《高中英语课程标准（2017年版2020年修订）》强调了考试命题要全面考察英语学科核心素养（教育部，2020），其中包括思维品质。高考作为检验学生综合素质的高风险性考试，应做好对思维品质的考查。近年来，从认知角度考查思维品质的研究较为丰富，且在一定程度上具有指导意义。但是，大多数研究关注认知能力的类别，较少研究同一认知类别中的认知复杂性。

本研究拟基于赫斯认知严谨矩阵，探究2021-2023年共12套高考英语全国卷阅读题中阅读部分测试的认知水平，并从复杂性方面评估这些认知水平的特征。赫斯认知严谨矩阵提供了完成不同任务所需的思维类型和复杂程度细目。根据矩阵，两位编码者在对前10个试题的编码一致性达到70%时开始对剩下的170个试题进行独立编码。经过数据分析和结果讨论，本研究得出结论，高考英语试卷阅读部分在思维活动的认知水平上涉及3个认知层级18个亚类：理解、应用、分析；在思维活动的深度上涉及3个复杂性不同的认知水平：回忆与再现、技能与概念、策略性思维。值得关注的是，由于选择题题型的限制，涉及记忆、评价和创造的认知层级未被考查到。在认知水平复杂性方面，拓展性思维也未被考查。这也提醒英语高考阅读部分中对认知活动考查的范围有限。此外，出题人可参考不同认知水平的类型和复杂性来设计试题，丰富对学生认知水平的考查层面。

The New English Curriculum Standards of Senior High School (2017 Edition, Revised in 2020) emphasizes that the test propositions should comprehensively examine the core competencies of the English discipline (Ministry of Education, 2020), including the thinking capacity. As a high-stakes test to test the comprehensive quality of students, the National Matriculation English Test (NMET) should assess their thinking capacity. In recent years, research on thinking capacity from a cognitive perspective has been extensive and informative to a certain degree. However, most studies have primarily focused on the various types of cognitive capacity, with comparatively few researches on the complexity within each specific type of cognitive capacity. 

The study applies the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (HCRM) to analyze cognitive levels tested by the reading sections in 2021-2023 College Entrance Examination National test papers and assess the characteristics of these cognitive levels in terms of complexity. By using the HCRM, which provides the details of the type and complexity of necessary cognitive levels to complete a task, two coders coded the first 10 questions and when the consistency reached 70%, then the two coders started coding the remaining 170 questions independently. After analysis and discussion, the study concludes that the reading section of the NMET involved eighteen subcategories of three cognitive levels in the type of cognitive levels: “Understand”, “Apply”, and “Analyze”; The complexity of cognitive levels involves three levels of different complexity: “Recall”, “Skills/Concepts”, and “Strategic Thinking”. It is worth noting that, due to the limitation of multiple-choice questions, the cognitive levels of  “Remember”, “Evaluate” and “Create” have not been examined in the NMET reading assessments. As for the complexity of knowledge, the complexity of the “Extended Thinking” level was not coded either. This indicates that the scope of the examination of cognitive activities in the NMET reading part is limited. Additionally, referring to the type and complexity of cognitive levels, test designers could design assignments with various cognitive levels and complexity, which enriches the examination of students’ different cognitive levels.