NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
ERIC Number: ED390925
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1995-May
Pages: 41
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
A Comparison of the Performance of Graduate and Undergraduate School Applicants on the Test of Written English. TOEFL Research Reports Report 50.
Zwick, Rebecca; Thayer, Dorothy T.
The performance of graduate and undergraduate school applicants on the Test of Written English (TWE) was compared for each of 66 data sets, dating from 1988 to 1993. The analyses compared the average TWE score for graduates and undergraduates after matching examinees on the total score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The main finding was that, for matched examinees, undergraduate TWE means were higher than graduate means in 63 of the 66 data sets. Although these standardized mean differences (SMDs) never exceeded 0.3 of a TWE score point, the results are noteworthy because they give a different picture than do simple comparisons of means for unmatched graduates and undergraduates, which show higher mean TWE scores for graduates in the majority of cases. Of the 9 SMDs exceeding 0.2, 8 were in Region 1 (Asia and the Pacific) between October 1988 and May 1992. Effects of the examinees' intended fields of graduate study were also investigated. Applicants to programs in the physical and biological sciences tended to have lower TWE scores than those in the social sciences, and graduates in the physical sciences tended to have lower scores than those in the humanities. Reasons for these differences are discussed. (Contains 11 tables and 32 references.) (Author/SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ.
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Test of English as a Foreign Language; Test of Written English
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A