The TOEFL Junior® tests are designed to evaluate young language students' English reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in an English-medium secondary instructional context. This paper articulates a validity argument constructed to support the use and interpretation of the TOEFL Junior test scores for the purpose of placement, progress…

The multiliteracies framework provides a pedagogical approach relevant to English language direct entry pathway (DEP) programs at university, recognising that education and communication in a multicultural, multimodal, and globalised world involves more than language literacy. Integrated assessments, in which some combination of listening,…

The "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test is a new English language proficiency test in the "TOEFL"® family of assessments. It measures foundational language skills and communication abilities in academic and general (daily life) contexts. The test covers the four language skills of reading, listening, writing, and speaking and is intended…

This paper reports the findings of a study that investigated why a large number of test-takers show a low performance in four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) offered in an entry test used by a College of Technology in Oman to place students in advanced diploma and bachelor's degree programs. The main research question…

The ability of international graduates to grasp a foreign language has become increasingly important as the demand for English-speaking workers has grown worldwide. To this end, several strategies for encouraging the use of English in academic settings have been implemented. International students' academic success may suffer if colleges refuse to…

Given the increasing emphasis of communicative competence in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts and the lack of validation research on speaking assessments for adolescent EFL learners, in the current study we examined the validity of the TOEFL Junior® speaking test, a relatively new speaking assessment developed by Educational Testing…

The study evaluated a recently postponed national test policy on the use of external agencies' English tests measuring four skills for Japanese university admission purposes. Using Kunnan's principles of fairness and justice, we generated and evaluated three claims regarding the test policy: vocabulary coverage of the tests, the justifiability of…

The present study investigates integrated writing assessment performances with regard to the linguistic features of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). Given the increasing presence of integrated tasks in large-scale and classroom assessments, validity evidence is needed for the claim that their scores reflect targeted language abilities.…

With support from the California Community College Chancellor's Office, the MMAP Research Team, a team of The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) conducted a literature review on various assessment measures used for English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to explore effective assessment methods including…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is the standard in the college admissions process, leading to the inclusion of preparation classes in Intensive English Program (IEP) curricula. But does preparing for the TOEFL in isolation yield optimal results for IEP college hopefuls? In this article, we will share information about the…

Listening has been widely characterised as a multifaceted process encompassing a range of linguistic and psycholinguistic components (see Rubin, 1994). However, for learners at different levels of L2 proficiency, there is uncertainty over the relative importance of the various sub-skills. To address this issue, a number of linguistic and…

This systematic review study sought to examine the teaching of English language skills in Saudi Arabia by systematically analyzing the previous studies on language skills which were published within the past ten years and identify the research areas to be bridged in the future. The study employed the systematic review approach. The search strategy…

Despite the wide use of language tests as a basis for awarding English language course credits at Japanese universities, little has been published about how universities set policies on awarding credits according to external test scores. To narrow this gap, the characteristics of such policies were investigated in relation to the EIKEN Test in…

This article is an action research of quasi-experimental nature. It aims at investigating the effect of CALL-based instruction on Yemeni students' score attainment on the TOEFL iBT. The sample of study consisted of 30 adult students randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Data was collected within an 8-week period via a…

The National Center Test is a test that high school graduates take in order to be matriculated into the majority of universities in Japan. Its English section (NCT), though, is scheduled to be replaced by commercially available private English tests of four skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) due to the fact that NCT currently measures…