mtc.ntnu.edu.tw/cpt_english.html
You can help me on the CPT - Chinese Proficiency Test.
Thanks
Stefan
Nice to see a bit of competition for the HSK. Is anybody very familiar with how they’ve gone about creating this test? They show comparisons between their test and the HSK, but I’m wondering how they arrived at those comparisons. The only method that would be seen as valid by any respectable journal would be for them to actually get a few hundred (if not a few thousand) people to take both the HSK and this exam at different sittings and with different versions of both exams. I got the impression from their website that they haven’t done that.
I also think it’s a bit silly for them to try to draw any comparisons at all with the HSK Advanced Exam. The advanced HSK includes a writing section as well as an oral test. I guess that these two parts are criterion referenced, not norm referenced. This MTC exam has no oral or writing section for any level. Also, there is a gap between level 8 on the HSK Elementary/Intermediate Exam and level 9 on the advanced exam. Hanban says that someone who has received 2000 hours of instruction (whatever that means) should be able to score and 8 on all sections. They say that someone who has had 3,000 hours of instruction should be able to get at least a 9 on the advanced exam. From the few people I’ve known who’ve scored a cert on the advanced exam, you would need at least a couple of years of tertiary level education (as in that which is given to native speakers) to have a chance of getting a 10 or 11. This MTC site says that takers of their advanced exam should have received at least 960 hours of instruction, which would be about 64 weeks or two years at a place that offers 15 hours a week. It seems that they’re saying that the average student who’s only done two years at MTC could pull down a 10 on the HSK. Bullshit. I won’t believe it until they do some proper research and publish the results in a reputable journal. That is what they’re going to have to do if they want this exam to have any standing at all. Don’t hold your breath, though.
[quote=“MTC”]Set your learning goal
Practice makes perfect. If you practice continuously everyday, your language ability will improve. Set your learning goal according to your language ability. You will have more chance passing the test and obtain the certificate. The books listed in the below can be your reference book for learning. For example, Practical Audio-Visual Chinese (I), (II), (III), Fareast Everyday Chinese (I), (II), (III), Speaking Chinese II, Chinese Moral Tales, Taiwan Today, Chinese Folk Tales (I), (II), Radio Plays, Chinese Customs and Traditions, Practical Business Conversation (I), (II), Stories from Chinese History (I), Chinese Idiom Source Stories, Newspaper Readings (I), (II), Thought and Society, Advanced Chinese Reader, Taiwan TV News Programs, etc.
[/quote]
This part causes me to have a lot of doubts about their exam. Anybody notice how these are all just books used by MTC? This makes me think that they haven’t really created a proficiency exam, but instead an exam that student’s who’ve studied at MTC might do well on. Have a look on the websites for IELTS, HSK, TEOFL, TOEIC, etc. None of them recommend any specific course of study; I believe all of them claim that their tests are not based on any series of books or study program. They are based on language proficiency testing principles, not a stack of dodgy textbooks. Nope, these MTC folks are going to have to do better than this.