A Study on the Content Validity of Cloze Test in 2023 Zhejiang Senior High School Entrance Examination English Paper

Abstract

This study analyzes the content validity of five cloze test passages from the 2023 Zhejiang Senior High School Entrance Examination English papers, focusing on two dimensions: Text Features and Test Validity. Through both textual and quantitative analysis, the results show that the selected passages are diverse in topic, educational in value, and of moderate difficulty. In terms of test level, the items mainly target discourse and sentence levels; in terms of focus factors, meaning is prioritized, with grammar also considered. The distribution of word classes emphasizes content words, indicating a high level of content validity. However, certain limitations remain, including a lack of genre diversity, imbalanced distribution within test levels and focus factors, and limited coverage of word classes. Therefore, future test design should promote greater genre variety, more balanced allocation of test levels and focus factors, and broader word class coverage. In classroom teaching, students should be guided to engage with a wide range of topics and genres, strengthen their foundational language knowledge, and develop logical thinking and discourse awareness.