Research Issues in High-Stakes Communicative Language Testing: Reflections on TOEFL's New Directions

Abstract

0 The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a high-stakes language test intended to measure proficiency in English in an academic setting. A new TOEFL will become operational in the fall of 2005. In developing this new TOEFL, we decided to modify the test in three important ways (Jamieson, Jones, Kirsch, Mosenthal, & Taylor, 2000). One is to include more constructed-response or performance tasks (including speaking) that require the integration of more than one language skill (e.g., writing or speaking in response to listening and reading materials). A second is to develop test materials that more closely reflect the types of discourse that occur in academic settings. And a third is to provide information that will help test users better understand the meaning of test scores. Educational Testing Service carried out an extensive program of research to achieve these goals and to make sure that a new test would meet professional standards (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999). But as is often the case in doing research, addressing one question makes us aware of other unanswered questions. This discussion focuses both on the research Educational Testing Service carried out to support TOEFL's new directions and other issues yet to be explored.