The Empirical Study on the Face Validity of CET

This paper is an empirical study of the efficacy of China s large-scale national College English Test (CET), in testing students communicative competence. Since the focus of College-level English teaching in China has been shifting to communicative methodology, the question whether the CET is efficient in assessing students communicative competence is of great significance. This paper presents the results obtained from questionnaires and interviews held with the lecturers and students of Northeast Normal University (NENU), as far as the face validicy of the CET in testing students communicative competence is concerned. The questionnaires are comprised of closed questions and open-ended questions. The responses to the closed questions are tabulated and presented in bar graphs for a better visual effect, and analyzed in terms of frequency and percentage. The responses to the open-ended questions are presented in a descriptive manner. The results are analyzed from the perspective of content and format.