The Construction and Exploration of Multi-stage Adaptive Testing for Chinese Vocabulary

The case schools have transformed the relatively independent nature of first and second Chinese language curricula by developing an integrated Chinese language proficiency progression through the concept of Language and Literacy Continua. They have constructed a language proficiency framework consisting of four stages and eight levels, catering to primary and secondary school students learning Chinese regardless their language background. To align with the implementation and development of this framework, the schools have constructed a standardized testing system focusing on Chinese vocabulary. Utilizing expert judgment and item analysis methods, the study has not also built a multi-stage item bank for Chinese vocabulary but also determined the difficulty, reliability, validity and distinctiveness for each item. Additionally, to enhance test organization efficiency and improve the validity and reliability of the test, as well as to provide students with more personalized customized test, the schools have adopted a computerized multistage testing (MST) mode. This approach requires examinees with varying Chinese proficiency levels to answer item sets of different difficulties based on their responses. This paper details the construction of the test item bank, introduces the development process of the multistage adaptive testing system using item analysis, and based on testing results and teacher interviews, finds that the Chinese vocabulary multistage adaptive test can accurately estimate students' Chinese vocabulary levels while reducing both testing time and the number of items.

Keywords

Vocabulary, Multistage, Item bank, Adaptive Testing

source

International Journal of Chinese Language Education; Jun 2025; Issue No. 17; p. 153-172

Language

Chinese