scholarly journals Chinese Students’ Perceptions of the Value of Test Preparation Courses for the TOEFL iBT: Merit, Worth, and Signi cance

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Ma ◽  
Liying Cheng
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Instructional Content ◽  
Toefl Ibt

Test preparation for high-stakes English language tests has received increasing research a ention in the language assessment feild; however, little is known about what aspects of test preparation students attend to and value. In this study, we considered the perspectives of 12 Chinese students who were enrolled in various academic programs in a Canadian university, and we examined their perceptions of the value of the TOEFL iBT test preparation courses they had taken prior to admission to that university. Drawing on Scriven’s (1998, 2007) model, which conceptualizes value as merit, worth, and significance, the thematic findings that emerged from the interviews were triangulated with document analysis and revealed that the value of TOEFL iBT test preparation courses was a ributed to (a) quality (merit), including teachers, instruction, and instructional content; (b) benefit (worth), such as efficiency and reorientation to the TOEFL iBT and English skills development; and (c) engagement and affective attainment (significance), in learning communities and sources of motivation. However, the perceived value varied among these students, and the factors related to such vari-ability included both internal factors (e.g., students’ motivations for taking test preparation courses) and external factors (e.g., limited time to prepare for the TOEFL iBT). Implications of the bene ts are discussed within the context of Chinese students in the Canadian academic milieu. La recherche dans le domaine de l’évaluation linguistique se penche de plus en plus sur la préparation aux examens d’anglais ā enjeux élevés. On connait mal, par contre, quels aspects de la préparation aux examens les étudiants trouvent importants et sur lesquels ils se concentrent. Dans ce e étude, nous avons considéré les perspectives de 12 étudiants chinois inscrits à divers programmes académiques dans une université canadienne et avons examiné leurs perceptions de la valeur des cours de préparation au TOEFL iBT qu’ils avaient passé avant d’être admis à l’université. Le modelé de Scriven (1998, 2007), qui conçoit la valeur comme étant le mérite et la signi cation, a servi d’inspiration. Les thèmes qui sont ressortis des entrevues ont été validés à partir d’une analyse documentaire; les résultats indiquent que la valeur des cours préparatoires au TOEFL iBT était a ribuée à (a) la qualité (le mérite), y compris les enseignants, l’instruction et le contenu instructif; (b) les avantages, tels l’e cacité et la réorientation vers le développement d’habiletés relatives à la langue anglaise et au TOEFL iBT; et (c)l’implication et la réalisation affective (signification) dans les communautés d’apprentissage et les sources de motivation. Toutefois, la valeur perçue variait d’un étudiant à l’autre, et les facteurs liés à ce e variabilité incluaient des facteurs internes (la motivation de suivre des cours préparatoires, par exemple) et des facteurs externes (contraintes de temps quant à la préparation aux examens). Nous en discutons les bienfaits et les répercussions dans le cas d’étudiants chinois dans le milieu académique canadien. 

Test Anxiety in High-Stakes English Language Tests: Beyond the Classroom

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefina C. Santana ◽  
Arturo Garcca Santillln ◽  
Karen Michelle Ventura Michel ◽  
Teresa Zamora Lobato
Keyword(s):  
Test Anxiety ◽  
English Language ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Language Tests

scholarly journals Predictability of IELTS in a high-stakes context: a mixed methods study of Chinese students’ perspectives on test preparation

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Ma ◽  
Sin Wang Chong
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Language Test ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Method Approach ◽  
Repeated Test

AbstractHigh-stakes language tests are used around the world as a gatekeeping tool under the internationalization of higher education. However, the predictable aspect of the high-stakes language tests is seldom discussed, especially from students’ perspectives. This study aims to address this gap by aiming to better understand how certain factors and conditions contribute to the predictability issue of IELTS from students’ perspectives within a high-stakes context. This study used a mixed method approach to investigate the views and experiences of students within a Sino-UK joint college. The data collection was in two concurrent strands: online survey and group interviews. Findings suggested that IELTS can impact students negatively by narrowing their English learning scope, driving them into self-isolated way of study, doing repeated test-taking and buying predicted answers. Implications related to language test preparation are discussed in light of the findings.

