Testing Language, but What?: Examining the Carrier Content of IELTS Preparation Materials from a Critical Perspective

IF 1.4 2区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
M. Noori, Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini
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引用次数: 4

Abstract

ABSTRACT The implicit sociocultural functioning of the content of high-stakes English language proficiency tests is a rarely-explored concern in language assessment. This study attempts to bring critical views of language testing and critical discourse studies together to examine the content of IELTS preparation materials in search of topics that are reflected and reproduced through this content. Fourteen sample tests (including reading texts, transcripts of listening files, speaking cue-cards, and writing topics) were investigated through a qualitative content analysis process. The emerging 663 coded episodes came together in four major categories of topics that shape the overall content of these IELTS practice books: Entertainment, Money, Nature, and Education, plus a miscellaneous set of less prominent topics. The findings indicate the discursive accentuation of specific aspects of these themes as well as certain patterns of the inclusion/exclusion of settings and participants. We argue that the discursive construction of such a content landscape can shape specific sociocultural orientations, and can naturalize and reproduce mental models and values far from the universal face of an international high-stakes test.
测试语言,但是什么?:从批判的角度审视雅思备考材料的载体内容
摘要高风险英语语言能力测试内容的隐性社会文化功能是语言评估中很少被探讨的问题。本研究试图将语言测试和批判性话语研究的批判性观点结合起来,考察雅思备考材料的内容,寻找通过这些内容反映和再现的主题。通过定性内容分析过程调查了14个样本测试(包括阅读文本、听力文件文本、口语提示卡和写作主题)。新出现的663个编码章节集中在四大类主题中,这些主题塑造了雅思练习本的整体内容:娱乐,金钱,自然和教育,以及其他一些不太突出的主题。研究结果表明,话语强调了这些主题的特定方面,以及某些模式的包括/排除设置和参与者。我们认为,这种内容景观的话语建构可以塑造特定的社会文化取向,并可以自然化和再现远离国际高风险测试的普遍面孔的心理模型和价值观。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
6.40
自引率
3.40%
发文量
22
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