1. Transitions and Comparisons – CET and ECT
Tim Koster, TIAN XIANG AND QIN XIAO

2. Introduction to the Presenters from Henan University
Tian Xiang (Tanya)
English Listening teacher at Henan University IEC
Bachelor’s degree – Henan Agricultural University; majored in English
Master’s degree - University of Edenborough; majored in TESOL
Qin Xiao (Claire)
English Reading teacher at Henan University IEC
Bachelor’s degree – Xi'an Fanyi University; majored in English
Master’s degree – Hong Kong Baptist University; majored in English Language Studies

3. Contents of this Session
What is the ECT (End of Course Test)?
CET Listening (Tian Xiang)
CET Reading (Qin Xiao)
Differences between the CET and ECT Writing exams (Tim Koster)
Conclusions

4. 1. What is the ECT (End of Course Test)?

5. What is the ECT?
The ECT (End of Course Test) is Victoria University’s English language proficiency test.
It functions as a gateway test for students hoping to enter Diploma and Degree studies with Victoria University.
It is similar in form and function to the IELTS test, but developed internally and validated by Victoria University English, and assessed using our own assessment framework, taking into account coursework results in some circumstances.

6. ECT Structure There are four tests as part of the ECT.
Writing, reading, and listening are all tested in one exam:
Listening: minutes + 10 minute transfer time
Reading: 60 minutes + 10 minute transfer time
Writing: 70 minutes + 5 minutes checking time
Speaking is tested on a separate day. One-on-one conversation with a foreign examiner.
Speaking: 12 minutes

7. Writing – two parts Writing an argumentative essay
Describing the features of a graph or chart
25 minutes.
1/3 of writing grade.
Describe the main features of a chart, or graph.
Writing an argumentative essay
50 minutes + 5 minutes checking time.
2/3 of writing grade.
An argumentative essay topic question (following from writing taught in EAP4)

8. Reading & Listening Some questions will be T/F/NG.
Some will be multiple choice.
Some questions will require you to write some English words. Read the instructions carefully – it may say: “write no more than 2/3/4 words”.

9. Speaking 12 minutes for each student.
One-on-one conversation with a VU examiner.
The test is structured in three parts:
Questions about familiar topics
Response to a topic (thinking time 40 seconds (students can write some notes) and then talking time of 2 minutes).
Follow-up questions relating to the above topic.

10. Structure of the CET By Claire (Qin Xiao)
Testing Contents
Scoring
Time
Writing
Short Essay
15%
30 min
Listening Comprehension
News Reports
35%
25 min
Conversations
Passages
Reading Comprehension
Blank Filling
40 min
Skimming & Scanning
Reading in Depth
Translation
From C to E
In Total
100%
125 min

11. 2. CET Listening (Tian Xiang)

12. Changes of the CET Listening 2016 CET Reform
English teaching Students' English level Practicability Learning autonomy

13. Increacingly Compatible with IELTS
Long conversation/monologue
Read ONCE only

14. 3 times ×
When you look up at the night sky, what do you see？There are other (26) _______ bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most (27) _______ of these is a comet(彗星)
Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. They are (28) ____________ ice and other frozen liquids and gases. (29) __________ these “dirty snowballs" begin to orbit the sun, just as the planets do.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze. They (30) ______________ dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail. The tail and the (31) ________ fuzzy(模糊的) atmosphere around a comet are (32) ____________ that can help identify this (33) __________ in the night sky.
In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person can't see them all, of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the(34)_______ eye. Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it (35) _________ close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its eathly visit. It won't be back for another four thousand years or so.
from CET Dec. 2015

15. × Short conversation A)They admire the courage of space explorers.
B)They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.
C)They were going to watch a wonderful movie.
D)They like doing scientific exploration very much.
from CET Dec. 2015

16. NEW CET Listening 25 minutes 25 questions (35% )
The test is structured in three parts：
Test structure
Question type
Question number
Scores accounting
3 News report
Multiple choice 7 7%
2 Long conversation 8 8%
3 Short passage 10
20%

