Background: This study examined the factor structure of the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP®) test--a recently developed academic English test measuring four skills among Japanese university applicants--and compared the structure to that of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based test (TOEFL iBT®), to investigate the…

In order to develop effective teaching methods and computer-assisted language teaching systems for learners of English as a foreign language who need to study the basic linguistic competences for writing, pronunciation, reading, and listening, it is necessary to first investigate which vocabulary and grammar they have or have not yet learned.…

The primary purpose of this study was to provide preliminary validity evidence for a 140-item form of the Vocabulary Size Test, which is designed to measure written receptive knowledge of the first 14,000 words of English. Nineteen native speakers of English and 178 native speakers of Japanese participated in the study. Analyses based on the Rasch…

In 1979, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) developed the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), an English proficiency test for people working in international environments, based on a request from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The Chauncey Group International, a subsidiary of ETS, currently…

With the advent of the communicative approach, the role of speaking ability has become more central in language teaching. Consequently, performance testing, especially testing speaking ability, has become one of the most important issues in language testing. There are many limitations in this area because of the nature of speaking ability and the…