LiteratureReviewonDifferentTypesofListeningTests

牟岚+龙薏

Being an important part of input， listening determines the degree of linguistic proficiency. Feyten （1991） pointed out that we spent 45% of the time or above on listening when we communicate. As a primary method to appraise listening levels， listening assessment plays a significant role in linguistic evaluation.

After the review of literature on some of the most influential English tests both at home and abroad， such as junior high school entrance exam， senior high school entrance exam， college entrance exam， CET-4， CET-6， TEM-4， TEM-8， TOEFL， IELTS and BEC， different types of listening tests are summarized as follows：

1. Multiple-choice

This task is to listen to the recordings and choose the one correct answer from usually two to four selections， aiming at the test of the understanding of passage structure， main idea， detailed information， speakers attitude， and the abilities for prediction and inference， etc. The content of recordings can be divided into many forms：word， sentence， short and long conversations， interview， short passage， monologue， lecture， news broadcast and re-listening. The last special form is currently used in the TOEFL exam. Listeners are required to select the correct answer after listen again to a certain part of the content in the recordings， responding to questions like “What does the professor mean when she says this？”.

2. Reorder the jumbled sentence order

In this task， listeners are demanded to listen to a short passage， then reorder the jumbled sentence order for the selections. Set the TOEFL exam as an example. There is usually a chart asking you to put the answer choices in order from either beginning to end or end to beginning. You need to listen to the recordings carefully and take notes， then go through the information in your notes to arrange it properly.

3. Matching

There are two kinds of matching tasks in listening tests. （1） Drawing lines：It requires listeners to listen to some words， sentences or a passage， then match them by drawing lines to the corresponding options that are in the forms of words or pictures. （2） Choosing letters：listeners have to choose a letter of the correct answer to respond to each question proposed in the recordings. In tests like IELTS and BEC， listeners are required to select the letters of the correct answers to match the questions， and the number of the correct answers are often more than that of the questions.

4. True or falseendprint

In this task， there will be some options that are very similar in meaning with the contents mentioned in the recordings， and listeners should give judgment about whether these sentences are true or false. If the option is true， you should mark it as “T” or “√”；and if it is false， “F” or “×” will be labeled.

5. Gap-filling

This task mainly has three forms. （1） Listen to a conversation or passage， then fill the required information in a table or a chart. （2） Listen to a passage and complete the sentences， which is similar to the cloze. （3） Listen to a mini-lecture without any reminders and take notes. After receiving the test paper， fill in its gaps in accordance with the notes just taken. As the most difficult part in TEM-8 listening， it will test listeners listening comprehension， the grasp of focal points， shorthand， decoding and summarizing capabilities.

6. Short answers

This type of task can rarely be seen in Chinas listening assessment. At present， IELTS uses it to offset the shortcomings of objective tasks. Listeners are requested to write down the short answers of the questions on the test paper when listen to the recordings.

7. Transformation of Information

To complete this task， listeners have to listen to the recordings and transform the information just heard in order to fill in a table or form， or mark a route， etc. It is difficult for listeners at the elementary English level. As there is no direct answer that can be heard in the listening materials， it demands listeners to understand the meaning of the materials first， then finish the tasks such as gap-filling and route-marking in accordance with the requirements.

8. Dictation

Dictation tests the phonetic， lexical， syntax and pragmatic knowledge of listeners. It has three dominating forms. （1） Compound dictation：this is the assessing type appeared in the CET 4 and CET 6 exams before the reform. Listeners should fill in the gaps， which can be words or sentences， while listening to the recordings. （2） Word or phrase dictation：after the reform of the CET 4 and CET 6 exams in 2013， the gap that should be filled was change into a word or a phrase. （3） Passage dictation：listeners will listen to a short passage for several times and write down the passage word by word.

According to the evaluation of Hughes （1989）， all types of listening assessment have merits and drawbacks. For instance， “multiple-choice” is highly reliable， objective and fair， easy to be given score， and can cover a wide range of testing contents；but it is hard to be compiled， is lack of authenticity and has a high risk of guessing. Although “short answers” is much authentic and may reduce the possibility of guessing， providing a high validity， it is hard to determine the scoring criterion. That is to say， different types of testing tasks have different features and function. If the goal of an English listening test is to assess a certain ability， the corresponding task will be the choice. But if the objective is to appraise the comprehensive capacity of listeners， the types of testing tasks should be as various as possible.

Moreover， the types of testing tasks have various expressions for different levels of listeners. For example， the testing items for listeners at the primary level of English learning are often edited as pictures or tables to draw their attention， and the recording materials are easier to understand， using less words and slower speaking speed. Therefore， compilers should adopt the types of testing tasks according to the purpose and level of listeners.

References：

[1]Feyten，C.The Power of Listening Ability：An Overlook Dimension in Language Acquisition[J].The Modern Language Journal，1991（2）.

[2]Hughes，A.Testing for Language Teachers[M].Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1989.

[3]黨争胜.TEM考试听力试题分析与建议[J].外语电化教学， 2004，95.

[4]顾大喜.小学英语听力测试之我见[J].新课程学习（上），2011， 4：39-40.

作者简介：

牟岚（1989.3-），女，汉族，湖北十堰人，硕士，教师，助教，研究方向：英语教育。

龙薏（1992.6-），女，汉族，江西吉安人，硕士，教师，助教，研究方向：英语教育。endprint