17. Features of CET
Inference/Summarize
News

18. Multiple Choice (1 from 3;2/3 from 5/7 ) Short-answer question
Different question types between IELTS & CET Listening
Multiple Choice
(one best answer)
(Questions Recorded)
IELTS
CET
Gap/Form-filling
Sentence-completion
Match
Multiple Choice (1 from 3;2/3 from 5/7 )
Short-answer question

19. Sample CET Listening
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard. 1.
A) The International Labor Organization‘s key objective. B) The basic social protection for the most vulnerable. C) Rising unemployment worldwide. D) Global economic recovery. 2.
A) Many countries have not taken measures to create enough jobs. B) Few countries know how to address the current economic crisis. C) Few countries have realized the seriousness of the current crisis. D) Many countries need support to improve their people’s livelihood.
from CET Jun. 2016

20. Sample CET Listening
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8.A) He‘s got addicted to technology B) He is not very good at socializing C) He is crazy about text-messaging D) He does not talk long on the phone.
9.A) Talk big B) Talk at length C) Gossip a lot D) Forget herself.
10.A) He thought it was cool B) He needed the practice C) He wanted to stay connected with them D) He had an urgent message to send.
11.A) It poses a challenge to seniors B) It saves both time and money C) It is childish and unprofessional D) It is cool and convenient.
from CET Jun. 2016

21. More thoughts to be continued…

22. 3. CET Reading
Qin XIAO (Claire)

23. Reading Comprehension in CET
Types of Questions in CET:
Blank Filling
Skimming & Scanning
Reading in Depth

24. Blank Filling
Blank Filling
Summary Filling

25. CET 4

26. IELTS

27. Skimming & Scanning Match the Statement with the Paragraph
List of Headings

28. CET 4

29. IELTS

30. Reading in Depth
Multiple-choice tasks.

31. CET 4

32. IELTS

33. Summary Similarities and differences between CET & IELTS Trend
Overall ability training for the Students

34. Translation from Chinese to English

35. Translation from C to E

36. 4. Differences between CET & ECT Writing
Some things we need to think about

37. Imagine this situation…
You have two teachers with different ideas:
Teacher Li likes Kong Zi (Confucius), and you know that he likes it when you quote Kong Zi in your writing.
Teacher Xu thinks Kong Zi is old fashioned, and has told you that if you quote him in your writing, she will give you a lower grade.
Q: When you have an exam with Teacher Xu, will you write a Kong Zi quote?
Why?

38. Think about your audience – who is assessing your writing
Think about your audience – who is assessing your writing? What features are they looking for?

39. A more applicable example would be:
Your ELICOS teacher has taught you that in the academic register (the writing style) of Australian essays, you should not write personal pronouns, such as I, we, mine, my, our, etc. You should also not use slang or exclamation marks. You have an essay question that directs you to use academic register, or you will need to resubmit your essay. You write: With the development of society, we are increasing our consumption of electronic goods. I think that this is a good thing for our society. So cool! Do you think you will need to resubmit your ELICOS essay assessment?

40. Australian and Chinese Exams
Chinese and foreign English teachers are preparing students for two different writing exams:
The ECT (Victoria University’s End of Course Test)
The CET 4 (College English Test)
These are different writing exams – the types of questions are different in certain ways, and the writing examiners have differing expectations.

41. Who are your examiners? Who is grading your exams?
The CET is graded by Chinese examiners.
The ECT is graded by VUE examiners.
Q: What are some things we teach in our classes that our students sometimes do not ‘take on board’?
Why do you think this might be?

42. CET (College English Test) Sample Essay:
Getting to Know the World Outside the Campus
Sample essay：
With the rapid development of society, it is essential for college students to get to know the world outside the campus. There are a variety of reasons why we should do that. The primary one is that we can expand our horizons. Nowadays, as students, our knowledge is mostly derived from books, which is really limited. Only through contact with society will we learn more practical things. Second, it will enable us to be more sophisticated after graduation. Finally, knowing the world outside the campus may awaken in us a high sense of duty and help us make greater achievements in the future.
As is known to all, there are many ways we can know the society, such as through community service or keeping informed through TV, radio or newspapers.
As a university student, I will read newspapers and magazines to enrich my knowledge and do some volunteer work for the community or take up a part-time job in my spare time so that I can learn from my experience and prepare for my future work.
Source: getting-know-world-outside-campus
Is this a good essay for the CET?
Is this a good essay for the ECT?
Why not?
Look at the highlighted problems on the next slide.

