Premium
Fairness Issues in a Standardized English Test for Nonnative Speakers of English
Author(s) -
Puspawati Indah
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
tesol journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1949-3533
pISSN - 1056-7941
DOI - 10.1002/tesj.157
Subject(s) - test of english as a foreign language , psychology , test (biology) , language proficiency , scholarship , language assessment , standardized test , perception , dimension (graph theory) , empirical research , mathematics education , social psychology , political science , paleontology , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology , neuroscience , pure mathematics , law , biology
For nonnative English speakers, taking a standardized English proficiency test seems inevitable, because the scores achieved play an important role in such life events as admission to a school, gaining a scholarship, or securing a job. Considering their importance, it is imperative that such tests be not only valid and reliable, but also fair. Test takers' perceptions about such tests can provide empirical evidence on the social dimension of tests—a fundamental aspect of tests' validity and fairness. In the study described in this article, 13 international student teachers from diverse backgrounds at a mid‐sized university in the northeastern United States participated in focus group discussions designed to elicit their individual experiences of taking the TOEFL test. Results reveal perceived degrees of fairness and the participants' opinions of the reasons for unfairness. Findings suggest that tasks presented in English proficiency tests could be more finely tuned to accommodate the cultural differences of the test takers so their actual English proficiency can be more accurately measured. The article concludes with suggestions on how fairness issues in English proficiency tests can be better addressed.