A Study On The Washback Effects of The Test For English Majors TEM Implications For Testing and Teaching Reforms Qian Xu

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Qian Xu · Jun Liu
A Study on the
Washback Effects of
the Test for English
Majors (TEM)
Reforms
A Study on the Washback Effects of the Test
for English Majors (TEM)
Qian Xu • Jun Liu
A Study on the Washback

Effects of the Test for
English Majors (TEM)
Reforms
Qian Xu Jun Liu
Shanghai International Studies University Shanghai University of Electric Power
Shanghai, China Shanghai, China
ISBN 978-981-13-1962-4 ISBN 978-981-13-1963-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1963-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951416
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

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Acknowledgements
This book is funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
in China (Research Grant No. KY01X0222017082).
v
Contents
1 TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context�� 1

1.1 The Educational System in China�� 1
1.2 The History of TEM�� 3
1.2.1 The Launch of TEM�� 3
1.2.2 The Development of TEM�� 4
1.2.3 The Soaring Test Population �� 6
1.2.4 Research on TEM �� 6
1.3 TEM Test Characteristics�� 9
1.3.1 TEM Test Purpose�� 9
1.3.2 TEM Test Content and Format�� 9
1.3.3 TEM Administration and Marking�� 11
1.3.4 TEM Test Score Report and Interpretation �� 12
1.4 TEM Test Characteristics vs. the Teaching Syllabus�� 13
1.4.1 The Teaching Syllabus�� 13
1.4.2 A Comparison Between the Teaching Syllabus
and TEM Characteristics�� 14
1.5 Summary �� 16
2 Washback: Definitions and Dimentions�� 17
2.1 Definitions of Washback �� 17
2.1.1 Washback or Backwash�� 17
2.1.2 Various Terminology�� 18
2.1.3 Washback and Validity�� 18
2.2 Dimensions of Washback�� 19
2.2.1 Direction �� 19
2.2.2 Extent�� 20
2.2.3 Intensity�� 20
2.2.4 Intentionality �� 21
2.2.5 Length �� 21
2.2.6 Specificity �� 21
vii
viii Contents
3 Theoretical Frameworks for Washback Studies �� 23

3.1 Frameworks for Washback Studies�� 23
3.1.1 Alderson and Wall’s Washback Hypotheses �� 23
3.1.2 Hughes’ Washback Trichotomy�� 24
3.1.3 Bailey’s Basic Model of Washback�� 25
3.1.4 Green’s Washback Model �� 25
3.2 Empirical Studies on Washback�� 26
3.2.1 Summary of Empirical Studies �� 27
3.2.2 A Critique of Approaches in Washback Studies�� 31
4 Research Framework for TEM Washback Study�� 35
4.1 Framework for TEM Washback Study�� 35
4.1.1 Contributing Factors to TEM Washback�� 35
4.1.2 TEM Washback Mechanism �� 36
4.1.3 Several Terms Redefined�� 37
4.1.4 Research Design�� 39
4.2 Participants�� 40
4.3 Instruments�� 41
4.3.1 Research Design for the Questionnaire Surveys�� 41
4.3.2 Classroom Observations �� 94
4.3.3 Interviews�� 98
4.4 Considerations for Validity and Reliability�� 98
4.4.1 The Development of Research Instruments�� 99
4.4.2 Data Collection and Analysis�� 101
4.4.3 Triangulation�� 104
4.5 Summary �� 105
5 Stakeholders’ Perceptions of TEM and Its Washback �� 107
5.1 Experts’ Perceptions �� 107
5.1.1 Demographic Information�� 108
5.1.2 Experts’ Evaluation of TEM �� 108
5.1.3 Experts’ Perception of TEM Washback�� 109
5.1.4 Factors Influencing Teaching�� 110
5.2 Program Administrators’ Perceptions �� 110
5.2.2 Program Administrators’ Evaluation of TEM�� 110
5.2.3 Program Administrators’ Perception
of TEM Washback�� 116
5.2.4 Washback on Course Design�� 118
5.2.5 Individual Differences�� 120
Contents ix
5.3 Teachers’ Perceptions �� 123

5.3.2 Teachers’ Evaluation of TEM �� 124
5.3.3 Teachers’ Perception of TEM Washback�� 128
5.3.4 Washback on Classroom Teaching�� 129
5.4 Students’ Perceptions�� 134
5.4.2 Students’ Evaluation of TEM �� 135
5.4.3 Students’ Perception of TEM Washback�� 139
5.4.4 TEM Preparation�� 140
5.4.5 Learning Effects�� 145
5.4.7 Factors Influencing Learning�� 147
5.5 Triangulation�� 148
5.5.1 Data Triangulation�� 148
5.5.2 Methodological Triangulation�� 152
5.6 Summary �� 154
6 Classroom Practice and the Washback of TEM �� 157
6.1 The Teachers Observed �� 157
6.2 The English Classes Observed�� 158
6.3 Characteristics of English Classroom Practice �� 159
6.3.1 Teaching Content�� 160
6.3.2 Teaching Methods�� 162
6.4 TEM Preparation Classes vs. Non-preparation Classes�� 165
6.4.1 Teaching Content�� 166
6.4.2 Teaching Methods�� 166
6.5 Classroom Practice Affected by Other Factors �� 170
6.5.1 English Used in Class �� 170
6.5.2 Features of Teacher-Student Interaction �� 171
6.5.3 Classroom Atmosphere �� 174
6.6 Triangulation�� 175
6.6.1 Classroom Observation Findings vs. Questionnaire
Findings�� 175
6.6.2 Classroom Observation Findings vs. Interview
Findings�� 176
6.6.3 Classroom Observation Findings vs. Document
Analysis�� 177
6.7 Summary �� 177
x Contents
7 Conclusions and Implications �� 179

7.1 Summary of the Major Findings �� 179
7.1.1 Washback Effects Perceived by Experts �� 179
7.1.2 Washback Effects Perceived by Program
Administrators�� 179
7.1.3 Washback Effects Perceived by Teachers �� 180
7.1.4 Washback Effects Perceived by Students�� 180
7.1.5 Washback Effects on English Classrooms�� 181
7.2 Implications for the Reform�� 181
7.2.1 Implications for TEM Reform�� 181
7.2.2 Implications for the Reform of Teaching
and Learning �� 185
Appendices�� 187
Appendix I Survey Questionnaires�� 187
Questionnaire for Experts (EQ) �� 187
Appendix II Classroom Observations�� 215
Bibliography �� 245

List of Acronyms
A Advanced stage
AQ-4 Questionnaire for TEM4 related administrators
AQ-8 Questionnaire for TEM8 related administrators
C-E Chinese to English
CET College English Test
E-C English to Chinese
EQ Questionnaire for experts
ESOL English for speakers of other languages
F Foundation stage
Gra Grammar
HKCEE Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in
English
HKEA Hong Kong Examinations Authority
IELTS International English Language Testing System
KMO Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
MCQ Multiple choice question
MET Matriculation English Test
NACFLT National Advisory Committee for Foreign Language
Teaching
NMET National Matriculation English Test
PhD Doctor of philosophy
PL2000 Progetto Lingue 2000
SPSS 17.0 Statistical Product and Service Solutions 17.0
SQ-4 Questionnaire for TEM4 related students
SQ-8 Questionnaire for TEM8 related students
TEM Test for English Majors
TEM4 Test for English Majors Grade 4
TEM4-Oral Test for English Majors Grade 4 Oral Test
TEM8 Test for English Majors Grade 8
TEM8-Oral Test for English Majors Grade 8 Oral Test
The Teaching Syllabus The National Teaching Syllabus for English Majors
xi
xii List of Acronyms
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

TQ-4 Questionnaire for TEM4 related teachers
TQ-8 Questionnaire for TEM8 related teachers
Voc Vocabulary
Wpm Words per minute
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 Educational hierarchy of English teaching for English majors........... 2

Fig. 4.1 TEM washback model......................................................................... 39
xiii
List of Tables
Table 1.1 A comparison between the previous TEM and new TEM............. 5
Table 1.2 TEM studies published over the years........................................... 7
Table 1.3 Research focus of the journal articles and PhD dissertations........ 8
Table 1.4 Test content and format of TEM.................................................... 10
Table 1.5 A comparison between the teaching syllabus
and TEM characteristics................................................................. 15
Table 3.1 Overview of the empirical studies on washback............................ 28
Table 4.1 A multi-phase, multi-method research design
for TEM washback study............................................................... 40
Table 4.2 The seven questionnaires............................................................... 43
Table 4.3 The number of questionnaires distributed,
returned and valid........................................................................... 45
Table 4.4 Reliability test for AQ-4, TQ-4, SQ-4, AQ-8, TQ-8
and SQ-8........................................................................................ 47
Table 4.5 KMO and Bartlett’s tests................................................................ 48
Table 4.6 Rotated component matrix for the questionnaires......................... 49
Table 4.7 Inter-coder reliability (first round)................................................. 103
Table 4.8 Inter-coder reliability (second round)............................................ 103
Table 4.9 Intra-coder reliability..................................................................... 104
Table 5.1 Demographic information of program administrators................... 111
Table 5.2 Familiarity with TEM.................................................................... 112
Table 5.3 Evaluation of TEM......................................................................... 113
Table 5.4 Information to be provided in the test report................................. 114
Table 5.5 Use and interpretation of TEM scores........................................... 115
Table 5.6 Influence of TEM scores................................................................ 115
Table 5.7 Unintended use of TEM scores...................................................... 116
Table 5.8 Attitudes towards unintended uses of TEM scores........................ 116
Table 5.9 Views on TEM washback............................................................... 117
Table 5.10 Washback exerted by different aspects of TEM............................. 117
xv
xvi List of Tables
Table 5.11 Courses introduced by TEM participating universities.................. 119