43. CET (College English Test) Sample Essay:
Also
CET (College English Test) Sample Essay:
There is no clear introduction, and all main points are made in one body paragraph.
Getting to Know the World Outside the Campus
Sample essay：
With the rapid development of society, it is essential for college students to get to know the world outside the campus. There are a variety of reasons why we should do that. The primary one is that we can expand our horizons. Nowadays, as students, our knowledge is mostly derived from books, which is really limited. Only through contact with society will we learn more practical things. Second, it will enable us to be more sophisticated after graduation. Finally, knowing the world outside the campus may awaken in us a high sense of duty and help us make greater achievements in the future.
As is known to all, there are many ways we can know the society, such as through community service or keeping informed through TV, radio or newspapers.
As a university student, I will read newspapers and magazines to enrich my knowledge and do some volunteer work for the community or take up a part-time job in my spare time so that I can learn from my experience and prepare for my future work.
Source: getting-know-world-outside-campus
This paragraph only has one sentence. The student should develop their ideas with several supporting sentences.
This has the same problem. An ECT/IELTS type writing would need the student to explain their reasoning further

44. Writing like this
Writing in the style shown in that CET 4 example essay is not wrong.
In fact, it is mostly grammatically correct and very fluent.
However, the style is not suitable for ELICOS academic writing tasks.
When students take the ECT, or English exams like TOEFL or IELTS, they will be required to write in an English academic register.

45. ECT Writing Criteria
Assuming CET 4 level students are at the degree-entry (similar to an IELTS 6 band), the following are the ECT writing descriptors that we use that would identify a student at this level

46. General ECT Writing Criteria for an Degree-Entry student
Answer addresses all parts of the task although one part may be more fully developed.
Thesis statement expresses clear position on the task
Main ideas are all relevant to the task but some need clarifying or need further supporting reasons/examples
Conclusion reached but may not summarise main points effectively
Ideas organised coherently with a clear linear direction
Uses cohesive strategies competently (awareness of substitution & referencing but not always accurate)
Essay divided into paragraphs but may be confused in places
Attempts to use some more sophisticated vocabulary beyond that given in the rubric with some success
Errors in word choice, spelling & punctuation do not compromise understanding
A range of sentence types (simple, compound & complex) used effectively though with some errors
Some grammatical errors but meaning largely unaffected
Register is usually appropriate with perhaps one or two minor lapses

47. CET (College English Test) Sample Essay:
Getting to Know the World Outside the Campus
Sample essay：
With the rapid development of society, it is essential for college students to get to know the world outside the campus. There are a variety of reasons why we should do that. The primary one is that we can expand our horizons. Nowadays, as students, our knowledge is mostly derived from books, which is really limited. Only through contact with society will we learn more practical things. Second, it will enable us to be more sophisticated after graduation. Finally, knowing the world outside the campus may awaken in us a high sense of duty and help us make greater achievements in the future.
As is known to all, there are many ways we can know the society, such as through community service or keeping informed through TV, radio or newspapers.
As a university student, I will read newspapers and magazines to enrich my knowledge and do some volunteer work for the community or take up a part-time job in my spare time so that I can learn from my experience and prepare for my future work.
Source: getting-know-world-outside-campus

48. 5. Conclusion for Our Students

49. Conclusion for our Students
Remember the lessons you’ve learnt with your foreign teachers.
Remember to use:
Academic register
Topic sentences
Support sentences
Transition words
Remember not to use:
Personal pronouns: I, my, we, our, us, you, yours.
Word contractions: can’t = cannot; won’t = will not.
Sentences beginning with *. And*; *. But*; *. So*
Be smart. Think about who you are writing English for.

50. Different Expectations Different Goals
Your Chinese English teachers are excellent teachers. By following their lessons, you will do well in the CET 4.
Your foreign English teachers are also excellent teachers. By following their lessons, you will do well in the ECT.