Examination of the relationships among TSE, TWE and TOEFL scores

Abstract

Several analyses are presented on the relationships among the Test of Spoken English (TSE), the Test of Written English (TWE), and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The multivariate prediction of each of these tests from the scores on the others is very accurate. Factor analysis reveals two prominent factors. One accounts mainly for oral proficiencies measured by the TSE, and the other accounts for the abilities measured by the TOEFL and the TWE. Scores on the TOEFL listening comprehension, TSE Grammar, TSE overall comprehensibility and the TWE share considerable variance with both factors. The factors may be related to different cognitive skills required to answer different types of questions.