Table 5.12 Washback from TEM revisions...................................................... 120
Table 5.13 TEM preparation courses............................................................... 121
Table 5.14 TEM washback perceived by different program
administrators................................................................................. 121
Table 5.15 Factors affecting English language teaching.................................. 122
Table 5.16 Demographic information of teachers............................................ 124
Table 5.17 Familiarity with TEM.................................................................... 125
Table 5.18 Evaluation of TEM......................................................................... 126
Table 5.19 Information to be provided in the test report................................. 126
Table 5.20 Use and interpretation of TEM scores........................................... 127
Table 5.21 Influence of TEM scores................................................................ 127
Table 5.22 Unintended uses of TEM scores.................................................... 127
Table 5.23 Attitudes towards unintended uses of TEM scores........................ 128
Table 5.25 Washback exerted by different aspects of TEM............................. 129
Table 5.26 TEM preparation experience.......................................................... 130
Table 5.27 TEM preparation classes................................................................ 131
Table 5.28 Difference between TEM preparation
and non-preparation classes........................................................... 131
Table 5.29 Washback from TEM revisions...................................................... 132
Table 5.30 TEM washback on teaching perceived by different teachers......... 133
Table 5.31 Factors affecting English teaching................................................. 134
Table 5.32 Sources of pressure for teachers..................................................... 134
Table 5.33 Demographic information of students............................................ 135
Table 5.34 Students’ familiarity with TEM..................................................... 136
Table 5.35 Students’ evaluation of TEM......................................................... 137
Table 5.36 Information to be provided in TEM test report.............................. 138
Table 5.37 Use and interpretation of TEM results........................................... 139
Table 5.39 Positive and negative washback of TEM....................................... 140
Table 5.40 TEM preparation courses............................................................... 141
Table 5.41 Activities conducted in TEM preparation classes.......................... 141
Table 5.42 Difference between TEM preparation
Table 5.43 Students’ preference for classroom activities................................ 143
Table 5.44 After-class preparation efforts........................................................ 143
Table 5.45 Learning activities conducted for TEM preparation
after class........................................................................................ 144
Table 5.46 Difference between TEM preparation and non-preparation
stages.............................................................................................. 145
Table 5.47 Washback of TEM on learning effects........................................... 146
Table 5.48 Progress in fundamental/advanced stage....................................... 146
Table 5.49 TEM washback on students with different characteristics............. 147
Table 5.50 Factors affecting English learning.................................................. 148
Table 5.51 Major aims for learning.................................................................. 148
List of Tables xvii
Table 6.1 Background information of the teachers observed......................... 158

Table 6.2 No. of classes taught by each teacher............................................ 159
Table 6.3 No. of classes observed from different schools.............................. 159
Table 6.4 No. of TEM preparation and non-preparation
classes observed............................................................................. 159
Table 6.5 Teaching content of all the classes observed.................................. 160
Table 6.6 Teaching materials used in class.................................................... 162
Table 6.7 Classroom activities organized in all the classes observed............ 163
Table 6.8 English used in classrooms observed............................................. 164
Table 6.9 Features of teacher-student interaction.......................................... 164
Table 6.10 Frequency of students’ laughter..................................................... 165
Table 6.11 No. of skills (knowledge) covered in each class............................ 166
Table 6.12 Mean time devoted to each activity (percentage of time).............. 167
Table 6.13 English used by teachers in TEM preparation
Table 6.14 English used by students in TEM preparation
Table 6.15 English used by teachers in classes of different grades................. 170
Table 6.16 English used by different teachers in class ................................... 171
Table 6.17 English used by teachers in classes from different schools........... 171
Table 6.18 Communicative features of classes delivered
by different teachers....................................................................... 172
Table 6.19 Communicative features of classes from different schools............ 173
Table 6.20 Laughter in classes of different grades........................................... 174
Chapter 1
TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test
in the Chinese Context
1.1 The Educational System in China
In China, quite a few universities offer a four-year program for undergraduate

English majors, who will be conferred a bachelor’s degree in English Language and
Literature if they have met all the requirements set by their universities, such as
credits, degree thesis and TEM certificates. The following figure demonstrates the
educational hierarchy of college English teaching for English majors.
As illustrated in Fig. 1.1, teaching for English majors is under the influence of
many factors, which can be mainly divided into three levels.
The top level is the national level, which is composed of policy-makers, the
Teaching Syllabus designers and the TEM test developers. Policy makers are the
officials in the Ministry of Education who supervise and evaluate the overall quality
of college education, particularly those in the National Advisory Committee for
Foreign Language Teaching (NACFLT), who are responsible for establishing poli-
cies in English education. The policies they have formulated will be implemented
by the Teaching Syllabus designers and the TEM test developers, who, although
from two separate sections, are in close relation, and will jointly decide how the
policies should be managed and how the teaching and testing syllabuses should
incorporate the basic principles of the policy.
The second level is the school level—the administrators. Based on the Teaching
Syllabus, the administrators will set the teaching aims and design the curriculum
accordingly, such as the courses to be introduced, the textbooks to be used, and so
on. However, different curricula will be developed in each school due to the follow-
ing reasons. First is regional difference. China is a vast country, and the east coastal
regions far surpass west inland areas in educational level, so the language require-
ments set for English majors differ from region to region. Second is the school level.
In China, universities are divided into key universities, ordinary universities and
colleges, and the admission standard differs a lot among them, with key universities
recruiting the top students. Therefore, English teaching aims and curricula differ
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

