TOEFL Test Research Articles

The Relationship between Metacognitive Listening Strategy Used by Proficiency Level and Their Listening Comprehension for Eleventh Grade in SMA Negeri 1 Gresik

Listening is one of receptive skills which is important for language learners in order to understand and construct meaning from oral information which has been delivered. Meanwhile, metacognitive listening strategy is one of listening strategies that could be used by learners before, during, and after listening process in order to improve students’ listening ability. Here, the researcher wants to know whether there is relationship between metacognitive listening strategy and students’ listening comprehension. There are two aims of this study: 1) to know the different use of metacognitive listening strategy by proficiency level, and 2) to know the relationship between metacognitive listening strategies and students’ listening comprehension for eleventh grade in SMA Negeri 1 Gresik. This study applied quantitative research using correlation study, 30 students included high, middle, and low-level were the sample of this study. The data have been collected by using listening strategies questionnaire, metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire (MALQ) and listening TOEFL test. The first questionnaire contained listening strategy in order to know the students who used metacognitive listening strategy and selected the sample. The second questionnaire had a purpose to get the answer of students’ metacognitive listening strategy. The listening TOEFL test have been used to get the students’ score of listening comprehension and classified the students into high, middle, and low- level students. After gaining the data, the researcher analyzed the data using statistical computation of Microsoft Excel and SPSS 16.00. The research finding from the computation of the data showed that there was significant different on the use of metacognitive listening strategy by proficiency level in which p-value was 0.015 < ɑ (0.05) and there was positive, strong correlation between metacognitive listening strategy and students’ listening comprehension (r=0.525). Furthermore, the p-value of Pearson Product Moment was 0.03. It means that there was significant relationship between metacognitive listening strategy and students’ listening comprehension for eleventh grade in SMA Negeri 1 Gresik. It could be summed up that there was positive, strong, and significant correlation between metacognitive listening strategy and students’ listening comprehension. Based on the result of the study, the students needed to increase their metacognitive listening strategy for getting better performance in listening comprehension. If metacognitive listening strategy increased then so did students’ listening comprehension. Therefore, the researcher gives some suggestions. Firstly, the teachers should consider metacognitive listening strategy for the students in order to improve students’ listening comprehension. Secondly, for the students, they are expected to increase their metacognitive awareness by applying metacognitive listening strategy in their listening process. The last for the next researchers, they are expected to conduct the research about metacognitive listening strategy by involving more subjects.

The Initial Lexicogrammatical Competence of the English Education Freshmen

According to Harmer, grammar and vocabulary are the elements of language. Therefore, they are essential in both language learning and language teaching. Halliday, furthermore, views that grammar and vocabulary (lexis) are mutually dependent and defines this interdependency as lexicogrammar. This research aims to describe the initial lexicogrammatical competence of the freshmen in the English Education Department in Universitas Nasional Karangturi. This research needs to be done since the initial linguistic competence is crucial for improving all language skills. To find out the learners’ initial lexico-grammatical profile, the TOEFL test battery, particularly section 2 (the structure and written expression test), was chosen as the instrument to describe the initial lexicogrammatical competence of the 16 students. After the test was administered, the average score was calculated, and the frequently missed questions were classified based on the classification of skills in the TOEFL book. The result shows that the students’ average score is 17.44 out of 40 and there are 23 questions frequently missed. These 23 frequently missed questions, moreover, comprise 22 lexicogrammar-related skills. The description of these 22 lexicogrammatical problems, thus, can inform the English Department regarding the grammar topics that need to be addressed when teaching the students. In this way, it is hoped that the findings can make a substantial contribution to what will be improved in teaching lexicogrammar

SISTEM INFORMASI PENDAFTARAN TES TOEFL PADA UPT BAHASA UNIVERSITAS PALANGKA RAYA BERBASIS WEBSITE

Information about the TOEFL test at Palangka Raya University is still being carried out manually starting from registration, payment confirmation, announcing when the exam will be held, the TOEFL test process, and graduation announcements. The TOEFL test is still being carried out continuously at Palangka Raya University which of course will require more time for both participants and language center officers. The purpose of this study is to build a web-based information system that will provide registration services, scheduling, division of exam rooms and announcement of the TOEFL test results at the UPT Language, Palangka Raya University.

