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…

Aural lexical knowledge (ALK) is crucial for second language (L2) listening. Despite its importance, there is scant research that has validly explored the relationship between ALK and L2 listening across different English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In an effort to broaden this research base, the current study closely replicates a…

Applicants must often demonstrate adequate English proficiency when applying to postsecondary institutions by taking an English language proficiency test, such as the TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, or Duolingo English Test (DET). Concordance tables aim to provide equivalent scores across multiple assessments, helping admissions officers to make fair…

This controlled experimental study investigated the interaction of variables associated with rating the pronunciation component of high-stakes English-language-speaking tests such as IELTS and TOEFL iBT. One hundred experienced raters who were all either familiar or unfamiliar with Brazilian-accented English or Papua New Guinean Tok Pisin-accented…

This replication study sought to compare the academic achievement of undergraduate students with different score profiles on the TOEFL iBT. Two-step cluster analysis of TOEFL iBT section scores identified six clusters among 2,347 undergraduate students who met the required cutscore on the TOEFL iBT for admission to a Canadian English-medium…

The present study examines the effect of feedback (FB) and feedforward (FF) in prosody instruction for developing listening comprehension skills in the nonnative language by interpreter trainees, using a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design. Three groups of 25 interpreter trainees at Bu-Ali Sina University in Iran took part in the study, all…

Studies have documented the significance of scaffolding as a sociocultural theory driven type of assistance for the development of English as foreign language (EFL) learners' language skills in general; however, the comparative efficacy of various cognitive and/or metacognitive scaffolding procedures for EFL learners' listening comprehension…

This paper reports partial results from a larger study of how three different groups of stakeholders--university admissions officers, faculty in graduate programs involved in admissions decisions, and Intensive English Program (IEP) faculty--interpret and use TOEFL iBT® scores in making admissions decisions or preparing students to meet minimum…

Corpus-based studies have offered the domain definition inference for test developers. Yet, corpus-based studies on temporal fluency measures (e.g., speech rate) have been limited, especially in the context of academic lecture settings. This made it difficult for test developers to sample representative fluency features to create authentic…

High-stakes reading tests significantly influence one's future success, leading many second language learners to engage in intensive test preparation. This study examines nine TOEFL reading preparation lectures from two popular cram schools, or [foreign characters omitted] "hagwons," in Korea, with a total duration of five hours and…

This study employed a multi-methods design to investigate the impact of preparation on Chinese test-takers' perceptions of the integrated TOEFL iBT speaking and writing design. Combining results from over 1700 surveys and 10 interviews, it was found that these Chinese test-takers, who are the most vulnerable group in the multimillion testing…

Typical print formatting provides no information regarding the linguistic features of a text, although texts vary considerably with respect to grammatical complexity and readability. Complex texts may be particularly challenging for individuals with weak language knowledge, such as English language learners. This paper investigates the usefulness…

This study investigated the effect of consistent freewriting practice on written fluency development. Thirty-nine first-year university students completed 70 10-minute freewriting activities over the course of an academic semester. Written fluency, measured as words produced per minute (wpm), increased from a mean of 19.5 wpm to 30.1 wpm over a…

This study looked at how practically ASR-based interactive video assignments can be integrated into EFL classrooms for additional out-of-class speaking practice, and what effects it will have on students. We created an ASR-based interactive video assignment using Google Scripts and gave it to students as a homework assignment between lessons in…

The current study investigated 29 first-year Japanese university students' usage of an online vocabulary notebook that automatically searched eight different word and phrase lists to provide students with reference information about their self-selected vocabulary. Over the course of a 14-week period, participants read English books and articles…