Q. Xu, J. Liu, A Study on the Washback Effects of the Test for English Majors (TEM),
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1963-1_1
2 1 TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context
Ministry of Education
Department of Higher Education
National Advisory Committee for Foreign Language Teaching
Teaching Syllabus Designers TEM Testing Committee
Teaching Syllabus TEM
School Administrators
Teachers
Students
Fig. 1.1 Educational hierarchy of English teaching for English majors
markedly among schools of different levels. Third, schools of different type may
vary in their English curriculum. For instance, foreign language universities may
focus more on language and literature while technology institute may introduce
more science-related English courses.
Last, the bottom level is the classroom level, including teachers and students who
are responsible for the implementation of the school curriculum and the Teaching
Syllabus. Based on the school curriculum, teachers may design their respective
course syllabus, and their previous knowledge and available resources will affect
their teaching practice. Moreover, university students are from different regions and
background, who may perform differently in the same classroom.
All the people involved in this hierarchy are TEM stakeholders, and the higher
the level, the fewer the stakeholders, but the greater the power they have. Besides,
stakeholders from each level may overlap: some members in the NACFLT have
participated in the development of the Teaching Syllabus, some experts in the TEM
testing committee are also school administrators, and some school administrators
are English teachers at the same time. Therefore, in the current study, although the
research focus is the washback of TEM on English teaching and learning, opinions
of stakeholders from each level will be sought, with teachers and students as the
major participants.
In this view, a top down approach will be adopted when investigating the wash-
back effects of TEM, which will be carried out in three phases. First, opinions of
1.2 The History of TEM 3
stakeholders from the national level will be investigated, through the analysis of
related documents and a semi-open questionnaire survey among the experts, who
are either members of the NACFLT or syllabus designers, or both. Then, a question-
naire survey will be conducted among school administrators, to find out different
practices in all the TEM participating schools. Last, teachers and students will be
investigated, through large-scale questionnaires and case study classroom observa-
tions. As a supplementary instrument, interviews will be conducted in all the three
phases, to obtain follow-up data.
1.2 The History of TEM
The history of TEM can be traced back to the early 1990s, and in its two-decade
development, TEM has undergone several revisions. The following part will intro-
duce the launch and development of TEM, its soaring test population, as well as the
related research on TEM.
1.2.1 The Launch of TEM
Before reviewing the history of TEM, we will first introduce the formulation and
publication of the Teaching Syllabus. After the Cultural Revolution, foreign lan-
guage education in China has entered a new era. The early 1980s witnessed a rapid
increase in the demand for English majors in every field, because of our government
adoption of the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world. As a result,
many universities set up English departments and offered English programs.
However, due to various reasons, huge gap existed among different universities in
curriculum design, teaching material selection and course evaluation, which led to
an urgent demand for a national teaching syllabus. Hence, the first two national
teaching syllabuses for college English majors, foundation stage and advanced
stage, were published in 1989 and 1990 respectively. The two teaching syllabuses
serve as guidelines for the development of curriculum and teaching materials for
English majors in various universities throughout China. They have established spe-
cific teaching requirements and English proficiency standards for undergraduate
English majors, and thus, it is possible and necessary to develop a nation-wide test
to check the implementation of the Teaching Syllabus.
In line with this demand, two groups of specialists started working on TEM,
based in two different universities. Shanghai International Studies University was
responsible for TEM4, a test for English sophomores to measure their proficiency in
the foundation stage; while Guangdong University of Foreign Studies was respon-
sible for TEM8, a test for English majors in their fourth year to measure their profi-
ciency in the advanced stage. The first TEM4 and TEM8 were launched in 1990 and
1991 respectively. Commissioned by NACFLT, Shanghai International Studies
University has assumed responsibility for both tests since October, 1992. To stan-
dardize the test, the first TEM Syllabuses were drafted in 1993 and published in
1994, which marked the official beginning of TEM.
Following the introduction of TEM4 and TEM8 written tests, Nanjing University
was given responsibility to conduct studies on the feasibility of TEM4-Oral and
TEM8-Oral in 1994 and 1998 respectively. After several years’ of trialing, TEM4-
Oral and TEM8-Oral were officially launched in 1999 and 2003, and the Oral Test
Syllabuses were published in 2005.
1.2.2 The Development of TEM
It has been more than 20 years since TEM was first implemented, and in the course
of its development, TEM has undergone several revisions.
After its publication in 1994, the TEM Syllabuses (TEM4 and TEM8) has under-
gone two major revisions, one in 1997 and the other in 2004. A comprehensive vali-
dation study of TEM was conducted from 1993 to 1996, and based on its findings,
a revised edition of TEM Syllabuses were published in 1997. The second major
revision took place in 2004 as a response to the revision of the Teaching Syllabus in
2000. The revisions of TEM Syllabuses aim at improving test quality, standardizing
test development and administration, and achieving fairness of test result interpreta-
tion. (Jin and Fan 2011; Zou 2010).
In 2005, the new versions of TEM4 and TEM8 were introduced, employing more
integrative tasks and using lengthier and more authentic materials for listening and
reading. The test content and format of the previous TEM and new TEM are listed
in Table 1.1.
From the above table, three major changes can be identified. First and foremost,
the new versions of TEM set a higher requirement on the test takers. The listening
and reading speed has been increased, with faster listening materials and longer
reading passages; short listening materials like statements have been replaced by
longer ones like passages; a lengthier composition is required for the writing part;
and the passages for cloze and proofreading also lengthened. Second, speed reading
has been dropped from both TEM4 and TEM8. Last, a new section of general
knowledge has been included in TEM8.
As for the oral tests, a major reform was adopted in 2008, supplementing the
tape-mediated format with computer-based spoken English tests (Jin and Fan 2011).
Further discussions on these revisions will be provided in Sect. 1.4.
Table 1.1 A comparison between the previous TEM and new TEM
Task Input Format % Time
TEM4 (previous
version)
Writing 1) A topic, chart or graph A text of about 150 15 35
composition words
2) note-writing Written prompts A note of 50–60 words 5 10
Dictation A text of about 150 words, listen Word-for-word dictation 15 15
4 times, 120 wpm
Listening Statements, conversations and 25 MCQs 15 20
news broadcasts, 120 wpm
Cloze A text of about 250 words 15 MCQs 10 15
Grammar & 25 sentences 25 MCQs 15 15
vocabulary
Reading 1) careful 4–5 texts of about 1500 words 15 MCQs 15 25
altogether
2) speed 4–5 texts of about 900 words 10 MCQs 10 5
altogether
TEM4 (new version)
Writing 1) A topic, chart or graph A text of about 200 15 35
composition words
Dictation A text of about 150 words, listen Word-for-word dictation 15 15
4 times, 120 wpm
Listening Conversations, passages and news 30 MCQs 15 20
broadcasts, 120 wpm
vocabulary
Reading 4–5 texts of about 1800 words 15 MCQs 20 25
altogether
TEM8 (previous
version)
Listening Talks, conversations and news 15 MCQs 15 15–
broadcasts, 140–170 wpm 20
Mini-lecture, 700 words, 140 Note-taking and 10 20
wpm gap-filling (10 blanks)
Proofreading and A text of about 200 words Error identification and 10 15
error correction correction
Reading 1) careful 4–5 texts of about 2500 words 15 MCQs 15 30
2) speed 6–7 texts of about 3000 words 10 MCQs 10 10
Translation 1) C-E A text of about 150 Chinese Translation 10 30
characters, 250 wpm
2) E-C A text of about 150 words, 250 Translation 10 30
wpm
(continued)
Table 1.1 (continued)

Writing A topic and prompts A text of 300 words 20 60
TEM8 (new version)
Listening Mini-lecture, 900 words, 150 Note-taking and 10 10
wpm gap-filling (10 blanks)
Conversations and news 10 MCQs 10 25
broadcasts, 150 wpm
Reading 4–5 texts of about 3000 words 20 MCQs 20 30
General knowledge 10 sentences 10 MCQs 10 10
Proofreading A text of about 250 words Error identification and 10 15
correction
Translation 1) C-E A text of about 150 Chinese Translation 10 30
characters, 250–300 wpm
2) E-C A text of about 150 words, Translation 10 30
250–300 wpm
Note: %: weighting, with the overall percentage being 100; Time is given in minutes; Wpm = words
per minute; MCQ = multiple choice question; C-E: Chinese to English; E-C: English to Chinese
1.2.3 The Soaring Test Population
After more than two decades of development, TEM has grown into one of the pre-
dominant English tests in China, winning extensive recognition from test takers,
relevant institutions and society at large (Jin and Fan 2011). The number of test
takers and participating universities has increased rapidly and significantly.
As for the written tests of TEM4 and TEM8, from 1992 to 2015, the number of
participants increased respectively from around 10,000 to 270,000 and from 5000 to
210,000. The number of participating schools also increased from around 100 to
more than 800 for both TEM4 and TEM8. As for TEM oral tests, the number of test
takers and participating schools has also increased significantly, but its test taking
population is no more than one-tenth of its written counterpart, around 18,000 and
10,000 for TEM4 and TEM8 respectively in 2015. (data released by TEM test
office).
With its substantial improvement and increasing test population, TEM is playing
a more and more important role in English teaching and learning at the tertiary
level, exerting profound washback effects on the students and teachers, the educa-
tional system and even the society as a whole.
1.2.4 Research on TEM
Ever since the implementation of TEM in the early 1990s, quite a few studies have
been conducted to investigate its feasibility, validation, reform, implication for teach-
ing, and so on. The research findings have contributed to the reform of TEM and
Table 1.2 TEM studies published over the years

1991–1995 1996–2000 2001–2005 2006–2010 2011–2015
CSSCI journal article 11 7 33 35 13
PhD dissertation 0 0 4 9 5
English teaching and learning, which can also be considered an aspect of washback,
according to Bailey (1996). Therefore, in this part, research findings on TEM will be
introduced and analyzed, to summarize their impact on English teaching and learning.
Due to the limited space and time, as well as the vast number of studies on TEM, only
influential studies are selected here. The studies selected are: (1) articles published in
CSSCI journals in linguistics, since CSSCI journals are well established in the aca-
demic field which are widely received and which may exert influence on future
research; (2) PhD dissertations, because they are often based on in-depth research in
the field, and should be of high quality and will give us original insight into this issue.
A search in the CSSCI journals1 and CNKI2 Corpus of PhD and Master
Dissertations, using the key word “TEM”, shows that up till the end of 2015, 99
articles and 18 PhD dissertations have been published. Table 1.2 briefly summarizes
the number of research published over the years.
The first journal article on TEM was published in 1991 on the feasibility of using
dictation in TEM4 (Lian 1991), and the first PhD dissertation was completed in
2004 on the authenticity of listening comprehension questions in TEM (Dang 2004).
From the above table, we can find an apparent increase in the number of studies
conducted on TEM since 2001.
In terms of the research focus, the 99 journal articles and 18 PhD dissertations
cover almost every skill assessed in TEM (Table 1.3).
From Table 1.3, it can be noted that more journal articles focus on TEM in gen-
eral, such as the test report of TEM in a certain year, or comment on the revision of
TEM Syllabus, while PhD dissertations are more focused, usually concentrating on
one skill in TEM. Moreover, writing and translation seem to be studied more than
the rest of the language skilled measured in TEM, which is probably because of the
subjective nature of these two parts—test development, marking criteria and pro-
duced texts are all subjects for research.
These researches on TEM may contribute to English teaching and learning in the
following ways:
1. Test reports on TEM analyzed the test items and students’ performance in each
item, which would provide useful feedback information on the strengths and
weaknesses of students;
1
Eleven journals on linguistics (foreign language) included in CSSCI (2013–2014) are searched,
which are Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Foreign Language World, Journal of Foreign
Languages, Modern Foreign Languages, Chinese Translators Journal, Foreign Languages in
China, Foreign Language Research, Foreign Language Education, Foreign Languages and Their
Teaching, Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Education, and Foreign Language Learning
Theory and Practice.
2
CNKI: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, an online resource sharing platform which has
a collection of published articles.
8
1
Table 1.3 Research focus of the journal articles and PhD dissertations
General Listening Reading Writing Speaking Translation Culture Gra& voc Cloze Dictation
CSSCI 28 11 5 16 11 22 2 2 1 1
PhD 1 3 3 6 1 2 1 1 0 0
TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context
1.3 TEM Test Characteristics 9
2. Validation of a certain item in TEM investigated the construct of that section,