Genre-based visualization through an online teaching platform: A strategy to engage with academic texts during the Covid-19 outbreak

During the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, students of all education levels are pushed to study at home via online classes. Schools, universities and other educational institutes have to make sure that their students can keep receiving knowledge and information based on the indicators set by the curriculum. The same thing also occurs at the English Education Department of Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. This article presents the results of a two-cycle action research project conducted in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, through an online learning platform using Zoom meeting. In this study, eight undergraduate students participated in the online intervention class to apply genre-based visualization metacognitive strategy. A total of six academic texts of the explanation genre were taken from TOEFL tests and used in both cycles. In the online intervention class, students generated visual imagery of the academic texts, built up their knowledge of the text genres in the online discussions, and individually drew visual representations of the explanatory texts. The images drawn by the students were taken for the qualitative analysis, and the tests given to the students were analyzed quantitatively. Both data are used to find out their improvement in reading comprehension. The findings of this study revealed a remarkable contribution of genre-based visualization for improving students' comprehension of academic texts of the explanation genre at TOEFL level, particularly through online learning during the pandemic.

Students’Ability in Reading TOEFL

TOEFL is a standardized test which measures the students’ skill and ability in English. This test is one of the requirements for English Department students before they take the theses examination. Hence, the students must be prepared well before taking the test in order they can get the standard score of TOEFL as has been required by English study program. During the pre-observation, it has been found that many students of English study program still have difficulty in having the TOEFL test that it finally gives impact on their TOEFL scores. For this reason, this research is conducted as an effort to analyze and get information about the students’ ability in TOEFL test, especially in the reading test. This research is analyzed qualitatively by taking the English Department students as the participants. The data are collected by using two instruments; observation and documentation, and it analyzes through some steps such as identifying the result of students’ test and analyzing them to obtain the answer of the research question. This research analyzes the students’ ability in reading toefl refers to Philips’ theory in toefl reading skill. The result of this research shows that the students have a high percentage in find pronoun referents. While find definition from structural clues is the lowest one. Thus, the students and lecturers should pay more attention to the strategies in reading toefl and have more practice in doing the test.

The Impact of Teaching Formulaic Sequences on Improving the Writing Skills of Freshman Students at an American University in the Middle East

According to the rules of the Ministry of Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates, all students who desire to learn in any university must pass one of the standardized language tests to start their undergraduate studies. In the teaching context where the study took place, the majority of students struggle to score a 6.5 in the writing part of the IELTS exam, or 5 in the TOEFL test. The students’ main weakness lies in their inability to develop their writing further; they struggle to expand on a sub-topic in the writing exam. The students’ never-ending struggle to improve in writing; is because they tend to memorize the word without trying to study its different aspects, for example, what part of speech the word is or its collections. Accordingly, the study proposed the integration of the formulaic sequences to help them learn the different aspects of a word.

Integrating the deductive method and holistic assessment approach to teaching English grammar in English education programmes

Mastery of English grammar for students in English education departments has a dual purpose, namely to improve their ability to communicate in English fluently and accurately, and to prepare them for becoming English teachers capable of explaining aspects of the English language. Thus, the English grammar course series is expected to equip students with the ability to use the language at the same time as explaining elements of the English language. This investigation aims to improve the learning, learning process, and the results of English grammar courses by integrating the deductive method and holistic assessment approach. This consists of assessment for learning (AfL), assessment as learning (AaL), and assessment of learning (AoL). The study was conducted among 72 fourth-semester students in the English education department at the University of Mataram. Data were collected using various techniques such as tests, observations, portfolios, and documentation, and were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. From the analysis it was concluded that (1) the materials of EG were designed to fulfil the teaching and learning process by integrating the deductive method and the holistic assessment approach, with the proportion of AfL and AaL higher than that of AoL; (2) the integration produced a significant improvement in the TOEFL test (SWE section), with an increase of 63.24 points – from an average 388.84 on the pre-test to 452.01 on the post-test; (3) students responded positively to both the model used and the implementation of the deductive method and holistic assessment. The practical implication of this research is that those teaching grammar in English education need to consider applying holistic assessment in both design and implementation.

The Impact of Source Text Culture on the Quality of Translation

The present article reports a study carried out to investigate whether or not awareness of ST culture has any impact on the translation quality of translator trainees. 20 Iranian graduated from English translation took part in this study. They were divided into two groups, one experimental and one control groups. After homogenizing the participants through a TOEFL test, a translation pre-test was given to them and then cultural backgrounds of ST were taught to the experimental group who were later required to use the taught material in their classroom translation practice during one academic semester. The control groups were run traditionally as widely practiced in Iranian graduated translation classes. A translation post-test was given to all the groups at the end of the semester. The statistical results demonstrate a significant difference between the pre- and post- tests in the experimental group as compared with the control group.

