Method
To test our hypothesis, we identified a sample of some 2300 test takers in Korea (42%)
and Japan (58%) who had taken each of the four TOEIC tests (test takers who had taken
fewer than all four TOEIC measures were not included). A majority had taken the tests
within a period of six months during a recent two-year interval. Because the TOEIC tests
are administered in some 120 countries worldwide (www.ets.org/toeic), our inclusion of
only Japanese and Korean test takers obviously limits the generalizability of our results.
However, although the distribution of TOEIC test takers by country is not publicly available,
it is generally acknowledged that a very high proportion of TOEIC test takers come
from Korea and Japan. Thus, although not strictly representative, our study sample
reflects a substantial proportion of the TOEIC test-taking population