which would assist teaching and learning. For instance, validation of the reading
part in TEM may analyze the strategies needed to accomplish the reading tasks;
while the training of these strategies may also help students improve their read-
ing ability;
3. Some researches focused on development and use of the TEM-based corpus,
both of written and oral English. Analysis of these corpora may help us better
understand the language proficiency of the students so that proper teaching can
be offered.
1.3 TEM Test Characteristics
TEM is a set of criterion-referenced English tests administered by NACFLT on

behalf of the Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education, People’s
Republic of China (Jin and Fan 2011). The following part will introduce TEM test
purpose, TEM test content and format, TEM test administration, and TEM test score
report and interpretation.
1.3.1 TEM Test Purpose
As stated in the Test Syllabus, the purpose of TEM is twofold: (1) to measure the
English proficiency of undergraduate English majors, to check whether they have
met the required levels specified in the Teaching Syllabus; (2) to check the imple-
mentation of the Teaching Syllabus and to bring about reform on language
teaching.
1.3.2 TEM Test Content and Format
In the Teaching Syllabus, the four-year undergraduate program for English majors
is divided into the foundation stage (freshman and sophomore year) and the
advanced stage (junior and senior year). Accordingly, TEM4 and TEM4-Oral are
administered at the end of the second year to assess candidates’ English proficiency
in the foundation stage and TEM8 and TEM8-Oral are administered at the end of
the fourth year to assess candidates’ English proficiency in the advanced stage.
The test content of TEM4 includes listening, reading and writing, and two more
skills of translation and general knowledge (linguistics, culture and literature) are
assessed in TEM8. Basic language knowledge of grammar and vocabulary are mea-
sured in both tests, but in different formats, multiple-choice questions in TEM4 and
error correction in TEM8. As for oral tests, TEM4-Oral focuses on speaking, while
TEM8-Oral assesses not only speaking but also interpretation. Test content and for-
mat of the four tests are listed in Table 1.4.
Table 1.4 shows that various item types are employed in TEM, both objective
ones and subjective ones, both discrete-point items and integrative tasks. In TEM4
and TEM8, objective items of multiple-choice questions account for 60% and 40%
of the test, and the rest are all subjective items, such as writing and translation.
Discrete-point items are used, such as multiple-choice questions of grammar and
vocabulary in TEM4 and general knowledge in TEM8, and integrative tasks include
dictation and cloze in TEM4 and mini-lecture and proofreading in TEM8.
Table 1.4 Test content and format of TEM

TEM4
Writing 1) A topic, chart or graph A text of about 200 words 15 35
composition
Dictation A text of about 150 words, Word-for-word dictation 15 15
listen 4 times, 120 wpm
Listening Conversations, passages and 30 MCQs 15 20
news broadcasts, 120 wpm
vocabulary
Reading 4–5 texts of about 1800 15 MCQs 20 25
words altogether
TEM8
Listening Mini-lecture, 900 words, 150 Note-taking and gap-filling (10 10 10
wpm blanks)
Conversations and news 10 MCQs 10 25
broadcasts, 150 wpm
Reading 4–5 texts of about 3000 20 MCQs 20 30
words
General 10 sentences 10 MCQs 10 10
knowledge
Proofreading A text of about 250 words Error identification and correction 10 15
Translation 1) A text of about 150 Chinese Translation 10 30
C-E characters, 250–300 wpm
2) E-C A text of about 150 words, Translation 10 30
250–300 wpm
TEM4-oral
Retelling A story of about 300 words, Retelling for 3 min, no time for 20 9
listen twice preparation
(continued)
1.3 TEM Test Characteristics 11
Table 1.4 (continued)

Talking on a A topic related to the above Talking for 3 min after 3-min 20 9
given topic story preparation
Role-playing A topic for discussion 4-min discussion between two test 20 7
takers, after 3-min preparation
TEM8-oral
Interpreting (E-C) A speech of about 300 Listen to the speech once, listen 20 9
words, with about 150 words again and interpret sentence by
for interpretation sentence, 5 sentences for
interpretation
Interpreting (C-E) A speech of about 400 Listen to the speech once, listen 20 9
characters, with about 200 again and interpret sentence by
characters for interpretation sentence, 5 sentences for
interpretation
Making a A topic for presentation Talk for 3 min after 4-min 20 7
comment on a preparation
given topic
Note: %: weighting, with the overall percentage being 100; Time is given in minutes; the overall
score of TEM4-Oral and TEM8-Oral is 100, composed of 5 parts: the three tasks, pronunciation
and intonation, and grammar and vocabulary
1.3.3 TEM Administration and Marking
All the four tests of TEM are administered once a year: TEM4 and TEM4-Oral in
May for second-year students, TEM8 in March and TEM8-Oral in December for
fourth-year students. The total test time is 135 min for TEM4 and 195 min for
TEM8, and the two oral tests take approximate 25 min each.
For the written tests of TEM4 and TEM8, the test papers are sent directly to the
participating schools before administration, together with detailed guidelines, pro-
viding instructions on how the test should be administered, such as when to distrib-
ute test papers or answer booklets. The test is administered at the same time
throughout China and the listening section is broadcast from a specified radio chan-
nel. After administration, used test papers and answer booklets will be sent back to
TEM Test Office in Shanghai International Studies University.
As for the oral tests, they are administered in the audio laboratories of the partici-
pating schools, and candidates’ responses will be recorded either in tapes or in
discs, which will be sent to Nanjing University, Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies, or Dalian University of Foreign Languages, as assigned by the TEM Oral
Test Office in Nanjing University.
In TEM4 and TEM8, the objective items of multiple-choice questions are marked
by machines, and there is no penalty for wrong answers. The subjective items are
scored according to carefully-prepared marking criteria by well trained raters.
Detailed marking schemes are developed for TEM4 dictation, TEM8 mini lecture
and proofreading, to determine the marks deducted for each type of mistakes.
Moreover, analytic marking is adopted for writing and translation. Writing perfor-
mance is judged against the criteria of ideas and argument (50%, including content,
effectiveness and organization), language use (40%, including correctness, rich-
ness, appropriateness and fluency) and mechanics (10%, including spelling, punc-
tuation, neatness, and so on); while translation performance is evaluated against the
criteria of faithfulness (60%, faithfulness to the original text, both in content and in
style) and fluency (40%, correctness in language and elegance in expression).
TEM4-Oral and TEM8-Oral adopt a mixed marking approach. The three tasks
are marked separately, 20% for each, according to different marking schemes devel-
oped for each task, and the rest 40% is the quality of language, 20% for pronuncia-
tion and intonation and 20% for grammar and vocabulary. The performance of each
candidate will be marked by two raters independently.
1.3.4 TEM Test Score Report and Interpretation
The pass score for all the four tests of TEM is 60, and candidates scoring above 60
will receive a certificate from NACFLT, on which their level of performance will be
reported, including excellent (above 80 for TEM4 and TEM8, above 90 for TEM4-
Oral and TEM8-Oral), good (70–79 for TEM4 and TEM8, 80–90 for TEM4-Oral
and TEM8-Oral), and pass (60–69 for TEM4 and TEM8, 60–79 for TEM4-Oral and
TEM8-Oral). Candidates scored below 60 will receive no certificate. The test scores
are not reported to the test takers, but they can check their composite test scores of
TEM4 and TEM8 through the Academic Affairs Office in their schools. Scores of
TEM4-Oral and TEM8-Oral are not reported.
Of the four tests in the battery, only TEM4 is required of all undergraduate
English majors, while TEM8 and the two oral tests are optional. Decisions concern-
ing penalties for those failing TEM4 are left in the hands of the participating univer-
sities (Jin and Fan 2011).
As stated in the Test Syllabus, TEM results can be used to evaluate English
teaching and learning in the light of the Teaching Syllabus, and to provide feedback
to teaching and learning. However, due to the increasing social recognition of TEM
as an important benchmark of English proficiency, more and more organizations in
China are using TEM results to select and recruit employees; some schools do not
confer bachelor’s degree to those who have failed to obtain TEM certificates; and
teachers’ evaluation is connected with students’ performance in TEM in some
schools. (Jin and Fan 2011).
The increasing social stakes of TEM will have double effects. On one hand, more
importance will be attached to TEM, which may enhance its facilitative role in
English teaching and learning. On the other hand, the extensive social weighting of
TEM may lead to overly test-oriented English teaching and learning among under-
graduate English majors, which might be harmful.
1.4 TEM Test Characteristics vs. the Teaching Syllabus 13
1.4 TEM Test Characteristics vs. the Teaching Syllabus
Since the purpose of TEM is to evaluate English teaching and learning in the light
of the Teaching Syllabus, TEM test characteristics should comply with the Teaching
Syllabus. Therefore, this section will first introduce the Teaching Syllabus, and then
make a comparison between the Teaching Syllabus and TEM test characteristics.
1.4.1 The Teaching Syllabus
The Teaching Syllabus is designed to standardize education for undergraduate