PENINGKATAN KEAHLIAN MENYIMAK SISWA DENGAN UJI MENYIMAK MELALUI TOEFL DI SMA DEK PADANG

As a medium of instruction, English does not easily develop in Indonesia. It is even becoming a problem in communication where many parties are not interested to use it in communication. On the contrary, world of Industries really demand the workers to be able to speak and write in English well. SMA DEK as one of the private school that its graduated students directly work in companies after graduation answers the problem. It provides its students with various English program such as english day, English zone, learning TOEFL and English Proficiency. By considering the quality of the students, these programs are expected running well. Emphasizing listening skill is the main purpose because it is the most activity used by students during English learning. So that, observation method, testing method and discussion method are implemented in order to find out the student qualification to answer the challenge. From the community service implementation, it is found that the students have been good on listening skill understanding. During the participant observation, they make and answer the question freely. While implementing the listening TOEFL test, they can answer the questions well and when the discussion method comes, they argue about the correct answer by giving their own reason. It finally concludes that, by learning the Listening TOEFL test, SMA DEK students are motivated to speak freely and give comment toward the given information.

PROPER SAMPLE SIZES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING: A SIMPLE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Purpose of study: Small sample size is the most common limitation which restricts the generalization of research results, and this is true to many fields, including language testing. The current study is sought to show the predictive power of sample sizes over the population mean to decide what sample minimum size can be considered as a proper sample size for a language test.
 Methodology: The data for this quantitative research was 5,250 paper-based TOEFL test scores considered as the population, which includes listening, structure, and reading tests, and it is the most familiar standardized test among EFL researchers. Due to its objective nature, it leaves little chance for bias scores. The score ranged between 30.7% of 417 in the TOEFL scale and 95.7% or 653. Standard error was used as the parameter in deciding the proper sample size. It was the cut-off point when the parameter did not show any obvious change when the sample size was added. We used hierarchical agglomerative clustering with three clusters, determined using 30 indices through the majority rule, in finding out the cut-off point.
 Main Findings: It was found that the cut-off point is at the sample size of 52 with the range between 46 and 59. Therefore, it can be concluded that the minimum proper sample size for a research study involving a language test is n = 46.
 Application of this study: The results of this study apply to the area of English language teaching and testing. However, it does not rule out the possibility that the study result applies to tests in other languages.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: The result of this study should be treated as statistical evidence of the proper sample size to avoid inaccurate or conflicting research results in language teaching where a test is used for analysis.

Strategies proposed for listening comprehension in PBT TOEFL: Tricks that do not work

The Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL, written by Phillips in 2003, is the most widely used course book for TOEFL test preparation. This book provides 17 strategies for Listening Comprehension Part A. Therefore, the current study examines whether the strategies provided in the book are applicable in a real test. The data were obtained from Part A of the TOEFL listening section in nine tests designed by Educational Testing Service (ETS). Each item in the test was tested against the proposed strategies. The results reveal that many items did not successfully match with the strategies. Only 2 proposed strategies had matches of higher than 80%, while others were less than 10%. There are four strategies that did not have a match at all. All in all, very few strategies can be applied to answer the questions correctly without adequate comprehension. With comprehension, test takers can answer the questions without needing to rely on any of the proposed strategies. Therefore, the study concludes that most of the strategies proposed by Phillips (2003) are not successful in real test.

GENDER ISSUE IN TOEFL TEST: DOES IT MAKE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE?

Gender issue has been noted as a debatable issue over decades in second language learning, including in TOEFL test which is recognized throughout the world as a certified foreign language test. The focus of this paper is to explore and to compare the TOEFL proficiency between male and female students. The samples of this research were 20 students of Syiah Kuala University; 10 male students and 10 female students using simple random sampling. A descriptive quantitative research design was manipulated to sum up the data and the instrument deployed was TOEFL tests. Result of the tests shows that gender issue does not influence the TOEFL proficiency. It means that there is no significant difference in TOEFL test score between male and female students.

