Scores on the Test of English for International Communication Listening and Reading (TOEIC LR) have been used for rolling-based university admissions in South Korea. Because this test is not designed for that purpose by the testing organization, there may be a need to explore the validity of TOEIC LR score use for admission purposes. Accordingly, this study investigated how admissions officers in South Korea perceived TOEIC LR scores and their uses and why they used the scores for admission purposes. We adopted a sequential mixed-method design (Creswell & Clark, 2011) involving three phases of data collection: (1) analysis of application handbooks to identify the questionnaire survey target, (2) a survey of faculty (n = 20) involved in admissions, and (3) semi-structured interviews with selected participants (n = 5) to delve into their questionnaire responses. The findings were that (a) almost half of the universities in Korea were implementing special admissions and accepted the scores on the recognized English tests; (b) use of the test lacks validity because most of the admissions officers did not view the test scores as an indicator of English proficiency and academic aptitude; (c) approximately half of the admissions officers viewed the scores as a reflection of an applicant’s effort, test-taking skills learned at language institutes, and former residence in English-speaking countries; and (d) the TOEIC LR scores were used due to a lack of other English tests as well as social pressure such as test fees and testing site availability.

1. RESEARCH CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
 2. TOEIC LISTENING AND READING
  2.1. Test Purposes and Target Population
  2.2. General Descriptions of the TOEIC LR: Test Content, Format, Tasks and Measured English Abilities
 3. VALUE IMPLICATIONS
 4. METHODS
  4.1. Data Collection 1: Information about the Admission Process in Four-Year Korean Universities
  4.2. Data Collection 2: Participants and Instruments
  4.3. Data Analysis
 5. RESULTS
  5.1. The Extent of the Use of TOEIC LR Scores for Admission to Korean Universities (RQ 1)
  5.2. Admissions Officers’ Views on TOEIC LR Scores (RQ 2)
  5.3. Admissions Officers’ Values Embedded in Scores and Use of the TOEIC LR (RQ 3)
 6. DISCUSSION
  6.1. Prevalence of Use of TOEIC LR Scores for Admission to Korean Universities (RQ 1)
  6.2. TOEIC LR Scores Regarding English Proficiency and Academic Skills (RQ 2)
  6.3. Values Attached to Scores and Uses of the TOEIC LR (RQ 3)
 7. CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES

• Gwan-Hyeok Im(Queen’s University)
• Tim McNamara(The University of Melbourne) Corresponding author