The Test of English Language as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a test taken by Junior high schools to test their ability to apply and understand the English language. It is composed of four areas: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is the organization that is responsible for administering the test. Basically, this exam was developed to address problems relevant to English proficiency problems especially of non-native English speakers who are aiming to study in universities in the United States. In addition for having been imposed as a requirement for college admission in the United States for foreign students, numerous institutions have been requiring their applicants to take the test like institutions offering scholarship programs. (http://www.toeflgoanywhere.org)
This study would want to know if there is a significant advantage of attending the TOEFL preparation course. Specifically, the study would want to know if Junior students who attended a TOEFL preparation course scores higher than those who do not take the preparation course.
Specifically, the following hypothesis is used:
Ho: Junior students who take the TOEFL preparation course earn equal scores as Junior Students who do not take TOEFL preparation course.
Ha: Junior students who take the TOEFL preparation course earn higher scores as Junior Students who do not take TOEFL preparation course.
The result of this study is significant especially to the parents and the junior students because it will serve as a guide to the students whether they will take the extra effort and waste extra money in attending a preparation course or not. If the tests score of those who attended does are not significantly greater or higher than those who do not attend then why would they still attend a preparation course. Aside for extra time needed to attend such, extra money is also required since these TOEFL preparation courses are not given for freely.
Data
In order to conduct the study, a 40 randomly selected TOEFL scores in (20 scores of students who did not attend a TOEFL preparation course, and 20 scores of students who attended a TOEFL preparation course) taken on the same date were collected and used as a sample for either rejecting or accepting the hypothesis. Table 1 below shows the specific data.
Mathematical Processes and Findings
In order to determine whether to reject or accept the hypothesis, a one-tailed test will be conducted between the two sets of data with a margin of error of 5%.
The table 2 on the next page shows the specific characteristics of the data.
Based on the table below, it can be said that the average score of the students who did not attend the TOEFL preparation course is only 61.75 compared to the average score of the students who attend a preparation course which is 84.18. Likewise, the median score of those who did not a preparation course is higher than the mean which means that there are more students who scored lower than 64, unlike the other group mean is greater than the median score of 79.5.
In addition, the lowest score for the group of students who did not attend a preparation course is 20 while the max course is 100. On the other hand, the other group had 40 as the lowest score and a 120 (perfect score) as the highest. In addition, the scores are Quartile 1 and Quartile 3 of the group who did not attend preparation classes stands at only 41.75 and 76.5, respectively while scores of those who attend preparation classes are 68.75 and 111.25 respectively. This just means that that generally, the group who attended the preparation course has higher scores.
The standard deviations of both set of data are almost the same. This just means that with regards to the dispersement of the test scores, they are almost equal.
t (38) = 0.004034662; p < 0.05.
Using a t-table, we had the critical value 2.024.
Since 2.024 > t (38) = 0.004034662; p < 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.
Based on the test made, we can conclude that Junior students who take the TOEFL preparation course earn higher scores as Junior Students who do not take TOEFL preparation course. This implies that the extra effort and money spent on attending TOEFL preparation is not wasted.
Works Cited:
ETS.ORG. TOEFL (2013). Why the TOEFL® test is best: 6 facts that can make all the difference to you. N.d. Web. Accessed 24 May 2013.
TOEFL (2013). Why the TOEFL® test is best: 6 facts that can make all the difference to you. N.d. Web. Accessed 24 May 2013.
