This book reports in detail the newly developed Communicative Listening Comprehension Test (CLCT) for the National College English Test (CET) of China. Following the principles of communicative testing in general and test construction approach proposed by Bachman and Palmer (1996) in particular, the project develops CLCT for CET-4 and CET-6. The research begins with the construction of frameworks of listening task characteristics and communicative listening ability. Subsequently, based on a survey of Chinese college students' English listening needs and an analysis of listening tasks in influential English listening course books and public tests, CLCT-4 and CLCT-6 test specifications are developed. Finally, sample papers are produced and a series of posteriori studies are conducted to examine the difficulty and usefulness of the newly developed notes-completion task type in two CLCT tests. As an example of successful integration of communicative testing theories and test construction practice, this research provides valuable insights into listening test development for other large-scale tests.

'This volume addresses a very timely and important topic, and provides both broad and in-depth coverage of a number of large-scale English tests in China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and about the Chinese learner.' – Lyle F. Bachman, From the Foreword Building on current theoretical and practical frameworks for English language assessment and testing, this book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, relevant picture of English language assessment for students in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and for Chinese learners of English around the world. Written by well-recognized international scholars in language testing, it covers: the history of tests and testing systems, issues and challenges, and current research in China both test-designers’ and test-users’ points of view on test development and test validation within a range of political, economical, social, and financial contexts in China theoretical/conceptual perspectives on the use of the English language assessment at different levels, including societal, university, and schools empirical research related specifically to test development, curricular innovation, and test validation Given the long history of objective testing and its extensive use in Chinese society, and considering the sheer number of students taking various tests in English in China and elsewhere, an understanding of the impact of English language testing is essential for anyone involved in testing and assessment issues in China and elsewhere in the world. This is a must-read volume for testing and assessment policy makers, curriculum designers, researchers, ESL/EFL materials writers, graduate students, and English language teachers/researchers at all levels.

This book investigates the lexico-grammatical complementarity in language in its construal of person as a semantic system. Given the vast and wide spectrum of resources for expressing distinctions in the assignment of person roles in language, this book presents person-related system networks covering a rich range of semantic features. It also studies the system of person in relation to other major semantic systems instead of regarding it as one isolated component of language parallel to gender, number, case, etc. Systemic features of person are in turn realized by lexicogrammar, whose components, lexis and grammar form a relationship of complementarity in the process of transforming human experience into meaning. Person-related meaning can be either realized by lexical means, i.e. entity, process, quality, or grammatical means, i.e. pronouns, clitics, affixes, zero forms. Besides, such meaning is also found to be realized at some indeterminate areas along the lexis-grammar continuum. A special feature of this book is that it observes the lexicalization and grammaticalization of person based on evidence from a variety of languages. Readers will be presented a comprehensive look into the meaning of person and will be encouraged to reflect on its realization in their own languages.

Appendix 2 Non-standard language in Lu Xun's works: Zi and Ci -- Appendix 3 Old words gaining new meanings in cyber space -- Appendix 4 Old words restructuring semantic relations -- References -- Index

This book focuses on the cross-cultural advertising communication and aesthetic issues of brands and brand slogans. Based on the pragmatic translating theories and case studies of a few classic brand translations, the book puts forward the Three Aesthetic Principles of translating brands. The book special features the cultural in addition to the business aspect of introducing China Time-honored Brands to foreign markets. Readers will learn about the great importance of the aesthetic issues and cultural communications in translating brands and brand slogans through this book.

This volume gathers researchers from around the world endeavouring to better understand a number of perennial issues in assessing Chinese learners of English, covering topics such as students' test performances, interactional competence and lexical knowledge, students' motivation, teachers' attitudes and assessment policy changes.

Teaching and Researching Listening provides a focused, state-of-the-art treatment of the linguistic, psycholinguistic and pragmatic processes that are involved in oral language use, and shows how these processes influence listening in a range of practical contexts. Through understanding the interaction between these processes, language educators and researchers can develop more robust research methods and more effective classroom language teaching approaches. In this fully revised and updated second edition, the book: examines a full range of teaching methods and research initiatives related to listening gives definitions of key concepts in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics provides a clear agenda for implementing listening strategies and designing tests offers an abundance of resources for immediate use for teaching and research Featuring insightful quotes and concept boxes, chapter overviews and summaries to guide the reader, Teaching and Researching Listening will engage and inform teachers, teacher trainers and researchers investigating communicative language use.