{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90807"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90807","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The relationship between test takers' performance on the TEM4 and their knowledge of the released test specifications","abstract":"The role that released test specifications can play during test preparation is often neglected by test takers, and even researchers. Focusing on the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4) in a Chinese EFL setting, this paper investigates the preparation effects associated with the use of TEM4 Syllabus, or its released specifications. Data collection involved 48 test takers of the TEM4 recruited from a large university in central China, where the experimental group was given a tutorial session on the TEM4 Syllabus as the treatment. Specifically, the study measured the effects associated with the TEM4 Syllabus by using a quantitative metric of score improvement and a qualitative metric informed by a framework adapted from the work of Messick (1982) and Xie (2013). Along with its exploration of possible preparation effects, this paper also discusses the ethicality of different test preparation methods and touches on the issue of specification releasability (Davidson, 2012).","abstract_html":"The role that released test specifications can play during test preparation is often neglected by test takers, and even researchers. Focusing on the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4) in a Chinese EFL setting, this paper investigates the preparation effects associated with the use of TEM4 Syllabus, or its released specifications. Data collection involved 48 test takers of the TEM4 recruited from a large university in central China, where the experimental group was given a tutorial session on the TEM4 Syllabus as the treatment. Specifically, the study measured the effects associated with the TEM4 Syllabus by using a quantitative metric of score improvement and a qualitative metric informed by a framework adapted from the work of Messick (1982) and Xie (2013). Along with its exploration of possible preparation effects, this paper also discusses the ethicality of different test preparation methods and touches on the issue of specification releasability (Davidson, 2012).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, Xiaowan"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Teaching of English Sec Lang","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Walters, Francis Scott","Davidson, Fred"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-07-07T20:27:53Z","date_published":"2016-07-07T20:27:53Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:34Z","subjects":["released test specifications","releasability issue","Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4)","test preparation"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2016, Xiaowan Zhang"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90807","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Walters, Francis Scott","Davidson, Fred"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhang, Xiaowan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2016-07-07T20:27:53Z","2018-07-08T09:15:30Z","2016-04-22","2016-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Teaching of English Sec Lang"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["released test specifications","releasability issue","Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4)","test preparation"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2016, Xiaowan Zhang"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90807"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The role that released test specifications can play during test preparation is often neglected by test takers, and even researchers. Focusing on the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4) in a Chinese EFL setting, this paper investigates the preparation effects associated with the use of TEM4 Syllabus, or its released specifications. Data collection involved 48 test takers of the TEM4 recruited from a large university in central China, where the experimental group was given a tutorial session on the TEM4 Syllabus as the treatment. Specifically, the study measured the effects associated with the TEM4 Syllabus by using a quantitative metric of score improvement and a qualitative metric informed by a framework adapted from the work of Messick (1982) and Xie (2013). Along with its exploration of possible preparation effects, this paper also discusses the ethicality of different test preparation methods and touches on the issue of specification releasability (Davidson, 2012).","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2018-05-01","The student, Xiaowan Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-20 at 14:03.","The student, Xiaowan Zhang, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-04-20 at 14:04.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-04-22 at 14:07.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9375 on 2016-07-07 at 13:50:28","Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-07T20:27:53Z (GMT). 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Focusing on the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM4) in a Chinese EFL setting, this paper investigates the preparation effects associated with the use of TEM4 Syllabus, or its released specifications. Data collection involved 48 test takers of the TEM4 recruited from a large university in central China, where the experimental group was given a tutorial session on the TEM4 Syllabus as the treatment. Specifically, the study measured the effects associated with the TEM4 Syllabus by using a quantitative metric of score improvement and a qualitative metric informed by a framework adapted from the work of Messick (1982) and Xie (2013). Along with its exploration of possible preparation effects, this paper also discusses the ethicality of different test preparation methods and touches on the issue of specification releasability (Davidson, 2012).","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2018-05-01","The student, Xiaowan Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-20 at 14:03.","The student, Xiaowan Zhang, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-04-20 at 14:04.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-04-22 at 14:07.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9375 on 2016-07-07 at 13:50:28","Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-07T20:27:53Z (GMT). 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