의사소통 능력 측정 도구로서의 공인 영어 표준화 시험 타당도

Validity of TOEFL, TOEIC and TEPS as a measure of communicative competence

The scores of TOEFL, TOEIC and TEPS have been increasingly used for many purposes in Korea. In particular, these test scores are being used as a measure of the test-takers' overall communicative competence. Nonetheless, few studies have been conducted that investigate the validity of the test scores used for this purpose. As a preliminary step to explore the validity of the test scores, we conducted a small scale study by comparing 30 university students' scores in TOEFL, TOEIC and TEPS with their class performances in English conversation and composition courses. The correlations between the test scores and the grade point averages of the courses show that the test scores are much harder to use as a valid measure of test-takers' overall communicative competence than usually thought to be and that the score in TOEFL is, nonetheless, a more reliable measure than the ones in the other tests. Although this study has a few limitations such as the small number of participants, the homogeneity of the sample as a group, etc, it provides some insight into the use of the three tests for measurement of overall communicative proficiency and suggests need for conducting further validation studies in these areas.