Open AccessTHE PERFORMANCE OF NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH AND ESL SPEAKERS ON THE COMPUTER‐BASED TOEFL AND GRE GENERAL TEST
Author(s) -
Strieker Lawrence J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.2002.tb01883.x
Subject(s) - test of english as a foreign language , test (biology) , psychology , replicate , construct validity , test validity , mathematics education , computer science , language assessment , statistics , psychometrics , mathematics , developmental psychology , paleontology , biology
The purpose of this study was to replicate previous research on the construct validity of the paper‐and‐pencil version of the TOEFL test and extend it to the computer‐based TOEFL. Two samples of GRE test takers were used: native speakers of English specially recruited to take the computer‐based TOEFL, and ESL test takers who had routinely taken the computer‐based TOEFL recently. Native speakers performed well on TOEFL, relative to ESL test takers and to the maximum possible scores on the test, and varied less in their test performance than did ESL test takers; TOEFL scores were highly but not perfectly correlated with the computer‐based General Test scores for both groups of test takers; regressions of the General Test verbal scores on the TOEFL scores for ESL test takers were nonlinear, and the regressions of the other General Test scores were linear; and trends in the variances of the General Test verbal scores associated with TOEFL scores were also nonlinear, and the trends were either unsystematic or negatively linear for the other General Test scores. All of the findings are consistent with previous results with the paper‐and‐pencil TOEFL, support the construct validity of the computer‐based TOEFL, and illuminate its interplay with ability tests for ESL test takers.