Vol. 3. No. 4 A-2 January 1999
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A Study of the Effect of Direct Test Preparation on the TOEIC Scores of Japanese University Students

Thomas N. Robb
Kyoto Sangyo University
<trobb@cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp>

Jay Ercanbrack
Kyoto Sangyo University
<jay@cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp>

Abstract

In order to study the effect of direct test preparation on TOEIC gain scores, two samples of students (i.e., English majors and non-majors) at a Japanese university were divided into three treatment groups: 1) TOEIC Preparation, 2) Business English and 3) General (four-skills) English. The results indicate that usage of TOEIC preparatory materials led to a statistically significant gain on post-test scores for the non-majors' reading component only. The authors conclude that TOEIC preparatory materials are of little benefit to students enrolled in a comprehensive program of English language study, but might boost the score of the reading component of students enrolled in a university-level general English course in Japan.

Keywords: TOEIC, testing, evaluation, test preparation, ESL, EFL

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