Analyzing Characteristics of the Input and the Expected Response in TEM-4 Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Reading comprehension, as an important part of Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM-4), plays an important role in the English test. Drawing on the framework of Task Characteristics proposed by Bachman and Palmer (1999), this paper attempts to explore the content validity in TEM-4 (2009) reading comprehension in accordance with the testing syllabus. Through analyzing characteristics of the input and the expected response, this study shows that TEM-4 reading comprehension has relatively high content validity and the contents are internally and basically consistent with the requirements of the TEM-4 testing syllabus.