Graduate admission has become a critical process in tertiary education, whereby selecting valid admissions instruments is key. This study assessed the validity of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test scores for admission to Master's programmes at a technical university in Europe. We investigated the indicative value of GRE scores for the…

This study had two aims. The first was to explain the process of using the Rasch measurement model to validate tests in an easy-to-understand way for those unfamiliar with the Rasch measurement model. The second was to validate two final exams with several shared items. The exams were given to two groups of students with slightly differing English…

We investigated how young language learners process their responses on and perceive a computer-mediated, timed speaking test. Twenty 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old non-native English-speaking children (NNSs) and eight same-aged, native English-speaking children (NSs) completed seven computerized sample TOEFL® Primary™ speaking test tasks. We investigated…

This study explored the relationships among language proficiency, two selected test-taker characteristics (i.e., topical knowledge and anxiety), and integrated speaking test performance. Data collection capitalized on three sets of instruments: three integrated tasks derived from TOEFL-iBT preparation materials, the state anxiety inventory created…

This study explores the construct validity of speaking tasks included in the TOEFL iBT (e.g., integrated and independent speaking tasks). Specifically, advanced natural language processing (NLP) tools, MANOVA difference statistics, and discriminant function analyses (DFA) are used to assess the degree to which and in what ways responses to these…

Language test preparation has often been studied within the consequential validity framework in relation to ethics, equity, fairness, and washback of assessment. The use of independent and integrated speaking tasks in the "TOEFL iBT"® test represents a significant development and innovation in assessing speaking ability in academic…

The "TOEFL"® family of assessments includes the "TOEFL"® Primary"™, "TOEFL Junior"®, and "TOEFL iBT"® tests. The linguistic complexity of stimulus passages in the reading sections of the TOEFL family of assessments is expected to differ across the test levels. This study evaluates the linguistic…

This study explores the construct of a summarization test task by means of single-group and multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM). It examines the interrelationships between strategy use and performance, drawing on data from 298 Taiwanese undergraduates' summary essays and their self-reported strategy use. Single-group SEM analyses…

This study compares the language learner and test-taking strategies used by Chinese-speaking graduate students when confronted with familiar versus unfamiliar topics in an English multiple-choice format reading comprehension test. Thirty-six participants at a large mid-western university performed three tasks: A content knowledge vocabulary…

One fundamental way to determine the validity of standardized English-language test scores is to investigate the extent to which they reflect anticipated learning effects in different English-language programs. In this study, we investigated the extent to which the "TOEFL iBT"® practice test reflects the learning effects of students at…

One of the major innovations of the "TOEFL iBT"® test is the incorporation of integrated tasks complementing the independent tasks to which examinees respond. In addition, examinees must produce discourse in both modes (speech and writing). The validity argument for the TOEFL iBT includes the claim that examinees vary their discourse in…

The study scrutinized the probable interaction between using cognitive test-taking strategies, reading proficiency, and reading comprehension test performance of Iranian postgraduate students, who studied English as a foreign language. The study also probed the extent to which the participants' test performance was related to the use of certain…

In this article we present results of a Differential Item Functioning (DIF) study using Shealy and Stout's (1993) multidimensionality-based DIF analysis framework. In this framework, differences in test score distributions across different groups of examinees may be a result of multidimensionality if secondary dimensions (not the primary dimension…

This study investigates the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), in particular the relative contributions to score dependability (analogous to classical theory reliability) of various numbers of items and subtests as well as the decision dependability at different cut points. Research questions that apply to the overall TOEFL battery and…

This study set out to empirically determine the reliability and validity of the Vocabulary Levels Tests, both the passive and productive versions. Furthermore, attempt was made to investigate the nature of the students' vocabulary knowledge with regard to their passive and active knowledge of the L2 words as a whole and at different word frequency…