Test-Based Education for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners: The Impact of Assessment Pressures on Educational Planning

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Clyde Martin
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
Impact Testing ◽  
School Life ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Impact

The article presents a longitudinal study of an urban charter middle school to examine the impact testing pressures can have on the education of students with disabilities and English language learners, and how this may lead to a narrowing of the content they are taught. The study examines various sources of data, including the school's evolving language, literacy, and math programs, high-stakes test results, school improvement plans, and written IEP goals. Over several years, as low test scores and failure to make AYP had an increasing impact on school life, skills specifically targeted on annual state tests became the guide for how math and literacy and language development were addressed. In effect, instruction in these areas became equated with test preparation. As ranges in proficiency led to ability grouping in pertinent courses, there was a narrowing of skills addressed in the lower-level classes that were entirely populated by students categorized as limited-English proficient and/or having a disability. In effect, this turned test preparation into the math and literacy curricula for these students, which in turn affected decisions regarding which skills would be addressed in students’ IEPs. Implications for schools, policy, and further research are suggested.

Interpreting the relationships between TOEFL iBT scores and GPA: Language proficiency, policy, and profiles

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Ginther ◽  
Xun Yan
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Undergraduate Admissions ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Cluster Analyses ◽  
Admissions Policy ◽  
Toefl Ibt

This study examines the predictive validity of the TOEFL iBT with respect to academic achievement as measured by the first-year grade point average (GPA) of Chinese students at Purdue University, a large, public, Research I institution in Indiana, USA. Correlations between GPA, TOEFL iBT total and subsection scores were examined on 1990 mainland Chinese students enrolled across three academic years (N2011 = 740, N2012 = 554, N2013 = 696). Subsequently, cluster analyses on the three cohorts’ TOEFL subsection scores were conducted to determine whether different score profiles might help explain the correlational patterns found between TOEFL subscale scores and GPA across the three student cohorts. For the 2011 and 2012 cohorts, speaking and writing subscale scores were positively correlated with GPA; however, negative correlations were observed for listening and reading. In contrast, for the 2013 cohort, the writing, reading, and total subscale scores were positively correlated with GPA, and the negative correlations disappeared. Results of cluster analyses suggest that the negative correlations in the 2011 and 2012 cohorts were associated with a distinctive Reading/Listening versus Speaking/Writing discrepant score profile of a single Chinese subgroup. In 2013, this subgroup disappeared in the incoming class because of changes made to the University’s international undergraduate admissions policy. The uneven score profile has important implications for admissions policy, the provision of English language support, and broader effects on academic achievement.

scholarly journals Testing: A Systemic Functional View of High Stakes Test Preparation Materials

2011 ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Joshua Schulze
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
Upper Elementary ◽  
Informational Texts ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Genre Awareness

Educators of English language learners (ELLs) frequently use test preparation materials to help ELLs prepare for high stakes language exams. This study uses tools of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to examine how academic language is used to construct meaning within these test preparation materials. While the test preparation materials and available test excerpts contain a range of genres, this study focuses particularly on informational texts with scientific topics, designed for upper elementary students. The results highlight  pedagogical advantages of using SFL to develop genre awareness in ELLs by attending to the linguistic features evident in the genre.

Engaging Exam-Oriented Students in Communicative Language Teaching by ‘Packaging’ Learning English Through Songs as Exam Practice

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822097854
Author(s):  
Kevin Wai-Ho Yung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Teachers And Students

Literature has long been used as a tool for language teaching and learning. In the New Academic Structure in Hong Kong, it has become an important element in the senior secondary English language curriculum to promote communicative language teaching (CLT) with a process-oriented approach. However, as in many other English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts where high-stakes testing prevails, Hong Kong students are highly exam-oriented and expect teachers to teach to the test. Because there is no direct assessment on literature in the English language curriculum, many teachers find it challenging to balance CLT through literature and exam preparation. To address this issue, this article describes an innovation of teaching ESL through songs by ‘packaging’ it as exam practice to engage exam-oriented students in CLT. A series of activities derived from the song Seasons in the Sun was implemented in the ESL classrooms in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Based on the author’s observations and reflections informed by teachers’ and students’ comments, the students were first motivated, at least instrumentally, by the relevance of the activities to the listening paper in the public exam when they saw the similarities between the classroom tasks and past exam questions. Once the students felt motivated, they were more easily engaged in a variety of CLT activities, which encouraged the use of English for authentic and meaningful communication. This article offers pedagogical implications for ESL/EFL teachers to implement CLT through literature in exam-oriented contexts.

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