Research Papers in Assessment: Volume 2

The Institute for Test Research and Development e. V. (ITT) proudly presents the second volume of its Research Papers in Assessment, entitled “Mapping TOEFL iBT® Scores onto the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines.”

The purpose of this study was to establish a crosswalk between the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT®) and its corresponding ACTFL proficiency tests to help institutions of higher education (IHE) to better understand the relationship between TOEFL iBT scores and examinees’ functional language competencies. The results of this study may benefit IHEs and similar institutions by providing a research-based interpretation of how TOEFL iBT scores relate to functional language ability in an English-language context. In addition, IHEs will gain more fine-grained information about their students’ abilities, including diagnostic feedback that they can share with their students. Moreover, IHEs will learn how ACTFL assessments may be used to further their own mission with respect to admission and placement and, ultimately, to professional career goals. Furthermore, they may reflect on and (re-)assess their existing minimum TOEFL iBT scores for admission purposes.

The Research Papers in Assessment present recent studies on the valid and reliable measurement of language proficiency, high- and low-stakes testing, assessment concepts for instruction and instructional materials, diagnostic testing procedures and related individual language support, language needs assessment as well as other related topics. The series is published online to make current research results available as quickly as possible to interested researchers, teachers, and institutions involved in assessing foreign language skills for them to be able to implement these results in their testing practice. Researchers interested in publishing in the Research Papers in Assessment may contact the editors at info@itt-leipzig.de.