English majors throughout China, which may serve as guidelines for the develop-
ment of English program, curricula and textbooks.
As stated in the Teaching Syllabus, the aim of college education is to cultivate
students with solid language knowledge and profound cultural awareness who can
work as teachers, translators, researchers and so on in the field of foreign affairs,
education, economy and trade, culture, etc. To meet this end, courses introduced in
undergraduate English program include three main categories: courses on language
skills (phonetics, grammar, listening, speaking, writing, translation, oral interpreta-
tion, fundamental English, advanced English, and so on), courses on general knowl-
edge of English (linguistics, English literature, English culture, and so on), and
courses on related knowledge (foreign affairs, economics and trade, law, and so on).
Compulsory courses recommended for the foundation stage and advanced stage are:
1. Foundation stage: fundamental English, phonetics, listening, speaking, reading,
writing, grammar, and culture of English speaking countries;
2. Advanced stage: advanced English, writing, oral interpretation, translation, lin-
guistics, British literature, American literature, and academic writing.
Based on the two stages, the requirements on English teaching and learning are
further divided into eight grades, one grade each semester, and English proficiency
is divided into ten subcategories: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, listening,
speaking, reading, writing, translation (including translation and oral interpreta-
tion), use of reference books (including dictionaries, encyclopedias, Internet
resources, and so on), cultural awareness (familiarity with Chinese culture and cul-
ture of English spoken countries). TEM4 and TEM8 correspond to the required
levels at the end of the fourth semester and eighth semester, and the ten subcatego-
ries outline the construct of TEM.
1.4.2 Comparison Between the Teaching Syllabus and TEM

A
Characteristics
TEM is designed to measure the implementation of the Teaching Syllabus, and the
four tests in the TEM battery assess nine out of the ten subcategories of language
abilities listed in the Teaching Syllabus. The subcategory of “cultural awareness”
has been assessed since 2005, when a new section of “General Knowledge” has
been included in TEM8. The subcategory of “use of reference books” is not included
because this skill aims at cultivating students’ ability to learn by themselves and do
research, which can be measured by the writing tasks of term papers and bachelor’s
degree degree paper. Table 1.5 lists the required language abilities in the Teaching
Syllabus and how they are measured in TEM.
From Table 1.5, it can be concluded that most language requirements in the
Teaching Syllabus are measured in TEM with several items and various test meth-
ods in their corresponding stages. Direct testing methods are employed to measure
writing, speaking, translation and oral interpretation. Listening, grammar and
vocabulary are assessed with various testing methods, both objective multiple-
choice questions and subjective methods of dictation, gap-filling, error-correction,
and so on. Pronunciation, though not tested directly in any item, is adopted as an
essential marking criterion which accounts for 20% of the composite score of
TEM4-Oral and TEM8-Oral. Reading and cultural awareness are the only two abili-
ties employing multiple-choice questions as the sole testing method.
From the above analysis, it can be inferred that TEM characteristics, generally
speaking, overlap with its construct stated in the Teaching Syllabus. However, pos-
sible mismatches lie in the following aspects:
1. Using multiple-choice questions as the sole testing method to measure language
abilities such as reading and cultural awareness will lead to construct-irrelevant
variance, which is caused by the possible guessing factor involved in multiple-
choice questions. Such variance will contaminate the interpretation of the test
score and may encourage test-taking technique training.
2. The small test population of TEM oral tests may lead to construct under-
representation. The number of TEM4-Oral and TEM8-Oral test takers is around
20,000 and 10,000 respectively, which is only 10% of the candidates of TEM4
and TEM8 written tests. However, speaking is a required ability in the Teaching
Syllabus, which should be of equal weighting as the other abilities. The lack of
oral tests for most candidates will perhaps lead to less importance attached to
speaking, and thus, the candidates’ low ability in speaking.
3. The misuse of TEM results is also a possible cause of construct irrelevant vari-
ance. As mentioned in Sect. 1.3.4, TEM results, as stated in the test syllabus, is
meant to measure the English proficiency of undergraduate English majors, to
find out whether they have met the required level specified in the Teaching
Syllabus. However, with its increasing social weighing, TEM scores are used by
some organizations and schools to recruit employees, rank schools and evaluate
teachers. These uses of TEM results have not been justified, and will possibly
lead to negative washback effects.
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which her father was often absent, and sometimes returned with an
unsteady step; but a home which held the greatest earthly gift, a
loving, tender mother. She was a pale, sweet, sad-faced young
mother, who shed many tears, and lavished on her little daughter all
the wealth of love the heart can bestow on its one treasure. But as
time went by she grew thinner and paler, the flush on her cheek
deeper, and her cough sharper, more frequent, till even Posey, with a
child’s apprehension, would throw her little arms around her neck,
with a vague fear of what she could not have told herself. Then came
a time when her mother could not rise from her bed; and at last,
when Posey was six years old, the thread of life that had been so
long failing suddenly snapped.
When the mother realized that the end was at hand she called her
child to her and kissed her again and again. “Darling,” she said,
holding her to her as though mother-love would prove itself stronger
than even death, “Mamma is going away, going to leave you.”
“Where are you going to, Mamma?”
“God wants me to come to Him, to heaven.”
“Oh, don’t go!” and Posey clung to her, frightened both by her look
and tone. “Don’t leave me, take me with you if you go.”
“Mamma cannot, dear, though she would, oh, so gladly. But I want
you to listen now, and though you are only a little girl, never, never
forget what I am saying. Be good, wherever you are try to be good,
always tell the truth, always be honest, and every night say the
prayer I have taught you; remember that mamma has gone to
heaven and will wait for you; and above all remember, remember
always, that God loves you and will take care of you.”
“Do you know where my husband is?” she asked a little later of the
neighboring woman who was caring for her.
“No, but I can try and find him.” In her own mind she thought it
would be no difficult task.
“It’s no matter,” was the weary answer of the wife, who had sadly
learned long before that her husband’s presence was slight cause
for happiness. “Tell him good-by for me, and to send a letter he will
find in my workbox to my mother; so she will know that I asked her
forgiveness before I died. And I want her, as I know she will for my
sake, to take my child.”
Her voice that had been growing weaker and weaker failed as she
whispered the last word. A slight coughing-fit followed, there were a
few fluttering breaths, and the nurse who had been holding her hand
laid it softly down.
“Oh, what is the matter with my mamma?” cried Posey in a
frightened tone. “What makes her look so white; and lie so still?
Mamma, Mamma, speak to me, do!”
But the ear that had always listened to her slightest call, would
hear her no more. And the woman lifting kindly in her arms the now
motherless child, terror-stricken and sobbing, though too young to
understand the great loss and sorrow that had come to her, carried
her gently from the room.
When the absent husband at last came home and was told his
wife’s last message he listened to it moodily. “I don’t know any great
reason she had to ask her mother’s forgiveness, just because she
married me,” he said. “I’m not the worst man in the world, by a long
way, if her mother did make such a fuss about it. And as for letting
her have Posey to bring up and set against me, I’ll do nothing of the
kind. I can take care of my own child, and I shall do it.”
A natural and praiseworthy sentiment, this last, had he been a
sober, industrious man, but unfortunately for himself and all
connected with him he was neither. As a consequence, in the days
that followed his little girl suffered much from neglect, and often from
privation. Sometimes he feasted her on candy and sweetmeats till
she was almost sick, and again, and more often, he left her to fare
as best she might, and go hungry unless some neighbor fed her,
while many were the nights she lay awake trembling in the darkness
in her little bed, afraid of the dark, and almost more afraid of hearing
the unsteady steps that would announce a drunken father.
But when her mother had been dead less than a year, there was a
disturbance one evening in a near-by saloon. Revolvers were used,
and one man, present but not involved in the quarrel, was fatally
wounded. Posey never saw her father again. Taken to a hospital,
public charity cared for him in his last hours and laid him in his grave.
When they came to tell his child of his death they found her playing
merrily with a doll she had made for herself of a rolled-up apron and
a little shoulder-shawl.
It was hardly to be expected that she would comprehend her loss.
For that matter, she hardly knew that she had met with one, and Mrs.
Malone, across the hall, was decidedly of the opinion that she had
not. For her mother she had grieved long and passionately; that her
father was gone made but slight impression. She had received from
him so little of affection that she did not miss its absence, and as to
kindness and care, she had as much from the neighbors.
For a time she was passed from one to another of these, sharing
the proverbial charity of the poor, minding babies, running errands,
and doing such little tasks as her years and strength permitted.
There was a kind-hearted reluctance among these humble friends to
handing her over to public charity. A remembrance of her mother’s
wish for her still lingered, and Mrs. Malone even tried to find the
letter she had spoken of, but no doubt her husband had destroyed it.
There was occasional talk of an effort to find this grandmother, but
Posey knew nothing of her whereabouts, every one else was equally
ignorant, and it never went beyond the talk.
It was at this time that Posey came under the notice of Madam
Atheldena Sharpe, a lady who was making her wits provide her
support, and who was quick to see how a pretty and easily taught
child might be a help towards that end. To her taking possession of
Posey there was no one to object. None of the few people she knew
felt able to assume the burden of her support. To most of them the
clairvoyant with her showy manners and fine-sounding phrases
seemed a very imposing person, and Posey was counted a fortunate
child to have found such a protector.
So Posey entered on the second phase of her life, bearing with
her pitifully few mementos of her vanished home—a china dog her
father had bought her in an unwontedly generous mood, a book of
children’s poems, out of which her mother had read to her and
taught her to read, a locket that had belonged to her mother, and her
pocket Bible.
It was but a short time till new attractions were added to
“Madam’s” séances—mysterious bells rang, an equally mysterious
tambourine was tinkled; and presently out of a cabinet, that now
made part of the furnishing of the room, appeared what was
understood to be a spirit materialized, an ethereal-looking little figure
in the dim light, with long golden hair and floating white draperies.
As to the question of right or wrong in all this the child gave little
thought. At first she had been too young and the various details had
been but so many tasks; then as she grew older and began to
realize the humbug behind that needed such constant and careful
guarding from discovery, she was inclined to laugh at people for
being so easily duped. But in the main it was to her simply a means
of living, the way in which their bread and butter came.
For the ignorance of most children as to the value of money, or its
need in daily life had with Posey been early and sadly dispelled.
Better than many an older person she understood not only its
necessity but how to make the most of it. From behind some door or
curtain she would watch the people as they came to consult the
clairvoyant, or gathered for a séance, as eagerly as the “Madam”
herself; she knew exactly what each would add to the family purse,
and so could tell pretty well in advance if the next day’s dinner would
be scanty or plenty, and whether the medium would be pleasant or
the contrary. For though not destitute of kindly impulses her mood
was apt to vary in large measure with her success.
In their changing life Posey was soon far from the city where she
had lived, and finding her of even more value than she had expected
Madam Sharpe gave to the child her own name, and took all
possible pains to efface all remembrance of her earlier life, at the
same time impressing on her the fact of her homeless and friendless
condition, and that but for her kindness she would be a little beggar
on the street; so that, as was her intention, Posey grew into the
belief that Madam Atheldena Sharpe was all that stood between her
and absolute distress, and with that picture constantly before her she
yielded the more readily to that lady’s frequent exactions and
petulance.
That she might become still more valuable, she was sent to school
whenever their stay in a place permitted, though seldom was that
long enough for the forming of friendships. Indeed Madam Sharpe
did not encourage such, for though singularly trusty, still she was
always afraid that to other children Posey might be tempted to betray
some jealously guarded secrets. For this reason, fortunately for her,
Posey was never allowed the freedom of the streets, or the
acquaintance of the children among whom she was thrown.
As soon as she grew old enough the “Madam” made her useful in
domestic matters. She was taught to sweep and dust the rooms, to
go to market, to prepare their simple meals, and to attend to most of
the “light housekeeping” which best suited Madam Sharpe’s finances
and business. In the evenings if people enough came to form a
“circle” she had her part to take in the “manifestations,” which was to
her only another of her daily tasks, and when ended she was quickly
and gladly in bed and asleep.
So Posey’s life was by no means an idle one. She had enough to
do to fill the most of her time, and for the rest, though often she was
lonely and longed for companionship, still she had been accustomed
from a little child to amusing herself and so had acquired numberless
resources to that end. Perhaps the most important result of this way
of life was the distinctness in which it kept her mother’s memory,
which might have faded had existence for her been happier or less
monotonous. Facts and events grew blurred and indistinct, but her
mother remained as vivid as a living presence.
No doubt with time imagination added its share till the
remembrance grew into her ideal of all that was true and pure and
lovely, as it was her greatest solace and comfort. Her words, except
those last ones fixed by the solemnity of death, she did not so much
remember, but the tenor of her mother’s teachings, her influence, her
personality, were indelibly stamped on her mind. In every grief her
first impulsive thought was, “Oh, my mamma!” as though even that
mute appeal was a consolation; while the reflection, “Would Mamma
like to have me?” influenced her actions more than the actual
presence of many a living mother. Never a night did she omit to
kneel and repeat the prayer she had learned at her knee. Though
she had long known them all by heart, she never grew tired of the
book of child’s poems out of which her mother had read to her. Often
of an evening sitting alone and lonely, out of her vague and
fragmentary memories she would try to recall the songs she had
sung and the stories she had told her; and many a night when the
day had been hard in her small world did she cry herself to sleep
with the yearning plaint on her lips, “I do so want to see my mamma!”
All this had the effect of keeping her strangely pure, and through the
atmosphere of sordid deceit, if not worse, that surrounded her she
walked as if guided and led by the mother-hand so long still and
folded.
CHAPTER II
AN EXPOSURE
This phase of her life continued till Posey was nearly twelve. At
first in the spirit-manifestations she had simply followed the
clairvoyant’s directions, but as she became older she not only
learned to make herself up for the occasions, but to introduce little
variations of her own, which added not a little to the interest and
popularity of the séances. Gradually, too, she came to take a certain
personal pride in her rôle, of amusement at her own cleverness, and
of elation at the sensation she created. As for the moral question,
that held no place; she was simply a little actress playing well her
part, with an under thought of the profits.
In the earlier days when the “Madam” had both to dress her, and
teach her every detail, she had only been able to appear in one
“manifestation,” but now she could manage several, and frequently
appeared in succession as an Indian princess, a French girl, and
“little Nellie of the Golden Hair.” For the French girl, “Madam” had her
take French lessons so that her replies could be in that language,
and on occasions when all the “influences” were favorable she would
sing very softly and sadly a little French song, accompanying herself
on a “materialized” guitar.
For a long time she never ventured outside the cabinet, but
gaining boldness with practice she at last came into the room,
hovering near the circle gathered round the table, and answering any
question put her by the clairvoyant, who at such times was always in
a trance.
Madam Sharpe was greatly elated by all this, and to her fancy
new, brilliant, and profitable successes seemed opening before her.
Alas, in this very increase of popularity, and with it of public attention,
lay her undoing, as it drew to her séances not only the easily
credulous, and the sincere believers, but the doubting skeptics
whose purpose was investigation.
So it came one evening that several young men of the latter class,
including a newspaper reporter, were present, and after the lights
had been turned low and dim, and the thrill of hushed expectancy
had settled over the waiting circle, and out of the slowly opening
door of the cabinet a white, shadowy little figure had lightly floated,
and as the “spirit” passed near the newspaper reporter he adroitly
threw a pinch of snuff in its face.
A sneeze followed, a most decidedly human sneeze. Quick as
thought he seized it in a strong grasp, while another of the
“investigators” as quickly turned the gas high and bright, and then
and there was revealed to that astounded circle a plump, round-
faced, very flesh-and-blood little girl, with the white powder partly
rubbed off her rosy face, her wig of long, floating, yellow hair awry,
and her white gauze dress crumpled and torn; frightened, angry, and
stoutly struggling to escape. As soon as she saw that exposure had
come Madam Sharpe hastily made her escape, and a moment later
Posey managed to free herself from the hand of her captor and
darted from the room.
Out of the door of the cabinet a white, shadowy little
figure had lightly floated.—Page 32.
But evidence enough remained: the cabinet, that through a sliding

