Exploring Korean Students’ High Stakes TOEFL Preparation for Domestic University Admission

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study explores Korean students’ views of high stakes TOEFL preparation for domestic university admission, identifying why and how test takers prepare a targeted test for university admission, and how they are influenced by test preparation. The qualitative methodology adopted to investigate these issues. Two students participated in the study. Data are comprised of interviews, field notes and documents, which were collected from April 2012 to June 2012. The data were analysed using coding and thematic categorisation. It was found that test preparation did not give them the opportunity for personal growth. Rather, it came to dominate the test takers’ life and the organization of their daily activities as they studied only the TOEFL test. The study revealed impact of long-term high stakes TOEFL preparation for university admission on a test taker, related to: (1) starting point of test preparation (2) challenges during test preparation, and (3) changes over time. It is suggested that high-stakes language test as the main metric for university admission should be reexamined in terms of negative impact of test preparation on a test taker. The implications of the study are to raise awareness of impacts of high stakes TOEFL preparation for university admission on a test taker, and impact policy makers in institutions regarding the use of high stakes language test.

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