The foundation of adaptive mechanism for a Chinese reading test system based on CEFR.

Traditional paper-and-pencil-based testing is still the primary form of Chinese language proficiency testing today; online test systems are very few. Although the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency – Huayu, has developed the TOP (Test of Proficiency – Huayu) Online Mock Test system, it is not adaptive. The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) provides specific descriptions of language proficiency, guidelines on language learning, a clear and easy-to-understand proficiency structure, and aspects of language communication. After long-term scientific research and broad discussions, CEFR does provide clear standards for learning a foreign language. Based on the abovementioned motivations, the purposes of this study were as follows: 1. To establish a “CEFR-based, adaptive Chinese reading comprehension test system.” This system would not only allow testees to be cognizant of their learning progress but also provide a user-friendly administrator interface that assists administrators or teachers in quickly checking testees’ levels of Chinese proficiency. 2. To simulate the process of the computerized adaptive test system with empirical data in order to evaluate the effects of the system. First of all, the test system was tested on 811 students from Philippine Chinese School; then, the item parameters were analyzed according to the test results. Lastly, the empirical data were used to simulate the process of the computerized adaptive test system. According to the analysis of the research results, it can be concluded that: 1. A computerized adaptive test system was successfully established in this study. It allows testees to take tests and check test results, as well as provides a back-end management platform for administrators. 2. According to the simulation research on different ability estimation methods, it is found that the expected a posteriori (EAP) estimation is better than the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation, as a whole, in the use of the Chinese ...