Test Information Guide

Field 29: Chinese (Mandarin)
Listening Comprehension

The following materials contain:

Sample Test Directions for the Listening Comprehension Assignment

This section of the test consists of a listening comprehension exercise that involves listening to a recorded audio excerpt and then responding in writing to an assignment presented. Your response may be written either in the target language or in English.

If you choose to respond in English, type your response in the response box presented on-screen. If you choose to respond in the target language, your final response must be written on the response sheet provided. Please label your response sheet with the appropriate exercise (e.g., "Listening Comprehension"). Your response sheet must be scanned using the scanner provided at your workstation.

Instructions for scanning your Response Sheet are available by clicking the "Scanning Help" button at the top of the screen.

You may use the erasable notebooklet to make notes, write an outline, or otherwise prepare your response. However, your final response to the exercise must be typed into the on-screen response box OR written on the response sheets and scanned using the scanner provided.

Your response will be evaluated based on the following criteria.

Any time spent responding to the assignment, including scanning the response sheet(s), is part of your testing time. Monitor your time carefully. When your testing time expires, a pop-up message will appear on-screen indicating the conclusion of your test session. Only response sheets that are scanned before you end your test or before time has expired will be scored. Any response sheet that is not scanned before testing ends will NOT be scored.

Please be aware that the visual enhancements normal color scheme and small font are NOT available during this section of the test. Please DO NOT use these features until you have completed all listening items and proceeded to the remaining sections of the test.

Click the Next button when you have finished reading these directions and are ready to begin the listening comprehension exercise.

Be sure you have your headset on before proceeding.

Select the Next button to continue.

Description of the Listening Comprehension Open-Response Item

In this section of the test, candidates are presented with an assignment that requires literal and inferential comprehension of a sample of speech. The recorded speech sample is played twice for the candidate. The recorded speech sample may be in the form of a monologue (e.g., a speech) or a dialogue (e.g., an interview or a conversation). After listening to the recorded speech sample twice, the candidate provides a written response to an assignment testing literal and inferential comprehension of the recording. The assignment may require the candidate to perform such tasks as making auditory discriminations (e.g., time frames), recognizing vocabulary, demonstrating understanding of content, and analyzing the cultural context of the speech. The assignment is designed to test listening comprehension and not writing ability; therefore, the response may be written either in English or in the target language.

Sample questions are provided in the Chinese (Mandarin) sample items Link opens a PDF document..

Scoring Rubric

Performance Characteristics

The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the listening comprehension assignment.

Table outlining performance characteristics.
Listening Comprehension Accuracy and completeness in comprehending spoken language.
Inference Demonstrated ability to analyze elements of spoken language and infer implied information.

Scoring Scale

The scoring scale below, which is related to the performance characteristics for the tests, is used by scorers in assigning scores to responses to the listening comprehension assignment.

Score Scale with description for each score point.
Score Point Score Point Description
4
  • The candidate demonstrates thorough comprehension of the literal content of a sample of spoken language.
  • The candidate accurately analyzes and infers information from spoken language, demonstrating awareness of subtleties.
3
  • The candidate demonstrates good overall comprehension of the literal content, though some details may be misunderstood or missed.
  • The candidate shows some ability to analyze and infer information from spoken language but may misinterpret or miss some subtleties.
2
  • The candidate shows partial comprehension, discerning the main idea, but failing to understand significant supporting ideas and details.
  • The candidate generally fails to analyze and/or infer information from spoken language.
1
  • The candidate fails to demonstrate understanding of the main idea, showing comprehension only of isolated words and phrases.
  • The candidate fails to analyze or infer any information from spoken language.
U The response is unrelated to the assigned topic, illegible, not written in the required language, not of sufficient length to score, or merely a repetition of the assignment.
B There is no response to the assignment.