Factor structure of the revised TOEIC ® test: A multiple-sample analysis

Foreign language educators have developed measures to assess the proficiency of U.S. high school learners. Most have compared language learners to clearly defined criteria for proficiency in the language (criterion‐referenced assessment) or to the performance of other monolingual English speakers (norm‐referenced assessment). In this study, the performance of monolingual English students enrolled in first‐ (n = 293), second‐ (n = 268), and third‐year (n = 51) high school Spanish courses on the Batería III Woodcock‐Muñoz Pruebas de aprovechamiento was compared to that of native Spanish speakers, which was normed with native Spanish speakers. Findings showed that after two years of high school Spanish, U.S. students’ achievement in Spanish word decoding and spelling was similar to that of native Spanish speakers in the fifth to sixth grades, and their performance in Spanish reading comprehension, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and writing was below that of the average native Spanish speaker in first grade. Third‐year students’ achievement was somewhat stronger, although more similar to than different from that of the second‐year students despite the added instructional time. The results are discussed in light of the U.S. social context in which monolingual English students learn to speak and comprehend a language at the same time as they are learning to read and write the language.

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 91%

How Well Do U.S. High School Students Achieve in Spanish When Compared to Native Spanish Speakers?

Sparks¹,

Luebbers

Castañeda

2017

“…They found a significant and high correlation between listening and reading ( r = 0.76) as well as significant and moderate relationships between listening and speaking ( r = 0.66), reading and writing ( r = 0.61), and speaking and writing ( r = 0.62) (p. 13.4). In'nami and Koizumi () found an even higher correlation ( r = 0.87) between the listening and reading sections on the revised TOEIC 2006 for 569 Asian English learners (p. 145).…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 96%

Listening and Reading Proficiency Levels of College Students

Tschirner

2016

This article examines listening and reading proficiency levels of U.S. college foreign language students at major milestones throughout their undergraduate career. Data were collected from more than 3,000 participants studying seven languages at 21 universities and colleges across the United States. The results show that while listening proficiency appears to develop more slowly, Advanced levels of reading proficiency appear to be attainable for college majors at graduation. The article examines the relationship between listening and reading proficiency and suggests reasons for the apparent disconnect between listening and reading, particularly for some languages and at lower proficiency levels.

“…In one study, researchers administered the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) to 12,000 examinees in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan and found a significant and strong correlation ( r = .76) between their reading comprehension and listening comprehension skills (Liao, Qu, & Morgan, ). In another study with Asian English learners using the revised TOEIC, In'nami and Koizumi () also found a strong and significant relationship ( r = .87) between students’ reading comprehension and listening comprehension proficiency. Likewise, Bozorgian () examined Iranian students’ scores on the International English Language Testing System and found that the strongest correlations among language skills were between listening comprehension and reading comprehension proficiency ( r = .74).…”

Section: The Relationship Between Reading Comprehension and Listeningmentioning

confidence: 90%

Why reading is a challenge for U.S. L2 learners: The impact of cognitive, ecological, and psychological factors in L2 comprehension

Sparks

2019

Studies have shown that U.S. learners’ proficiency in reading and listening comprehension lags behind their ability to decode words. Recent studies have found that even after 3 years of high school L2 courses, U.S. students fail to develop minimal proficiency in reading comprehension. This paper suggests that while cognitive factors (word decoding and listening comprehension) explain the largest amount of variance in learners’ ability to comprehend text, this model, known as the Simple View of Reading, does not consider other factors that may contribute to reading achievement, especially in a largely monolingual English context. In contrast, the Component Model of Reading posits that reading ability is influenced not only by cognitive skills but also by factors in the ecological and psychological domains. In particular, the U.S. social context hampers primarily monolingual English speakers from becoming proficient in L2 oral language and L2 reading comprehension. Pedagogical recommendations are offered.