Perhaps the most obvious strength of the TOEIC is its practicality. Its widespread availability and ease of administration are key selling points, and its scoring system facilitates reasonably fair and objective comparisons between examinees, even if the examinees are from different countries. Results can be obtained quickly. The TOEIC program introduced new software in early 2002 that enabled in-house test administrators that have access to an NCS scanner or equivalent to administer the TOEIC test, scan the answer sheets themselves, email the raw data to TOEIC Services, and receive test results in less than two hours (Chauncey Group International, 2000). The multiple choice format (as opposed to a direct productive skills-based test, such as an interview) enables many students to be tested as a group rather than individually. A large number of examinees can thus be tested with a minimal investment of time and money.
Washback is the degree to which an instructional or assessment instrument impacts all aspects of the learning process - students' motivation and study habits, educators' curriculum and materials decisions, etc. It can be either negative or positive. Discussions of washback are relevant to both the academic arena and in a business context, since examinees who take the TOEIC in a business context are usually learners who are outside of the strictly academic sphere, either through self-study or within private institutions or in-house programs that focus on test preparation. Although a standardized test such as TOEIC can have positive washback in individual students' cases, the most prevalent systemic impact that these tests have been observed to exert on the learning/teaching process is the practice of "teaching to the test." Teaching to the test simply means that educators let the contents of the test shape their curriculum choices, in order to secure higher test averages for their students. Rather than learning the broad range of content and skills that the test is intended to assess, students simply learn the far smaller set of various test-taking strategies and/or specialized content that are expected to bolster their test scores. Alderson and Wall (1993, as cited in Robb and Ercanback, 1999) summarize relevant research by suggesting that negative washback effects of teaching to the test may include narrowing or distortion of the curriculum, loss of instructional time, reduced emphasis on skills that require complex thinking or problem-solving and test score "pollution", meaning gains in test scores without a parallel improvement in actual ability in the construct under examination. On balance, it seems to this author that the negative washback effects of "teaching to the test" may very well outweigh whatever positive washback the high-stakes nature of the test may create in terms of extrinsic motivation to study, since it is rational for students who are motivated by the need to succeed on this test to invest their time and money in test-oriented study materials or programs rather than a more holistic language-learning approach.
บางทีแรงชัดที่สุดของ TOEIC จะเป็นการปฏิบัติจริง ความพร้อมใช้งานอย่างแพร่หลายและง่ายต่อการดูแลมีจุดขายที่สำคัญ และระบบการให้คะแนนอำนวยความสะดวกยุติธรรมสมเหตุสมผล และวัตถุประสงค์เปรียบเทียบระหว่าง examinees แม้ว่า examinees ที่มาจากต่างประเทศ สามารถได้รับผลลัพธ์อย่างรวดเร็ว โปรแกรมการสอบ TOEIC แนะนำซอฟต์แวร์ใหม่ในปี 2002 ช่วงที่เปิดใช้งานผู้ดูแลระบบในห้องทดสอบที่เข้า NCS สแกนเนอร์หรือเทียบเท่ากับจัดการทดสอบโทอิก สแกนแผ่นคำตอบด้วยตนเอง ส่งข้อมูลดิบให้บริการการสอบ TOEIC และได้รับผลการทดสอบน้อยกว่าสองชั่วโมง (เดนซ์กลุ่มนานาชาติ 2000) รูปแบบทางเลือกหลาย (ตรงข้ามกับตรงประสิทธิผลทักษะการทดสอบ เช่นสัมภาษณ์) ช่วยให้นักเรียนจำนวนมากจะทดสอบ เป็นตัว แทนแต่ละ Examinees เป็นจำนวนมากจึงสามารถทดสอบได้ ด้วยลงทุนน้อยที่สุดของเวลาและเงินWashback is the degree to which an instructional or assessment instrument impacts all aspects of the learning process - students' motivation and study habits, educators' curriculum and materials decisions, etc. It can be either negative or positive. Discussions of washback are relevant to both the academic arena and in a business context, since examinees who take the TOEIC in a business context are usually learners who are outside of the strictly academic sphere, either through self-study or within private institutions or in-house programs that focus on test preparation. Although a standardized test such as TOEIC can have positive washback in individual students' cases, the most prevalent systemic impact that these tests have been observed to exert on the learning/teaching process is the practice of "teaching to the test." Teaching to the test simply means that educators let the contents of the test shape their curriculum choices, in order to secure higher test averages for their students. Rather than learning the broad range of content and skills that the test is intended to assess, students simply learn the far smaller set of various test-taking strategies and/or specialized content that are expected to bolster their test scores. Alderson and Wall (1993, as cited in Robb and Ercanback, 1999) summarize relevant research by suggesting that negative washback effects of teaching to the test may include narrowing or distortion of the curriculum, loss of instructional time, reduced emphasis on skills that require complex thinking or problem-solving and test score "pollution", meaning gains in test scores without a parallel improvement in actual ability in the construct under examination. On balance, it seems to this author that the negative washback effects of "teaching to the test" may very well outweigh whatever positive washback the high-stakes nature of the test may create in terms of extrinsic motivation to study, since it is rational for students who are motivated by the need to succeed on this test to invest their time and money in test-oriented study materials or programs rather than a more holistic language-learning approach.
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