Using TOEIC as an English Assessment Tool: A Retrospective Case Study of ‘A’ University

The study investigated the long-term use of TOEIC by one university to measure its students’ English proficiency, examining (a) the changes in the students’ TOEIC scores across years, (b) the effectiveness of the intensive TOEIC programs run by the university to help the students prepare for TOEIC, and (c) the degree in which TOEIC was able to measure the students’ communicative skills in English. The results showed that the students’ TOEIC scores had a tendency to gradually increase each year before 2018, after which the scores started to decrease. The decrease may be due to the removal of English Conversation courses from the curriculum in 2018, which resulted in the absence of English courses for the students after their freshman year. Also, the intensive TOEIC programs had positive short-term effects on improving the students’ score after the completion of the programs. However, students were able to demonstrate similar increases in their scores after a 12-month period both with and without the intensive programs. Finally, TOEIC was not able to reflect the students’ communicative skills well, nor did the students perceive TOEIC as doing so. Based on the results, pedagogical implications for English instruction and assessment are also discussed.