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- ?
SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
•To
?SENATE
?
.From. .
SENATE UNDERGRADUATE ... ADMISSIONS B.OMJ
Subject...
....
....
.
TOEFL
FORNFQRIATQ
.
N
?
.....Date..,
OCTOBER 1, 1.97.9..... .. .. .. .. .... .........
S
S
 
SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ?
MEMORANDUM
To ?
H.M. EVANS
SECRETARY OF SENATE
Subject.... ?
PAPER SUAB 85
?
".TOEFL ... STUDY"
From. ..
?
SECRETARY
SENATE UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS BOARD
Date..........ST
OCTOBER
.
,
Senate Undergraduate Admissions Board submits
the attached paper, SUAB 85 - "TOEFL Study" for
information only.
(i
CLI
End.
ACM:bc
.
0
 
?
• .
?
SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MMOAt4Ut
SUAB 85
?
.
To
?
°
...
'.
Assistant to the Vice-Presidert, .\cademic
TOEFI Scores and Forei9fl StudentS
. ?
Date. ?
.............................
The effectiveness of the TOEFL as a way of evaluating an
applicant's competence In English on admission to.the University and the
cut-off score of 550 used by Simon Fraser University has been questioned.
There has also been considerable interest in the general performance of
foreign students. These two concerns are the basis of a study which has
recently been completed.
TOE FL Test
TOEFL (a Test of English as a Foreign Language) was
developed in 1963 to test "the English proficiency of non-native speakers
of English applying for admission to United States colleges and universities."
The initial work was financed by grants from the Ford and Danforth Foundations
and the program was then taken over in 1965, by Educational Testing Service
which is a non-profit organization.
Thi
and now consists of
. ?
1)
2)
.3)
test has been revised in the last four or five years
three parts:
Listening comprehension - (the questions are taped
in standard American English);
Structure and written expression; and
Reading comprehension and vocabulary.
All answers are recorded on multiple choice type answer sheets.
No attempt is made to have students write essays. This Is understandable from
the test volume - 134,000 applicants in 1976-77, and the difficulty of provid-
ing some type of uniformity in the scoring of essays.
The Educational Testing Service recommends that the test not
be used as the sole criterion for rejecting a student, but it is useful when
there is some doubt about the student's general background.. It is also
recommended that each Institution develop its own cut-off scores for admission
of students.
With the cooperation of the Registrar's office, the transcripts
of all students who were not Canadian citizens were examined, for the period
of five semesters - 75/3 to 77/1 inclusive. There were 1,261 such transcripts.
The transcripts were then sorted by the country issuing the
visa to the student. At this point it was obvious that many of the students
came from countries in which the language of instruction would have been English.
 
-2-
There were 558 students in this group, and there were 15 students who withdrew
in the first semester and so had no academic record.
There were 688 students for whom English would be a second
language. Their files were examined to determine whether or not they had
taken the TOEFL.
?
If they had,only the most recent score was used. Of this
group 336 had TOEFL scores - for the remaining 352 the test had been waived.
The test is not normally required of applicants who have attended a Canadian
secondary and/or post-secondary institution for three years or more. In
some instances the test was waived when the applicant, in personal interview,
showedan acceptable level of spoken English. As the results of the study
show, the grade point averages of those who had taken the TOEFL and those who
had not were almost identical
The flaw in this method of assessing the effectiveness of
the test is that students who did not meet the cut-off score of 550 were not
admitted to the University and there is no way of checking on their progress.
However, the TOEFL average at Simon Fraser University is 581 which might lend
some assurance to the admissions office in their selection methods.
An additional aspect of the study was the number of students
making use of the English 010 course. Again, the results show only those
students who received credit In the course, but not the number who had
actually enrolled in the course, or the number who may have repeated it.
Since so many of the students indicated Chinese as the primary language,
a note was made of the numbers who took Chinese language courses as a possible
way of enhancing the GPA. The number of courses taken by these students was
not sufficient to influence the GPA significantly.
The conclusions of the study are that students for whom English
is a second language are doing as well as the average Simon Fraser student and
the use of the TOEFL is a reasonable way of determining the applicant's ability
to cope with English as a language of instruction. No change in the cut-off
score of 550 is recommended.
.-L
:a ms
?
Lolita Wilson
att.
OR
0
 
