The purpose of this study was to critically examine the absolute grading system applied to the English section of South Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), in a departure from a relative grading system, for the first time in 2017. English language instructors as well as English education researchers have somewhat differing understandings of the concept of absolute evaluation/grading. This paper investigated the nature of absolute evaluation/grading as presented in theses and academic papers as well as research reports, English language assessment textbooks, and press releases from the Ministry of Education (MOE). The study identified four different testing contexts in which the term absolute evaluation/grading is applied: criterion-referenced testing; grading based on fixed cut scores; measurement against external criteria; and norm-referenced testing. While retaining the same test structures as in the prior normreferenced testing situation, the CSAT English section corresponds to the second context, that is, interpreting results based on fixed cut scores. Achievement standards essential for producing criterion-referenced tests have so far been undefined, with cut scores being arbitrarily set. The examination concluded that the CSAT English section under an absolute grading scale is essentially a norm-referenced test that produces a significantly larger percentage of higher-level test-takers. There is a fair likelihood that, unlike MOE’s claim, converting to an absolute evaluation/grading system may not bring about the intended positive change.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether three standard-setting methods would produce sufficiently consistent results for placement decisions. The cut scores were derived from modified Angoff method, borderline group method, and cluster analysis. The results indicate that the cut scores derived from the three standard setting methods did not entirely agree with each other in assigning students into different levels, suggesting that the choice of standard setting method influenced the resulting cut scores. Specifically, the borderline-group method tended to produce lower cut scores than the other two methods. The cluster analysis yielded two cut scores, which were very similar to the cut scores derived from the modified Angoff method at the corresponding levels. The implications of the findings are discussed and avenues for further study are suggested.

This paper investigates the effects of time constraints on writing performance of Korean college students by comparing the overall quality of two types of writing samples-the term paper with a 5-week time allowance and the in-class timed essay with 30-minute time constraints. Thirty-nine college students majoring in Englishlanguage education participated in the study, and their compositions were compared in terms of 5 criteria. To ensure the compatibility of the two different types of tasks, two textbook passages whose topic was similar to each other were presented to the students. The writing task in both conditions was to build a lesson plan in an essay format explicitly detailing the rationale for each activity. The t-test results suggest a meaningful difference in the areas of content, language use, and mechanics; but not in organization and vocabulary. The results indicate that there are limitations on measuring students’ writing ability under timed conditions, which was also validated by survey responses collected at the end of the experiment. Implications for writing assessment are offered.

This study aims to explore the placement practices in five college English programs and four university language institutes. Specifically, the present study investigated the types of placement tests they administer, the degree of the correspondence between course objectives and test content, and validation procedures. This study also examined teachers" perceptions on the appropriateness of placement decisions. The data were collected through web site searches, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The results showed that proficiency tests were used for placement purposes in the college English programs. The language institutions administered placement tests only for their speaking courses in the form of oral interviews. The content of placement tests did not largely correspond with the course objectives. All English language programs did not have systematic procedures for identifying misplaced students. Finally, instructors reported that more than one third of the classes included misplaced students. The implications of the findings are discussed.

This study examined composing processes of six graduate ESL writers in timed essay situations. The participants’ composing behaviors were videotaped and they were asked to retrospect their composing processes after they completed their timed essays while watching the video of themselves composing. The stimulus recall data were transcribed and analyzed using coding schemes. The analyses of the participants’ composing processes show that they were not able to go through composing steps they normally do in drafted writing situations. Instead they were forced to go through a linear composing process and were not able to enjoy heuristic discovery. The findings of this study support the claim that timed essay is a special form of writing and that essay exams do not necessarily produce a representative sample of test takers' writing ability in target language use domains.