درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This paper presents a critical evaluation of the English Test for International Communication (ETIC), a large-scale, computer-based, and criterion-referenced English language proficiency test developed by the China Language Assessment in 2016. The ETIC test battery comprises five categories: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Translation, with the goal of assessing test-takers’ oral and written communicative language abilities in workplace contexts. Given that a revised version of ETIC with many structural changes has been in use since 2021, and the recent growth of interest in assessing communicative language abilities, a critical review of ETIC is warranted. Drawing on Kunnan’s (2018) recent model of test fairness and justice, this review primarily evaluates the usefulness and fairness of ETIC Basic, ETIC Intermediate, and ETIC Advanced. Appraisals reveal that ETIC encompasses the philosophy of fairness, justice, and usefulness in the development, administration, and scoring procedures. There is, however, room for improvement in various areas, such as establishing a test inquiry and appeal service and keeping the channels of communication open. As reviewers, we hope this article will assist language testing researchers and practitioners, teachers and students, or even potential test-takers in better understanding the unique ETIC assessment scene in China and spark more discussions about communicative language testing worldwide.

INTRODUCTION: After the approval of the country's crisis management law, the upstream documents related to this law, including the preparedness and response programs at the national and provincial levels, are among the tasks assigned to increase the efficiency of the crisis management processes. METHODS: This study presents a general framework for developing a provincial crisis response program. The proposed process has been used to develop the crisis response program of Hamadan province. In the phase of understanding the current situation, questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to collect field data and determine the challenges presented to crisis management in Hamadan province. Moreover, a method for allocating the specialized functions of the response phase to the provincial organizations has been presented using the national crisis documents. FINDINGS: In general, the findings of this research can be assigned to three groups. The first group pertained to the project method, including the stages of understanding the current situation and developing the response program of the provinces. The second group of findings was the summary of the analysis of field data collected regarding the state of preparedness and response in Hamadan province. The third group encompassed determining and allocating specialized crisis response functions in Hamadan province. The functions of the provinces (n=32) and after their compliance with the national functions, the crisis management law, and the capabilities of the existing organization in the province, 56 specialized sub-functions were identified in the provinces, and the responsible, collaborating, and supporting institutions were determined. CONCLUSION: As evidenced by the obtained results, in the process of function allocation, some problems have been identified due to the shortage of information in the upstream documents, which are suggested to the crisis management organization for better planning.