Task design has been viewed to be essential in the context of language assessment. This study investigated whether increasing task complexity affects learners' writing performance. It employs three writing tasks with different levels of complexity based on Robinson's Componential Framework. A cohort of 278 participants was selected using a simple…

A burgeoning literature has documented the importance of elite colleges. Yet, little is known about access to elite education and its labor market implications in China, a country that produces one in every five college graduates in the world. College admission in China is governed by a single exam--the national college entrance exam, and the…

This study is the first to examine contributions of proficiency subskills to pragmatic development. We used the latent growth curve modeling to reveal the causal relationships between proficiency subskills and pragmatic competence in 109 American learners of Chinese across two data points over three months abroad in China. Proficiency was measured…

Chinese higher education is experiencing rapid development and growth. With tremendous resources invested in higher education, policy makers have requested more direct evidence of student learning. However, assessment tools that can be used to measure college-level learning are scarce in China. To mitigate this situation, we translated the…

This study intends to develop a standardized instrument for measuring classroom teaching and learning in secondary chemistry lessons. Based on previous studies and interviews with expert teachers, the progression of five quality levels was constructed hypothetically to represent the quality of chemistry lessons in Chinese secondary schools. The…

Not long ago, the author had the wonderful opportunity to visit schools in China and speak to Chinese educators. Everywhere she went, teachers and administrators asked her the same question: How can we help our students become more flexible, creative thinkers? She was struck by the contrast between these conversations and the ones she most often…

This study investigates the relationship between test preparation and test performance on the "TOEFL iBT"® exam. Information on background variables and test preparation strategies was gathered from 14,593 respondents in China through an online survey. A Chinese standardized English test was used as a control for prior English ability.…

The main goal of this paper is to analyse factors (accessibility, attendance rates and quality of preschools) that may be affecting the educational readiness of China's rural children before they enter the formal school system. Using data from a survey of 82 preschools and 492 households in six counties in three provinces of China, this paper…

Despite a policy focus on educating the whole child, China continues to struggle with a culture of testing, placing a premium on academic knowledge to the detriment of a more well-rounded curriculum. Students are overworked, lack adequate sleep, and have little time for anything beyond school work. The Chinese Ministry of Education has enumerated…

The current preoccupation in the United States with test-based accountability is founded on a set of faulty assumptions--about education practices elsewhere in the world, about international test score comparisons, and about the extent to which test scores are valid indicators of the quality of education or the state of the economy. For example,…