Automatic Labeling System of Words in Text Materials for College English Tests

In compiling a summative test paper of college English, it is often necessary to prepare text materials of appropriate Reading Ease (RE). So far, most compilers have based their identification of the text RE upon estimates, resulting in an arbitrary level of text RE and hence compromising the authority of the test. With a pre-built Microsoft Access database of vocabulary as the criterion and taking advantage of the programming interface of Microsoft Word and the OLE technology and data access objects(DAO) of Visual Basic 6.0, a computer program system has been successfully written to automatically label the words in an English text in accordance with their bands designated by the College English Teaching Syllabus. A band-based statistical analysis of the words in the text is provided as well. The system paves the way for a future automatic identification of text material RE for college English tests.