This study examined the construct validity of the e-rater automated essay scoring engine as an alternative to human scoring in the context of TOEFL essay writing. Analyses were based on a sample of students who repeated the TOEFL within a short time period. Two e-rater scores were investigated in this study, the first based on optimally predicting the human essay score and the second based on e...

For the first time, this study combined models and principles of authentic assessment from two parallel fields of applied linguistics as well as general education to investigate the authenticity of the TOEFL iBT speaking module. The study consisted of two major parts, namely task analysis and task survey. Utilizing Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) definition of authenticity, the task analysis examin...

The purpose of this research was to analyze EFL writing tasks in the most popular ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) exam preparation courses in Iran: IELTS, TOEFL, FCE and CAE. Having collected the criteria of writing task appropriateness in light of the process-oriented approach to writing instruction, 114 learner participants were asked to rate EFL writing tasks based on a checkl...

Abstract: English course institutions are one of the most sought after non-formal education places to learn and improve language skills, especially be able master TOEFL well. To choose a suitable institution, that is by visiting respective places. Of course, things like this take lot time, effort, money. For reason, decision support system needed can provide recommendations for best using TOPSI...

A key piece of a validity argument for language assessment tool is clear overlap between tasks and the target use (TLU) domain (i.e., description inference). The TOEFL 2000 Spoken Written Academic Language (T2K-SWAL) corpus, which represents variety academic registers disciplines in traditional learning environments (e.g., lectures, office hours, textbooks, course packs), has served as an impor...