PERAN STAIN SORONG TERHADAP PENGEMBANGAN KETERAMPILAN BAHASA INGGRIS DI PAPUA BARAT

A College has an important role in developing human resources. It has to arrange a good curriculum to answer the need of human in this live. A good curriculum will create a good learning and teaching. The skills are needed by students to face competitions in looking for jobs. English is one of skills which students need in the competition. State Islamic College of Sorong as one of Islamic College in West Papua gives a positive response to answer the students need in a local and global competition. It has three units in building English skills in West Papua. The first is Language Unit. It has done TOEFL Training and Test for students and society. This program develop three skills in English; Listening, Structure, and Reading. The second is Tarbiyah Faculty. It has conducted English Camp for Senior High School Students and University Students. This program improve students’ speaking skill. And the third is Bidik Misi. It has done a weekly meeting program. This program helps students to be more active in discussing a topic in English.

Washback of TOEFL Preparation Courses on Students’ Attitudes and Score Improvement

Despite the prevalence of the TOEFL test preparation courses, research on the impact of TOEFL test preparation courses on language learning and teaching is quite limited (Green, 2013; Huang, 2018). The current study investigated the washback effects of TOEFL preparation courses on students’ attitudes and TOEFL scores improvement. The study implemented a partially mixed equal status design (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2017). Forty-one students and four teachers in a tertiary-level Intensive English Program (IEP) participated in the study. Quantitative data consisted of students’ responses to Likert-scale items and students' TOEFL scores. They were analyzed by independent sample t-tests, one-way repeated measure ANOVA, and post hoc tests. Qualitative data, which included open-ended survey items, student interviews, and teacher interviews, were analyzed using the inductive approach (Miles & Huberman, 1994) and Saldaña’s (2015) coding techniques. Survey results demonstrated that students had generally positive attitudes toward the class. Additionally, a statistically significant score improvement was found for some students. However, student and teacher interviews also revealed several issues that prevented student learning. For example, students studied TOEFL only to improve test scores; teachers rushed to cover all textbook materials and gave little homework; and there were limited classroom speaking activities. Implications regarding the teaching and administering of TOEFL classes at IEP were discussed.

INVESTIGATING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN A TOEFL PREPARATION PROGRAM

Learner autonomy is learners’ ability to take charge, set the rules and style of their learning as the goals. Profiling autonomous learners can be seen in the TOEFL preparation program class. TOEFL preparation program is a course subject to provide learners in achieving the TOEFL score target to fulfill requirements as ELT students. The class provides learners with more opportunities in studying pre-face-to-face sessions by giving the students worksheets. These opportunities directed the learners to exercise their English. This study investigates the learning activities conducted by EFL learners in the TOEFL class and the use of learner autonomy in the pre-face-to-face session in the TOEFL preparation program. The study employed a qualitative narrative inquiry, grounded in phenomenological research. Data were collected and analyzed qualitatively by understanding the meaning of lived experiences. Data were gathered by interviewing 5 participants and observing the TOEFL class. Based on the findings, there were numbers of extension language activities held by the learners. There were five themes categories of learner autonomy as strategy, learner autonomy as perceptions, learner autonomy as behavior, learner autonomy as the interdependence of social autonomy, and experiences from learning TOEFL test preparation program in learners’ lived experiences.

TEST-TAKING ANXIETY AMONG EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN TOEFL TEST: A CASE STUDY FROM INDONESIAN CONTEXT

Purpose of the study: This research aimed at investigating the extent of anxiety experienced by TOEFL test-takers in the Indonesian context as EFL learners.
 Methodology: The participants of this study were 50 university students from various non-English majors. They were selected by using purposive sampling. The research design was descriptive quantitative method, in which a 10-question questionnaire was used as the research instrument. The questions were scored by using a five-point scale and the data were analyzed by using the three steps of data analysis.
 Main Findings: The result of the data analysis showed that more than 80%percent of students experienced moderate anxiety before and during the TOEFL test-taking while the rest (20%) suffered from mild anxiety.
 Applications of this study: The research findings can benefit TOEFL Preparation classes’ instructors, by which they can take the anxiety variable into account when teaching TOEFL so that the level of students’ anxiety before and during the test can be minimized.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: Relatively little research examined EFL students’ anxiety in the TOEFL test. Others are much devoted to the anxiety aspects within English classroom contexts such as in anxiety in reading, writing, and speaking skills, the relationship between anxiety and motivation, as well as intelligence dominance among non-low proficiency students. Therefore, this research is devoted to a high-stake test (TOEFL test), which has not been studied previously by any researchers.