panel opened into an adjoining room, the guitar, the wigs, the
costumes of the different “materializations.”
A storm of indignation naturally followed these discoveries, a
storm so loud as to arouse the attention of all in the vicinity, and to
bring a policeman to the scene. An angry but fruitless search was
made for the clairvoyant, who was near enough to hear the threats
expressed as she cowered in her place of retreat.
A much duller comprehension than hers would have realized that
her career in that city was ended. Reporters, as she well knew,
would catch it up, and the morning papers spread the news of her
exposure far and wide, even should she escape the arrest she had
heard threatened on the ugly charge of obtaining money under false
pretenses. While the crowd was still surging through her rooms, she
had decided that the sooner she was away the better; and as soon
as the neighborhood regaining quiet had sunk into slumber, she
secured, as hastily and secretly as possible, the removal of her few
personal effects, and, thanks to the express speed of the railroad,
was many miles distant when morning dawned.
Angry though she was at Posey, the innocent cause of the trouble,
yet had the latter been at hand she would have taken her in her
flight. But Posey up in the attic, to which she had fled and from which
she had not dared to venture, had fallen asleep on a soft heap of
rubbish, and Madam Atheldena Sharpe, now as ever thoroughly
selfish, abandoned with hardly a thought the child who had so long
shared her fortunes. And when with the morning Posey, waking,
crept cautiously down, her tumbled finery looking tawdry enough in
the daylight, it was to find only empty, disordered rooms, from which
the clairvoyant and all belonging to her had vanished.
So for the second time, and with an increased keenness of
apprehension of all it implied, Posey was again thrown on the world.
And now, for the first time, in the person of the fat, good-natured
policeman, Society, that great factor of civilization, became aware of
her existence, took her under its charge, and in due time placed her
in the “Children’s Refuge,” an institution where the city was already
providing for some two or three hundred similar waifs and strays.
This was a new, strange home indeed, and at the same time a
statelier one than she had ever known—the tall brick building, with
its great wings, one the boys’ and the other the girls’ department,
stretching on either side. While accustomed as she had been all her
life to a haphazard, makeshift existence, the exquisite neatness, the
perfect order, and the regular system at first equally amazed and
depressed. Posey had brought with her a somewhat varied store of
accomplishments, but as she looked at the long rows of girls, with
their neat uniforms of blue dresses and checked aprons, and noticed
the clock-work regularity of their daily life she felt that she had much,
very much, to learn.
The Refuge was not an institution where appalling cruelties are
hidden under the surface of smoothness. The children were as well
clothed, well fed, well taught, and well cared for as is possible where
such gathered numbers make separate mothering almost
impossible. As a necessity, system, regularity, was the rule; from the
rising in the morning till the retiring at night the ringing of the great
bell ordered all; eating, play, work, study, was at its monition. And if
any tried rebellion, as Posey at the first sometimes felt inclined to do,
it was speedily to find that they but bruised themselves against the
strong force which controlled the whole.
Into this routine Posey soon settled; she had her little white bed in
one of the rows of the long dormitory, her desk in the schoolroom,
her place in the work-room, where at certain hours in the day the
girls worked at making paper boxes; and her group of friends in the
playground. After the lonely isolation of most of her previous life it
was a great change, this becoming one in such a multitude. But
hardest of all for her was it to become used to the pressure of
discipline, not severe but constant, the feeling that she was never
free from the watchful, overlooking eye.
In almost every respect she was much better off here than when in
the hands of Madam Sharpe, but though never alone, as in the old
days, she was often as lonely as when she sat secluded in the
kitchen-bedroom of the clairvoyant, lonely for the love, the
tenderness, that her child heart had longed for so long and so vainly.
After all that Posey had had to do when with the “Madam” it was
not hard for her to learn to make paper boxes quickly and well. In the
schoolroom, too, she was soon able to take a place near the head of
her class, something that gave her not a little pride. Rewards were
not offered to the scholars, but one day a reward came to her that
she never forgot, and that had not a little influence in shaping her
future. It was at the close of a session when she had acquitted
herself with even more than her usual credit, and Miss Grey, the
teacher, in passing her desk as she was putting her books in order,
stopped with a pleasant smile and said, “Posey, I am very glad to
see you so ambitious in your studies; if you will study and try I think
you can one day make a teacher.”
It was to Posey a new idea, and the stirring of her first real
ambition. Was it possible that she could become a teacher like Miss
Grey, and have pupils who should in like manner admire her, and,
best of all, make a place and earn a living for herself? Her heart
thrilled, first with the idea, and again with the determination that it
should be possible. And Miss Grey, busy with her many pupils and
manifold duties, went her way unconscious of the ray of promise she
had given, a ray that should shine as a day-star of hope through
many a long day. For that matter, she had no idea of the feeling she
had inspired in Posey’s heart, how she watched, admired, and
imitated her, absorbed her ideas, was influenced by her opinions,
and when she finally left, for a home of her own, missed her.
With all the teachers and matrons Posey was in the main a
favorite. But for the study of individual character there was scant
time; when she was good, little attention was paid to her, when she
was naughty she received the punishment she had incurred. For
while Posey possessed a certain intrepid strength of purpose that
carried her over many a hard place, as well as in her work and
lessons, these were coupled with an impulsiveness of action and
warmth of temper that often brought her into temporary disgrace.
Still, on the whole, the year and a half she passed at the Refuge
was as happy as any she had spent since her mother’s death. But
one day a summons came for her to the Superintendent’s office,
where sat a stout lady, with a face of hard, mottled red flesh, one
whom she had noticed a little while before making the rounds of the
rooms.
“Yes,” she said, regarding Posey with a fixed gaze of her beady
black eyes, “I think I will try this one. I’ll take her home with me and
keep her for a while, anyway. No, I don’t care to ask her any
questions. I wouldn’t know much more if I did, and I can find out
enough in short order. So hurry and get yourself ready,” to Posey,
“for I’ve no time to lose.” And when Posey heard this she hardly
knew whether she ought to be glad or sorry.
The Refuge did not let its charges go out without providing as far
as possible for their welfare and future. As Mrs. Hagood had
furnished ample references as to her capability for such a charge;
and as she further promised to give Posey good care, moral
instruction, and the advantage of the school in her village, the
Refuge authorities felt that in this case they had amply done their
duty. So in a very short time Posey’s few belongings were packed,
the parting words said, and in company with Mrs. Hagood she had
passed and left behind the tall wrought-iron gates of the Refuge.
To live in the country had always been to Posey a dream of
delight, though her knowledge of the country was limited to fleeting
views from car windows. She had, too, a faint memory of stories her
mother had once told her of the happiness of a childhood spent
among orchards and meadows; and with all these in mind she had
often looked at the dusty trees bordering the stone-paved streets,
and the swift-flowing streams that filled the gutters after a rain, trying
to cheat imagination into the belief that they were real brooks and
genuine woods.
So now when Mrs. Hagood told her that her new home was to be
in a little country village her heart beat high with anticipation, and she
decided that she was glad she was going. On their way to the train in
the street cars they skirted the Haymarket, and Posey looked out
with mingled feelings at the tall brick building, the scene of her
memorable misadventure. Not that she had any desire to return to
Madam Sharpe. With a child’s quick intuition for shams, the
clairvoyant’s manifold deceptions had inspired her with anything but
a profound respect, nor had she by any means forgotten the cruelty
of her desertion. Besides, was she not now going into the beautiful
country, to be as free as a bird among the birds and flowers?
CHAPTER III
THE NEW HOME
Before Posey hardly had time to realize the change, the city with
its crowded houses and busy streets, its smoke and confusion, its
glitter of wealth, its grime of poverty, was left behind, and she was
seated by the side of Mrs. Hagood in the cars on her way to her new
home, something over an hour’s ride distant.
Though yet early in March it was a sunny, spring-like day. Under
the bland air the snow had almost disappeared from the brown
fields, and only lingered in occasional patches of white in hollows
and along sheltering fences. The willows by brookside ways were
showing their early catkins, while the woods, distinct against the
tender blue of the spring sky, by their reddening tinge told that life
was already stirring in the leaf-buds, so soon to unfold.
In some of the woods that the train sped through, Posey caught
glimpses of smoke curling up from small, weather-worn buildings,
while from the trees around them hung buckets, some painted a
bright red, others of shining tin; she could even now and then hear
from the open car window a musical drip, drip, which the more
increased her wonder.
“What are all those pails hanging to the trees for?” she finally
asked. “And what is the sound just as though water was dropping?”
“Goodness alive, didn’t you ever see a sugar bush opened
before?” inquired Mrs. Hagood. “That’s where they are making
maple sugar and syrup; those are maple trees, and what you hear is
the sap running; it’s been a good sap day, too.”
