The Ten-Minute Vocabulary Tests for Quick and Approximate Estimates of General English Ability of Japanese EFL Learners IV

Abstract

In Katagiri (2001a), three Forms of a new vocabulary test based on word difficulty order with only 32 items which can be conducted in less than 10 minutes were developed for quick and approximate estimates of examinees' general English ability. Through Katagiri (2001b, 2002b), the concurrent validity and the reliability of the three Forms were confirmed among senior high school students, and the three Forms were confirmed as parallel tests with one another. In this study, the author, first, examines the concurrent validity and the reliability of the three Forms among university students, using TOEIC as a target of concurrent validity. He, then, attempts to create mathematical formulas to convert the scores of each Form into TOEIC scores. One hundred seventy-five freshmen at university took the three Forms of the new vocabulary tests and TOEIC IP. Significant middle correlations were narrowly confirmed between each Form and TOEIC; a middle-high IRT reliability was also narrowly affirmed on each Form. Using simple regression analysis, mathematical formulas which convert the raw scores of each Form into TOEIC scores was created. It was concluded that (1) the concurrent validity and the reliability of each Form were also confirmed among university students as tests for quick and approximate estimates of general English ability, and (2) the conversion formulas from the scores of each Form into TOEIC scores were calculated and shown with the means of errors, which must be taken into consideration when they are utilized.