TEM-4 (Test for English Majors Grade 4) An Introduction 英语专业 4 级统考介绍 Speaker: Wu Jianping (Xiamen University) 介绍人：厦门大学吴建平

TEM-4 (Test for English Majors Grade 4) An Introduction

•英语专业 4级统考介绍• Speaker: Wu Jianping (Xiamen University)

• 介绍人：厦门大学吴建平

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

A Brief History

• Based on the Teaching Syllabus for English Majors in universities and colleges, Written Test,TEM-4 was designed and organized by the National Education Committee of PRC around the late 1980s and came into actual practice in 1990. In 1997, the Syllabus for TEM-4 designed by a group of Chinese specialists and approved by the National

• Education Committee of PRC was published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Now Written Test,TEM-4 has come into being for nearly 14 years. In the course of the period, it went through 3 stages.

• 3 stages:• Tentative and rough stage(1990-1993)

• More mature and comprehensive stage(1994-1996)• Regular stage(1997 onwards)

• Starting from 1996, Oral Test, TEM-4 is now a regular test but not yet a popular one.

• The English majors of Xiamen University took part in TEM-4 as early as 1990.So far the English majors of Xiamen University have taken 13 TEM-4 in all. The average passing rate of the English majors of Xiamen University has stayed at 96% (varying from 92% to 98%) all these years.

The Purpose of TEM-4

• TEM-4 is made up of written test and oral

• test.Its purpose is

• 1） To have a comprehensive test of the English majors at the end of their second year's study to see whether they have met every requirement stipulated in the Teaching Syllabus for English Majors, whether they have acquired every basic skill

• in using English(i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing) and whether they have mastered English grammatical structures, words and expressions.

• 2） To evaluate the output of teaching efforts and promote the inter-collegiate exchanges of teaching experience and expertise.

The Scope of TEM-4

• Grade 1- grade 4 requirements stipulated in the Teaching Syllabus for English Majors.

• Time for TEM-4Time for TEM-4

• The 2nd Saturday in May every year.

The Components of Written Test, TEM-4The Components of Written Test, TEM-4

• Writing;• Dictation;• Listening Comprehension;• Cloze;• Grammar and Vocabulary;• Reading Comprehension.

Other information about written testOther information about written test

• Total score: 125

• Percentage: 100%

• Total length of time: 140 minutes

• Total number of exam items: 90

• The vocabulary for TEM-4 is classified into

• 5 grades and its total number is 6,000.

• Writing• 1)composition （ score 15, score

percentage 15%）• Limit on the number of words: 150words

• Length of time: 35 minutes

• Criterion: a composition to the point, complete, convincing, cohesive, grammatically appropriate, fluent and idiomatic.

• Style of writing: description, narration, exposition, argumentation. So far, argumentation has been found as the 1st choice in TEM-4.

• 2)note writing （ score 5, score percentage 5%）

• One of the forms of practical writing.

• Limit on the number of words: 50-60 words


• Criterion: correct form, appropriate language

• Dictation （ score 15, score percentage 15%）

• Total number of words of the passage to be heard : around 150words.

• Reading speeds:

• the first and the last reading speeds: normal and regular, about 120words per minute;

• the second and the third reading speeds: as slow as that of VOA's special English with an interval of 15 seconds between sentences and clauses.

• Requirement: what is heard should be fully written out on a blank sheet of paper with a ratio of error no more than 8%.


• Listening Comprehension（ score 25, score percentage 15%）

• 1) statement;

• 2) Minitalk ;

• 3) VOA and BBC news.

• The 25 answers should be chosen from the given multiple choices on the answer sheet.

• Cloze（ score 15, score percentage 10%）• A passage of about 250 words with 15 blan

ks for the examinee to fill in.


• Requirements: to make the best choice to complete the passage both in meaning and in structure.


• Grammar and Vocabulary （ score 25, score percentage 15%）

• This part is composed of 25 sentences with 25 blanks of which 50% is concerned with words and phrases, and another 50% is involved with grammatical structures.

• Requirements: to show the ability to use the grammatical structures listed in grade1-grade4 in the Teaching Syllabus for English Majors and the capacity to master about 6,000 most commonly used words and their

• collocations given as a must for grade 4 students in the Teaching Syllabus for English Majors.


• Reading Comprehension• Section A Reading comprehension （ score 15,

score percentage 15%）• This section is composed of several short

passages with a limit of no more than 1,500 words in all.



• Section B Skimming and Scanning（ score 10, score percentage 10%）

• This section is composed of several short passages with a limit of no more than 900 words in all.



• General requirements for this part: to show the ability to understand the intermediate level articles and materials in original, the ability to give the main ideas, facts and figures of what has been read, the ability of judgement and deduction and the speed of reading.

• Oral Test, TEM-4

• Starting from 1996, Oral Test, TEM-4 is now a regular test.

• Oral Test is composed of 3 parts:• Story Retelling (3 minutes);• Topic Talk (3 minutes);• Situational Conversation/Pair Talk

(4 minutes).

• Time for Oral Test: One week after Written Test takes place.

• BibliographyBibliography1. 高等学校英语专业基础阶段英语教学大纲制定组编，1989 ，《高等学校英语专业基础阶段英语教学大纲》，上海外语教育出版社。2. 高等学校英语专业四级考试大纲修订小组编， 1997 ，《高校英语专业四级考试大纲（修订本）》，上海外语教育出版社。3. 高等学校外语专业教学指导委员会英语组， 2000 ，《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》，上海外语教育出版社外语教学与研究出版社。4. 李远征、曾微编著， 2002 ，《英语专业四级考试指南与模拟试题》，北京大学出版社。5. 贡群秋主编， 2002 ，《英语专业 4级统考（ TEM-4 ）真题解析（ 1992 － 2001 ）》，南开大学出版社。

Many thanks for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.• Byebye.

Documents

TEM-4 (Test for English Majors Grade 4) An Introduction 英语专业 4 级统考介绍 Speaker: Wu Jianping (Xiamen University) 介绍人：厦门大学吴建平