This explanation did not make the matter very clear to Posey, but
what Mrs. Hagood meant was that the warmth of the spring day had
caused a rapid upward flow of the sap, or juice of the tree, which had
been stored in the roots through the winter; and by making incisions
in the tree this sap, which is sweetest in the maple, is caught and
boiled into syrup or sugar.
For all the outward attractions, Posey had already given some
very earnest and anxious looks at Mrs. Hagood, with whom her
home was now to be for an indefinite time. Child as she was, she
quickly felt that there was nothing of the flimsy, the pretentious,
about that lady. The substantial was stamped on every feature, and
though her shawl was handsomer and her black silk dress of finer
quality than she had ever seen Miss Grey wear, she was conscious
that Mrs. Hagood lacked something the little teacher possessed—the
essential quality that made the latter the true lady.
But the time had been short, or so it seemed, for the much there
was to think and see, when Mrs. Hagood gathered up her numerous
packages, and Posey found herself hurried out on the platform of a
wayside station. Truly she was in the country. A few scattered
farmhouses were in sight in the distance, but the little station stood
between the far-reaching railroad tracks and the muddy country road
wholly apart and alone. No one but themselves had alighted, and
they were the sole occupants of the building, not even a station-
master appearing in sight. “Is this a village?” Posey asked as she
looked around in wide-eyed surprise.
“Mercy, no, child, the village is two miles from here.”
“And what a queer depot,” added Posey. “I never was in one
before where there weren’t lots of people.”
“People in the country have to stay at home and work,” was the
short reply. Posey had already noticed that Mrs. Hagood had a way
of clipping her words off short as though she had no time to waste on
them.
“When they do go,” she added, “they mostly take the morning
train, as I did, and come back later. This train never stops here
unless it has passengers to let off, or some one flags it to get on.”
As she talked they had walked around the narrow platform to the
opposite side of the station, and Mrs. Hagood, shading her eyes with
her hand, for the afternoon sun was now low and level, looked down
the road with the remark, “I should like to know where Elnathan
Hagood is. I told him to be here in time to meet this train.”
Naturally Posey felt a degree of curiosity as to the family she was
about to enter, and with Mrs. Hagood’s words came the reflection,
“So, then, she has a boy. I hope I shall like him.”
A few moments later an open buggy drawn by a stout, sleek bay
horse came in sight over the nearest hill, whose occupant Posey
saw as it drew near was a small, middle-aged man, with a pleasant
face, mild blue eyes, and a fringe of thin brown beard, touched with
grey, under his chin.
“I thought, Elnathan,” was Mrs. Hagood’s greeting as he drew up
to the platform, “that I told you to be here by train-time.”
As Elnathan Hagood climbed slowly out over the muddy wheel,
there was apparent a slight stoop to his shoulders, and droop to his
hat-brim, and a certain subtle but none the less palpable air of one
who had long been subjected to a slightly repressive, not to say
depressing influence. “Wal, now, Almiry,” he remarked with the
manner of a man to whom the apologetic had become habitual, “I did
lay out to be here on time, but the roads hev thawed so since
morning that it took me longer than I’d calc’lated on.”
His wife gave a sniff of contempt. “I only hope I sha’n’t catch my
death o’ cold waitin’ here in this raw wind, clear tired out as I be, too.
But now you are here at last, see if you can put these things in, and
not be all the afternoon about it, either.”
“I see you did get a little girl,” with a nod and kindly smile at Posey,
who stood a little apart.
“Yes,” rejoined Mrs. Hagood tartly, “I said I was goin’ to, and when
I plan to do a thing I carry it out as I planned it, and when I planned
it.
“I know,” she continued, regarding Posey as though she had been
a wooden image, or something equally destitute of hearing, to say
nothing of feeling, “that it’s a big risk to take one of those street
children; you never know what tricks they have, or what they may
turn out to be. This one isn’t very big, but she looks healthy, an’ I see
she was spry, an’ I guess I’ll be able to make her earn as much as
her salt, anyway.”
Posey’s cheeks flamed hotly, and she was on the point of an
indignant protest that she had never been a street child in her life,
when she caught a slight shake of the head from Mr. Hagood. Then
Mrs. Hagood turned away to direct her husband as he folded a
horse-blanket to form a seat for Posey, at the same time enveloping
herself in a large, black, shiny waterproof cloak, to protect her from
the mud, and tying a thick brown veil over her bonnet to serve the
same purpose.
When all was ready, Mr. Hagood lifted Posey into the buggy, with
another friendly smile that went warm to her heart, and as soon as
the various packages with which she had returned laden, were
settled to Mrs. Hagood’s satisfaction they were on their way. But they
had not driven far when leaning across Posey, who was seated
between them, Mrs. Hagood snatched the reins from her husband’s
hands, exclaiming, “Elnathan Hagood, give me those lines, an’ see if
I can’t drive without gettin’ into every mudhole we come to.”
Mr. Hagood yielded without a word. The first thought of their wide-
eyed young companion was of wonder that he should do so. In her
heart she felt that if she were a man she would not, but as she
furtively glanced from him to his wife, it was with the instinctive
feeling that protest or opposition on his part would be useless.
On account of the muddy clay road their progress was but slow,
but accustomed only to city sights, and for so long to the seclusion of
the Refuge, Posey enjoyed every step of the way. The pleasant
farmhouses they passed, set in their wide, deep yards; the barns
with cattle standing around, chewing placid cuds and looking at them
with large soft eyes; the full and rushing brooks that came darting out
of the fields with a swirl to rush across the road into the fields again;
the bits of woods, shadowy and quiet; the soft brown of the rolling
fields; the fresh spring air, the wide outlook, the very novelty and
strangeness of it all. And to her it seemed quite too soon that
climbing the long hill they entered the village of Horsham, whose
white church spire had for some time been looking down on them.
Horsham, like most country villages, consisted of a central cluster
of stores and shops, from which radiated a scattering company of
comfortable homes, and all surrounded and over-arched with
imbosoming trees. Presently the sleek bay horse turned into the yard
of one of the most cosy of these, trim with white paint and green
blinds. At the first glance Posey saw that everything about the place
was faultlessly neat and tidy; and also that on the opposite side of
the drive, near the street but in the same yard, was another and
smaller building bearing above its door a sign,
ELNATHAN HAGOOD. WAGONS REPAIRED.
She had little time to look around, however, for Mrs. Hagood,
unlocking a side door, led the way into a large, comfortable kitchen.
Hastily divesting herself of her outer wraps, she opened the door to a
bedroom off from it, which was only long enough for the bed, and
wide enough to admit at the side of the bed a washstand and a chair.
“Here, Posey,” she said, “is your room. You will find it clean and
tidy, and I shall expect you to keep it so. Now take off your things
and hang them on those nails behind the door, and put on one of
your gingham aprons, that you wore at the Refuge, to keep your
dress clean. Then take that pail on the corner table to the spring at
the end of the yard and fill it with water. Mind that you don’t slop it
over you, or spill any on the floor as you bring it in, either. Then fill
the teakettle and put it on to boil, and go out in the woodhouse and
get seven potatoes out of the basketful on a bench by the door.
Wash them in the tin basin that hangs up over the sink and put them
in the oven to bake.” Here Mrs. Hagood added some more wood to
that which had burned low in the stove, opened the draughts and set
it to burning briskly. “By the time you have done that I will have my
dress changed and be back to show you where to get the things to
set the table.”
Posey had proceeded as far as the filling of the teakettle when Mr.
Hagood entered and after a glance around the room as if to assure
himself that they were alone drew from his pocket a handful of
apples. “They’re russets,” he said in a cautious voice, holding them
out to her. “They’ve just got meller an’ I thought mebby you’d like to
keep ’em in your room an’ eat one when you felt like it.” And Posey
gratefully accepted the good-will offering, and the suggestive hint
implied with it.
After supper she washed up the dishes under Mrs. Hagood’s
supervision, and when that was done and the lamp lighted gladly sat
down, for she was decidedly tired after the unwonted events and
excitement of the day. Unless company came, the kitchen was also
the living-room, for Mrs. Hagood said it was good enough for them,
and saved the dirt and wear of carpets in the front rooms. So Mr.
Hagood drew up to the table with his spectacles and weekly paper
and was soon absorbed in the latter, while Mrs. Hagood brought out
a blue and white sock, partly finished, which she attacked vigorously.
Noticing with a glance of disapproval Posey’s folded hands she
asked, “What did you do evenings at the Refuge?”
“We studied part of the evening, and then we read, or one of the
teachers read to us, and sometimes we sang, or played quiet
games.”
“Well,” with emphasis, “I think they had better been teaching poor
children who will always have to work for their living, something of
some use. Do you know how to knit?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then I will set up a stocking of cotton yarn for you to-morrow and
show you how. When I was your age I knit all my own stockings, and
always had knitting to catch up when I’d nothing else to do. Girls
then didn’t sit with their hands idle much, I can tell you,” and her
knitting needles clicked loud and fast.
Thus was Posey introduced to her new home. And that night as
she sat in her tiny room, in a frame of mind it must be confessed
somewhat depressed by the formidable personality of Mrs. Hagood,
she ate one of the russet apples, which she had hidden in a drawer
in the stand, and felt cheered and comforted by the spirit of kindly

