As we all know, the College English Test (CET) is an important tool to evaluate English language proficiency of college students in China. CET contains two parts: a written exam and an oral exam. However, there have been discussions about whether the non-inclusion of oral English in CET-4 has an impact on the written exam. In this article, we will delve into this topic and provide a comprehensive answer.

The answer is yes. The primary reason is that oral and written English are separate skills, and adepts in one skill may not necessarily do well in the other. Confident speakers may struggle with writing because they cannot edit their thoughts and expressions in real-time, while strong writers may find oral communication challenging due to their lack of speaking practice.

Moreover, oral English is a crucial component in mastering English. It helps students to discover and overcome gaps in their spoken language, such as pronunciation, vocabulary usage, grammar, and context. The lack of oral practice diminishes a students opportunity to improve their English language proficiency wholly, leading to both oral and written language skills not reaching their full potential.

So how can students improve their written exam performance, considering the absence of oral English in CET-4? One method is by practising both, oral and written English separately. Students could use various resources such as language apps, conversation classes, podcasts, and written materials, to improve their language skills. Practising oral communication with peers or teachers, for example, helps to improve spoken English, while practising writing can reduce spelling and grammar errors in the written exam. The practice of both skills is vital as it leads to profound integration of oral and written language proficiency.

Regardless of the limitations, it is imperative that schools include oral English in CET exams. As it stands, the exclusion does not provide a comprehensive assessment of students language proficiency, and in turn, negatively affects the goal of CET. However, schools could introduce a separate oral exam component to CET, paving the way for a well-rounded evaluation of students language skills.

So how can Computer-based Assessment Tool (CAT) benefit students in this evaluation? Firstly, with CAT, oral English could be effectively evaluated with the most advanced speech recognition technology. Secondly, CAT improves the reliability and efficiency of the evaluation process and simultaneously offers impartial and fair assessment results. Finally, withholding oral English from CET-4 creates unnecessary problems for both students and schools. Incorporating CAT can act as a compelling solution to this problem.

In conclusion, the absence of oral English in CET-4 adversely impacts the written exam performance. Students need to focus on practising both oral and written language skills to improve, and schools need to consider including oral English as a component of CET exams. Finally, incorporating the Computer-based Assessment Tool (CAT) could be an effective solution to evaluate oral language proficiency.