, indicating that item types generally worked well and that the cloze test is able to differentiate teachers of differing abilities effectively.
本文詳述由香港特別行政區政府倡議的英語基準試中的多項選擇填空測驗(Multiple-choice clozetest) 的發展與成效。文中先簡介基準試的背景及其理論基礎,然後討論這個測驗運用上的適切性。本文論述的兩個填空測驗是屬於閱讀理解組內的測試類別,是預定作為基準試的測試材料樣本,同時更與一已建立信度的測驗一併使用。在測試項目的揀選方面,已盡量包括各項不同的類別,不僅側重詞匯及語法,還有其他如篇章結構等之特點。而這兩個填空測驗所得出的平均值正好標示上述測驗之程度是適合的,且各項目間的數據區分亦高,由此可見測試的項目大體上是運用成功的。填空測驗確能有效地辨別教師的不同能力。[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]