A Study On The Washback Effects of The Test For English Majors TEM Implications For Testing and Teaching Reforms Qian Xu

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A Study On The Washback Effects of The Test For English Majors TEM Implications For Testing and Teaching Reforms Qian Xu

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A Study on the Washback Effects of the

Test for English Majors TEM

A Study on Antimicrobial Effects of Nanosilver for

Internationalizing Teaching, Localizing Learning: An

Study and Teaching Guide for The History of the

English Quasi Numeral Classifiers A Corpus Based

The Wiley handbook of psychometric testing : a

A Course for Teaching English Learners, 3rd Edition

Teacher Performance Assessment and Accountability

Research Driven Pedagogy Implications of L2A Theory and

A Study on the Washback

ISBN 978-981-13-1962-4 ISBN 978-981-13-1963-1 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951416

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

1 TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context�������� 1

3 Theoretical Frameworks for Washback Studies ���������������������������������� 23

5.3 Teachers’ Perceptions ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 123

7 Conclusions and Implications ���������������������������������������������������������������� 179

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

Fig. 1.1 Educational hierarchy of English teaching for English majors........... 2

Table 5.11 Courses introduced by TEM participating universities.................. 119

Table 6.1 Background information of the teachers observed......................... 158

1.1 The Educational System in China

In China, quite a few universities offer a four-year program for undergraduate

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

Department of Higher Education

National Advisory Committee for Foreign Language Teaching

Teaching Syllabus Designers TEM Testing Committee

Teaching Syllabus TEM

Fig. 1.1 Educational hierarchy of English teaching for English majors

1.2 The History of TEM

1.2.1 The Launch of TEM

1.2.2 The Development of TEM

Table 1.1 (continued)

1.2.3 The Soaring Test Population

1.2.4 Research on TEM

Table 1.2 TEM studies published over the years

2. Validation of a certain item in TEM investigated the construct of that section,

1.3 TEM Test Characteristics

TEM is a set of criterion-referenced English tests administered by NACFLT on

1.3.1 TEM Test Purpose

1.3.2 TEM Test Content and Format

Table 1.4 Test content and format of TEM

Table 1.4 (continued)

1.3.3 TEM Administration and Marking

1.3.4 TEM Test Score Report and Interpretation

1.4 TEM Test Characteristics vs. the Teaching Syllabus

1.4.1 The Teaching Syllabus

The Teaching Syllabus is designed to standardize education for undergraduate

1.4.2  Comparison Between the Teaching Syllabus and TEM

But evidence enough remained: the cabinet, that through a sliding

ELNATHAN HAGOOD. WAGONS REPAIRED.

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1 TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context�� 1

3 Theoretical Frameworks for Washback Studies �� 23

5.3 Teachers’ Perceptions �� 123

7 Conclusions and Implications �� 179

1.1 The Educational System in China

1.2 The History of TEM

1.2.1 The Launch of TEM

1.2.2 The Development of TEM

1.2.3 The Soaring Test Population

1.2.4 Research on TEM

1.3 TEM Test Characteristics

1.3.1 TEM Test Purpose

1.3.2 TEM Test Content and Format

1.3.3 TEM Administration and Marking

1.3.4 TEM Test Score Report and Interpretation

1.4 TEM Test Characteristics vs. the Teaching Syllabus

1.4.1 The Teaching Syllabus

1.4.2 Comparison Between the Teaching Syllabus and TEM