To study the effect of direct test preparation on TOEIC gain scores, two samples of students (i.e., English majors and nonmajors) at a Japanese university were divided into three treatment groups: (1) TOEIC preparation, (2) business English, (3) general (four-skills) English. TOEIC preparatory materials were concluded to have little benefit to…

The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is a multiple-choice test of English for non-native speakers of English. It consists of two sections: listening comprehension and reading. There are 100 questions in each section. Separate scaled scores are provided for each section, the part score scales ranging from five to 495 and the…

This paper introduces criterion-referenced tests (CRTs), compares them with norm-referenced tests (NRTs), discusses how they can be evaluated and revised, and presents a study of an actual class and textbook test evaluation using CRTs. NRTs have dominated testing methodology since the mid-1970s; an example is the Test of English as a Foreign…

This study investigated whether a self-efficacy course would raise English-as-a-Second-Language learners' English ability by raising their self-efficacy. It also examined the reliability and validity of a self-efficacy questionnaire and English test. Participants were 293 Japanese college freshmen. Researchers developed two versions of an English…

Used the rule-space methodology to analyze performance on a multiple-choice reading comprehension test by students of English as a Second Language in Japan in an international business setting. Findings indicate that the rule-space methodology can explain performance on complex verbal tasks, such as reading tests, and provide diagnostic scores to…

Investigates relationships among measures of second-language proficiency (SLP), foreign-language aptitude, verbal intelligence and reasoning in 160 Japanese college students studying English. The factor analysis of several different SLP test scores was examined, and the relationship between a general SLP factor and a hypothetical general cognitive…

Japanese students often feel it difficult to acquire communicative skills in English at school. Although many of them appear to have positive, favorable attitudes towards learning English, their annual Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) total score means has been consistently low. The present paper discusses this paradox from two points…

Three experiments investigated whether word order and case markers play a role in the native speaker's comprehension of Japanese. In Japanese, verbs are at the clause-final position and the order of words other than the verb appear to be flexible. The fact that verb information does not become available until the end of a clause suggests that…

This highly technical, data-rich paper examines how the Many-Facet Rasch Measurement Model can be applied to communicative language test data analyses and how beneficial the model is to language teachers. The results for a 20-item conversational response test and a 15-item sociolinguistic test of oral communication ability in English for 30…

This study was undertaken to develop guidelines for making interpretive inferences from scores on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), a norm-referenced test of English-language listening comprehension (LC) and reading (R) skills, about level of ability to use English in face-to-face conversation, indexed by performance in…

To find ways to improve rater reliability of a tape-mediated speaking test for Japanese university students of English as a Second Language, two studies gathered information on: how raters actually made their choices on rating sheets of students' speaking ability; determined what criteria teachers think they use and actually use in rating…

This document discusses a test devised for a university level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course that tests students' conversational ability. The test has been used successfully in a Japanese university English communication class over three years. Learning not only to speak but to listen and respond appropriately to others is also an…

The purpose of this research is to examine the detailed components of Japanese students' English speaking ability in terms of communicative competence by using an oral proficiency test based on Bachman's Communicative Language Ability model (included in an appendix). Eighty college students were tested on four tasks--speech making, visual material…

Two studies investigated the effects of modified interaction on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition among Japanese high school students learning English as a Second Language. The studies found that interactionally modified input resulted in better comprehension and the acquisition of more new words than premodified input. (MDM)

Nearly all Western loanwords in Japanese are first introduced to the public by a small number of individuals with most Japanese people having never heard or read the word before, and having no role to play in their borrowing. Because of this presumptuous use of foreign words by, for example, academics, government bodies, and the media, the…