To address the English proficiency of underachieving college students, universities often use in-house language tests. C University lacks specific exams for identification, and relies on students’ English performance in the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT English). This research explores the potential of the TOEIC Bridge, a standardized English proficiency test developed for middle and high school students, to provide an effective, practical measure for screening underachieving students in English. The study investigates the relationship between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, evaluating the predictive value of TOEIC Bridge on CSAT outcomes. Analyzing data from 418 students, the study identified (1) a moderate correlation between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, and (2) predictability of CSAT English performance based on TOEIC Bridge, suggesting that TOEIC Bridge can provide a potential tool to identify underachieving students in English. These findings contribute pedagogical insights for tertiary education.

The study investigates the effects of corpus-based formulaic sequences learning on developing learners’ writing skills and attitudes. For this purpose, fifty-four high school students participated in the study and were divided into two groups. The experimental group learned formulaic sequences with the corpus-based method, while the control group learned the target items through the definition-centered method. The results of the study showed that no significant difference in writing ability was found between corpus-based formulaic sequences learning and traditional formulaic sequences learning. The corpus-based formulaic sequences learning showed a greater effect on improving grammatical accuracy of writing. The traditional formulaic sequences learning was effective in the acquisition of productive knowledge of formulaic sequences. The results of the survey questionnaire showed that the students showed a positive attitude toward corpus-based formulaic sequences learning, which may mean corpus-based learning can play an important role in increasing students’ motivation. These results may suggest that various corpus-based activities for EFL class need to be developed.

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.

In Korea, the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was introduced in 1993 as the official national college entrance examination. Over the 22 years since its inception, the CSAT has gone through numerous changes in its policies regarding the test structure, test administration, test writers, item bank, item difficulty, test materials, score reporting, and the use of test scores. The present study reviewed these policies and policy changes regarding the CSAT, with a focus on the English section ofthe test. The study found that while some of the policies were laudable for beneficial effects on students and the society, some other policies had detrimental effects on the quality of the test and for stakeholders including students, teachers, and parents. More active involvement of testing professionals is suggested for the improvement of policymaking processes and the policies themselves.

This study aims to compare the English vocabulary used in Korean high school English textbooks with the one in the College Scholastic Ability Tests (afterwards CSAT) administered in the years of 2009-2013 by using a concordance program, NLPTools, and to make a list of vocabulary used only in CSAT. The findings are as follows: First, when compared with Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List, the 'Basic Words List' shows a conformity rate of 98.78%. Second, in terms of TTR (Type Token Ratio), there is no noticeable difference among the English textbooks. Third, in the respect of TTR, CSATs show higher figures, which means that CSATs' vocabulary is more difficult than that in the English textbooks and that for CSATs, annually each test has shown a gradual increase in the number of valid types. (This shows that more valid types to be learned are needed for the preparation of CSAT. Also the degree of difficulty in CSAT is getting higher.) Lastly, the higher level of the 208 words which occur only in CSATs illustrates that the gap between the vocabulary level of textbooks and that of CSAT needs to be reduced for normalization of public education.

This study analyzed the text readability of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and High School English Ⅱ textbooks by focusing on reading and compared the difficulty levels between them. To analyze the readability, the Flesh 2.0 for Windows and the Web VP 1.5 (2003) were used. To find out about high school students’ attitudes and behavior towards English and their preferences of English books, a questionnaire consisting of ten questions was administered. The results revealed that the textbooks are more readable than the CSATs in terms of the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level (RGL) and Reading Ease Score (RES). The average length per sentence of the textbooks is shorter than that of the CSATs. Furthermore, the CSATs have a higher percent of academic words than the textbooks. The questionnaire results showed that the participants, 228 second-year high school boy and girl students, preferred CSAT prep books, followed by EBS books and textbooks. Based on the findings, the basic directions of the CSAT and the guidelines to write textbooks have been suggested.

The purpose of this study is to present underlying principles and criteria for designing and developing National English Ability Test (NEAT). To this end, this study presents 5 principles (i.e., Connection, Authenticity, Interactiveness, IBT Compatibility, Washback Effectiveness) which play guiding and controlling roles in developing and selecting item types appropriate for the listening and the reading test of NEAT derived from test usefulness (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). Also, it proposes 4 criteria (i.e., Complementarity, Integration, Pivotality, and Hierarchicality) which function levering roles in designing and developing the two tests of NEAT on the basis of the empirical data of the item analyses of Foreign (English) domain of College Scholastic Ability Tests (2005~2010 school year). Finally, it discusses some implications and applications of the principles and the criteria to a theoretical blueprint for establishing an item developing system and a test implementation system, setting up the criteria of validating item types, designing a modular type of test specifications, and specifying a complementary type of test specifications for the two ability-level listening and reading tests (the 2nd and the 3rd rank) of NEAT.

This study investigates secondary school English teachers’ perceptions and psychological burdens involved in the implementation of the speaking and writing tests of the National English Ability Test, which is being developed by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The study surveyed 138 secondary school English teachers in Seoul. Although more than half of the teachers were aware of the new test, 18% of the surveyed teachers were not aware of the fact that speaking and writing skills would be assessed in the new test. Also, 22.7% of the teachers were opposed to the productive skills test. More than half (56.2%) of the teachers felt some psychological burdens toward the inclusion of the speaking/writing tests. Although the teachers admitted that serving as raters for the new test would help improve their teaching, the majority of them were reluctant to participate in the actual rating process. The teachers felt that the difficulty of subjective rating and the lack of time for the speaking and writing tests were serious problems in implementing the new test. The teachers were sensitive toward the students’ test anxiety. They also indicated that they feel a strong psychological burden when making judgments on the students' performances. Implications and suggestions are made based on the findings.

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This study aimεd to ìnvestigatε the relationship between phonemic awareness and listening comprehension ability. For this paπIC비ar research purpose thζ English name test and TOEFL LlC tests were employεd and a total of 34 university students participaκd in this εxpεriment. The English name tεst consisting of relativεly unheard 26 English namζs was specially dεsigned and adminisκrεd for the participants to depend on their own phonemic awarenεss ability, not applying their cognitive prior knowlεdge. whεn they transcribε:d the n잉nεs using the phonεtic alphabεts. Thε statistical result showed that thε Pearson's product-moment correlation coεfficient was .550* and its coefficient of determination was .303. This result c1ζarly demonstrated that the phonemic awareness ability was highly correlatεd with the overall Iistening comprεhension ability and implied thε need for implεmεnting the so-called bottom-up method for developing students' phonζrnic awareness ability at primary or secondary school levels.

The study investigated the effects of text, task, and L2 reading ability on Korean college students’ English reading strategy use. The participants performed Word Translation, Theme Summarization, and Question Generation tasks while reading either narrative or expository passages. The strategy use was examined through a questionnaire and thinkaloud protocols. When investigated by the questionnaire, the students’ strategy use patterns were not very different between the two text type groups and between the two L2 reading ability groups. The task type seemed to affect the strategy use to some degree, but the difference was not extensive. Overall, a few particular strategies were used very often regardless of the text type, the task type and L2 reading ability. The results of the verbal protocols suggested that the task types affected the strategy use to some degree, but the influence was limited as was shown in the results of the questionnaire. Based on the findings of the study, pedagogical implications were presented.