Pelatihan Bahasa Inggris Berequivalent TOEFL Pada Reading Test CBT Terhadap Mahasiswa Semester Akhir Di Universitas Muhammadiyah dan IAIN Palangka Raya

English is an international language. In Indonesia, English is taught as a foreign language (English as a Foreign Language/EFL) from Elementary Schools to Higher Education. Especially at the University of Muhammadiyah Palangkaraya and IAIN Palangka Raya consider the importance of English which is shown through the TOEFL test and meet the scores determined before they are Judisium or Munakasah and have completed the thesis hearing in one semester. There were 20 participants from the Palangkaraya UM Students and Palangkaraya IAIN. The training method used in the English equivalent of Toefl training on Reading Tests is to use the Toefl training module on Reading Tests and also using a computerized software program in Toefl training on Reading Tests. The results of this training The training activities showed an increase between the pre-test and post-test results. The mean pre-test was 61 and the post-test mean increased to 83.6. In the pretest conducted to 20 participants were in the low category with a total of 4 people, a medium category of 13 people and a high of 3 people. The post-test results showed an increase in the score, namely the low category of 4 people, the medium category of 12 people and the high category increased to 4 people.

TOEFL Preparation for University Students’ Candidates from Asak Paroki MKK

Some private universities in Jakarta use TOEFL or TOEFL-like test as the admission requirement for new students. Therefore, students’ candidates should prepare well to achieve the minimum score for being admitted. Unfortunately, their high school did not give enough training in doing the TOEFL test. The purpose of this community development program is to train high school students to do TOEFL test, especially the Reading section. The participants of the program were seven 12th grade high school students who were included in ASAK Paroki MKK community. They were trying to qualify for admission in Binus University. The program was created in the form of classroom teaching and individual assignment. In this program, we taught them about the TOEFL Reading test types, strategies and tips for doing the test. After the training, the students reported their understanding of TOEFL and confidence in preparing the university admission test.

Sr ALIGNING THE TOEFL PREDICTION SCORES TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES (CEFR) LEVEL

TOEFL as a kind of English test is used to measure students’ language proficiency. Binawan University applies TOEFL Prediction test to predict students’ English competence. The TOEFL score then is aligned and mapped to CEFR to indicate the level of language ability and qualification. This study was conducted to analyze TOEFL score of Binawan students at CEFR level. The sample was 169 students from several study programs at Binawan University. The research instrument used a package of PBT TOEFL test. Descriptive statistics was used as data analysis technique, mean and percentage. The calculation shows that the mean of the TOEFL prediction score reached by all participants is 413 and the median is 397. Based on CEFR, the students’ competence in English is in level A2 (Basic User). Individually, the number of students who is in level A1 (Basic User) is 78 or 46.2 %, level A2 (Basic User) is 35 or 20.7 %, level B1 (Independent User) is 43 or 25.4 %, level B2 (independent User) is 12 or 7.1 %, and the last is level C1 which is occupied by 1 student only that is in level C1 (0.6 %). To conclude almost 50 % of the students were at low level or A2 (Basic User) at CEFR.

EFL students’ strategies in answering the listening section of the Longman TOEFL

This study investigated the EFL students’ strategies in answering the Listening section of the Paper-based TOEFL test. The samples of this research were purposively selected consisting of 30 English major students at Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The samples were selected based on their recent TOEFL scores. All the selected samples achieved low TOEFL scores, especially for the Listening section. The data were gained by means of closed questionnaire and interviews. The interviews were conducted with three students of the 30 students and they were selected randomly. The results of the questionnaire revealed that the top three strategies the students used when answering the TOEFL questions ranged from the strategies of (1) ‘before listening, I tried to anticipate the topic by looking at the answer in the test book’, (2) ‘while listening, I tried to determine the topic or main idea for each conversation, and (3) ‘before listening, I tried to anticipate what the questions would be and I listened specifically for the answer’. This imply that a majority of students used strategies only to answer part B (dialogues) and part C (monologues) of the TOEFL Listening section. These parts were considered more difficult since many students were not familiar with the topics. Meanwhile, strategies for part A were neglected. These students often forgot to choose answers in this section. Unfortunately, strategies for part A are also important because they can achieve higher scores if the 30 questions in this part are answered correctly.