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Online proficiency testing and intensive course improvement of English instruction at a technology university in Taiwan |
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| รหัสดีโอไอ | |
| Creator | Hsiu-Ching Tso |
| Title | Online proficiency testing and intensive course improvement of English instruction at a technology university in Taiwan |
| Contributor | Gloria Shu-Mei Chwo |
| Publisher | Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University |
| Publication Year | 2562 |
| Journal Title | Journal of Thai Interdisciplinary Research |
| Journal Vol. | 14 |
| Journal No. | 2 |
| Page no. | 8 |
| Keyword | Freshman and Sophomore English course, TOEIC online testing, intensive English program |
| URL Website | http://rdi.npru.ac.th |
| Website title | วารสารวิจัยสหวิทยาการไทย |
| ISSN | 2465-3837 |
| Abstract | Since 2010, Hungkuang technological university in Taiwan has undertaken an increasingly intensive program of twice yearlyonline English testing of freshman and sophomore students. This is done using both the Bridge and Full Tests of English forInternational Communication (TOEIC) in mock and real versions. A preliminary analysis of 15,613 individual test scores forreading, listening or both yielded a range of relevant findings including the following. (1) The overall mean proficiency on thereal Full TOEIC was 111 for listening and 75 for reading. This was found to be well below the institutional target of minimumtotal score 350. Progress was also uncertain between freshman and sophomore years. This suggested some loss of motivationon the part of the students. (2) Di erences between Departments revealed the impact of some departments doing extra work onEnglish. The Physical Therapy Department Students, for example, scored better on reading than listening (Bridge TOEIC). Thisis possibly due to the English medical textbooks used and a students' self-help reading club. (3) The Bridge and Full TOEICscores correlated with each other well however actual equivalences found among our lower proficiency students did not matchpublished conversion tables. (4) The mock tests proved to be poor predictors of real test performance. This counts againsttheir use to reduce costs of taking the real tests. Based on the above findings, an intensive English program (IEP) solution wasproposed to improve upon the limited English progress that was found. Following the implementation of the IEP, the averageimprovement score was 123.5 and the highest score was 800. |
