Using EIKEN, TOEFL, and TOEIC to Award EFL Course Credits in Japanese Universities

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370736
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Chuo University (2015-2016); Shibaura Institute of Technology (2014)
• Principal Investigator: Innami Yo 中央大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (80508747)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KOIZUMI Rie 順天堂大学, 医学部, 准教授 (70433571)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 英検 / TOEFL / TOEIC / 単位 / 認定 / 単位認定 / 外部テスト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Despite the wide use of language tests as a basis for awarding English language course credits at Japanese universities, little has been published about how universities set policies on awarding credits according to external test scores. To narrow this gap, the characteristics of such policies were investigated in relation to EIKEN, TOEFL, and TOEIC. Analyses of 18 national and 28 private universities showed that each university had a median of 58.50 EFL courses for which credits were offered based on external test scores. Moreover, approximately one third of cases of credit awarding showed a discrepancy between skills targeted in courses and those measured on the tests used in credit-awarding policies, suggesting that credit awarding based on these proficiency measures seems overall adequate. However, credit-awarding policies were problematic for four-skill (62.44% and 63.37% for national and private universities, respectively) and listening-speaking courses (61.26% and 65.29%).

Free Research Field

言語テスト、応用言語学、英語教育