We regularly get inquiries on strategies for using TOEIC tests in English language teaching, as well as on how quickly scores can be expected to improve. Therefore I was interested to learn of research conducted by TOEIC representative Pro-Match in Australia that responds to both questions.

Pro-Match had the opportunity to work with results from almost 750 students at  Pacific Gateway International College (whose English language centers have since been purchased by the Canadian company ILSC). Teachers in all Pacific Gateway's varied types of English language programs administered TOEIC Listening & Reading tests once each month throughout enrollment periods that lasted a minimum of four weeks and an average of twelve weeks—providing a wealth of data!

To summarize, the research from Pro-Match reveals an interesting and unexpected pattern of progress and "plateauing" that is not attributable to chance:

• TOEIC test scores after four weeks of training, as compared with the first time the test was taken, showed an average 30 point increase. 
   
• The lower the entry score, the more rapidly students progressed, especially in early months of English language training.
   
• Surprisingly, a significant number of the students (about 20% of all test takers) showed a decline in scores following eight weeks of training.
   
• Scores increased in month three, and then frequently showed a "flat spot" where scores leveled off in month four, before picking up again with steady increases in months five and six and evidence of even more rapid gains for the small number of students who continued on to months seven through thirteen.
   

Pacific Gateway found the data drawn from its frequent and wide-scale TOEIC testing valuable not only for assessment but also for coaching and encouraging its students. Beginning students could see a truly objective, world-recognized measure of their improvement, while those further along could be reassured if progress was not steady.

Individuals often do become discouraged when they hit a learning plateau without such reassurance. They may not fully grasp that that such periods of stasis or even decline are universal across all types of learning, reflecting not "failure" but time necessary for consolidation and absorption of new information. Being able to anticipate such periods and even having an idea of when they were most likely to occur proved valuable and provided long-term motivation to both teachers and students.

I would note that TOEIC tests are a particularly good choice for long-term research studies such as the one conducted by Pro-Match and Pacific Gateway because of the large number of different test forms that are available. Each has been statistically validated so that users can be sure that scores on one form of the test are equivalent to scores on any other TOEIC test form.

Thanks to Pro-Match director Ken Alexander for sharing these research results.We will be happy to provide their more detailed research report on request. E-mail us at toeic@amideast.org to request a copy.

 —Lia Nigro, TOEIC USA Team