PROBLEMS WITH SECTION TWO TOEFL PREDICTION TEST
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32493/ljlal.v5i1.27428Keywords:
TOEFL prediction test, structure, written expressionAbstract
The purpose of this study was to determine (1) the difficulties students faced in Section 2 of the TOEFL Prediction Test and (2) the reason why they consider those topics were difficult. A mixed method design was used in this study. A total of 30 students from different majors at Pamulang University were the test sample to determine difficulties faced by the students. Semi-structured interviews with the five low-performing participants who recorded the most errors on the test to explore the reasons. Results indicated reduced clause (20%) was the most difficult questions to students, followed by subject-verb agreement (13%), parallel structures (13%), comparisons (13%), pronouns (9%), and coordinating conjunctions (9%). It was also found Part B to be more difficult than Part A because it was harder to spot the mistakes in a sentence than it was to complete the sentence from multiple choices. Additionally, the results also revealed that reasons affecting the difficulties in answering the topics namely lack of knowledge and preparation, time management, and lack of vocabularies. Therefore, TOEFL teachers and trainers are strongly encouraged to pay more attention to the six topic study exercises with the highest error percentage, and to train students with various exercises in order to get used to the actual test.References
Abboud, Z. A. R., & Hussein, N. J. F. (2011). The difficulties faced by advanced Iraqi foreign learners in passing ITP TOEFL test. Journal of Basrah Researchers (Humanities Series), 36(4), 110-138.
Akmal, S., Rasyid, M. N. A., Masna, Y., & Soraya, C. N. (2020). EFL learners' difficulties in the structure and written expression section of TOEFL test in an Indonesian university. Englisia: Journal of Language, Education, and Humanities, 7(2), 156-180.
Ananda, R. (2016). Problems with section two ITP TOEFL test. Studies in English Language and Education, 3(1), 35-49.
Brown, J. D., & Bailey, K. M. (2008). Language testing courses: What are they in 2007? Language Testing, 25(3), 349-383.
Fitria, T. N. (2021). STUDENTS’ABILITY IN THE STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION SECTION IN TOEFL PREDICTION TEST. Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics, 8(2), 152-163.
Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (2005). The interview. The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 3, 695-727.
Fossey, E., Harvey, C., McDermott, F., & Davidson, L. (2002). Understanding and evaluating qualitative research. Australian & New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 36(6), 717-732.
Grindsted, A. (2005). Interactive resources used in semi-structured research interviewing. Journal of pragmatics, 37(7), 1015-1035.
Hadi, F. (2020). A Study of Students’ Difficulties in Structure and Written Expression on Paper-Based TOEFL. Journal of English Language Teaching and Islamic Integration, 3(02), 246-256.
Hampp, P. L., Kumayas, T. A., & Lengkoan, F. (2021). Synthesizing Grammar and Structure Problems Faced by Indonesian TOEFL Participants. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris undiksha, 9(1), 64-68.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2011). English as an Asian lingua franca and the multilingual model of ELT. Language teaching, 44(2), 212-224.
Larsonâ€Hall, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). Reporting and interpreting quantitative research findings: What gets reported and recommendations for the field. Language Learning, 65(S1), 127-159.
Liu, O. L. (2014). Investigating the relationship between test preparation and TOEFL iBT® performance. ETS Research Report Series, 2014(2), 1-13.
Philips, D. (2001). Longman complete course for the TOEFL test: preparation for the computer and paper tests.
Popa, D., Repanovici, A., Lupu, D., Norel, M., & Coman, C. (2020). Using mixed methods to understand teaching and learning in Covid 19 times. Sustainability, 12(20), 8726.
Putwain, D. W. (2009). Assessment and examination stress in Key Stage 4. British Educational Research Journal, 35(3), 391-411.
Roever, C., & Phakiti, A. (2017). Quantitative methods for second language research: A problem-solving approach. Routledge.
Snow Andrade, M., Evans, N. W., & Hartshorn, K. J. (2014). Linguistic support for non-native English speakers: Higher education practices in the United States. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 51(2), 207-221.
Song, Y., & Ma, Q. (2021). Affordances of a mobile learnerâ€generated tool for pupils’ English as a second language vocabulary learning: An ecological perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 858-878.
Sudijono, A. (2006). Pengantar statistik pendidikan. Jakarta: PT Raja Grafindo.
Wainer, H., & Braun, H. I. (2013). Testing Validity in Specific Subpopulations. In Test Validity (pp. 87-169). Routledge.