Students who are not Canadian
etered in isters
7
J
3
-J2L 1
C
l
.
2S
i
L e
NL21
English as a first
language
?
- ?
558
?
English as a foreign language -
?
688
?
Records of students who With-
drew first semester
?
-
?
15
1261
English as a first language
- N=558
Males
?
F
ema
les
Australia
?
- : ?
7 ?
22
New Zealand
?
-
.
?
5,
?
6
United
Kingdom
?
-
118 ?
92
United States
?
-
127. ?
166
Other
?
. ?
- 9 ?
6
.266 ?
292
Visa
Student ?
-
?
87
Immigrant
?
- ?
462
Visitor ?
- ?
9
English as a foreign language
-
N=688
N=336
N=352
Total ?
.
?
Toefi
No
Toef
1
Sex
Male
-
374(54%)
?
177
197
•
Female
?
-
314(46%)
?
159
155
Visa
•
Student ?
-
298(43%)
?
230
68
Immigrant
?
-
369(54%) ?
97
272
Visitor
?
-
7( 17o)
?
2
5
Diplomatic
?
-
14( ?
) ?
7
7
Thefl
Scores
Available ?
-
336
Scores
Waived ?
-
101
Scores not applicable-
31
Scores not available -
60
Special, Qual.
etc. ?
-
39
.T.
Attended Canadian
Sec.
Post/Sec.
Institutions ?
- 121
Page one of four
 
N = 336
N=352
Total
Toefi
No Toef 1
Athiission -
Clear -
@628
(91%)
Canadian
(tXII & XIII -
186(27%)
113
73
Can .Cbll. &
Univ.
?
-
154(22%)
78
76
U.S. Coil. &
Univ.
?
-
35(
5%)
17
18
Mature Student ?
-
39( 6%)
6
33
Qualifying ?
- 61( 9)
12
49
Teaching Certifiaté
?
- 12(
1%)
2
10
Other ?
- 141(21%) 80
61
Admission - Special Entry
- Appeals
- NO (9%)
Can. Gr.
XII
?
-
7(1%)
6
1
Can. Coil. & Univ. ?
-
33(
5%)
14
19
U.S. entries ?
- 8( 17o)
5
3
Other ?
- 12(2%)
4
7
Number of
Appeals
One
appeal
?
- 23(3.3%) 10
13
Too appeals ?
- 10(1.5%)
?
5
5
Three
appeals ?
-
3( ?
.4%) ?
2
1
High
School
CPA ?
-
2.78
2.77
2.80'
Transfer
&UTS
?
-
33.6
32.3
35.2
Semester Regist.
?
-
3.5
3.7
3.2
SFU Hrs. Regist.
?
- 38.1
45.4
31.1
SW.
Hrs. Credit ?
-
37.1
43.3
31.2
Total Credit Hours
?
-
54.8
62.36,
47.6
SF0 Sem. (PA ?
-
2.46
2.44
2.47
SW Cum. (PA ,
?
-
2.51
2.51
2.51
Total Toefi Score Average
581.4 (s.d.
37.9)
No. of Chinese Language Courses
One ?
-
85
68
17
Two ?
-
43
36
7
Three ?
- 24
20
4
English 010 - Credit
?
-
63
40
23
Academic Category - Clear
Current
?
- 445
217 228
SW
Grad.
?
-
53
' ?
36
17
Withdrew ?
' ?
-
63
25
38
Conpleted PUP
?
-
9
-'
9
Other ?
- 3 1
2
.
Pare to of four
 
Total Toef 1
17
?
8
36
?
14
9 ?
5
18 ?
11
6 ?
4
32
?
19
I
N=336
?
N=352
Total
?
Thefi
No Thefi
Academic catery - In Academic Difficulty
Probation
?
- ?
76
?
42
Reqiiir. to withdraw
?
- ?
17 ?
7
Penn. withdrawal
?
- ?
2 ?
-
Withdrew
?
-
?
9 ?
2
34
10
2
7
8
6
7
2
1
29
101
1
1
5
8
75
Faculty
Arts
Science
Education
FIDE
Departments
?
-
rntaj.
?
-
?
Toef 1
Arts
English ?
- ?
14
History
?
-
?
9
Languages, etc.
?
- ?
18
Philosophy
?
- ?
6
Archaeology
?
- ?
2
Economics ?
- ?
56
Commerce ?
- ?
155
Geography ?
- ?
4
Political Science
?
- ?
8
Psychology ?
- ?
11
&c/Anthropology ?
- ?
12
Arts Undeclared ?
- ?
161
Interdisciplinary Studies
B.G.S. ?
- ?
11
Centre for the Arts-
?
1
Qxrputing Science
?
- ?
15
•
conminications ?
- ?
20
Criminology ?
- ?
5
Kinesiolo' ?
'- ?
5
FIlE Undeclared
?
-
?
3
Total ?
Tbefl
454(66%) ?
238
133(16%) ?
69
?
58(6%) ?
12
?
43(6%)
?
17
Departments
Science
Biochemistry
?
-
Biological Sciences -
Chemistry ?
-
Mathematics -
?
-
Physics ?
-
Science Undeclared -
Education
P.D.P. ?
-
?
17
Education ?
- 22
3
15
2
1
1
7
I Page three of four
 
Countries
(by
pasportdeS1ation)
Total ?
Toefi
Total
Toef 1
Grot
?
1
1.
Ethiopia
- ?
4;
1
* 1. Tanzania ?
- 17
1
2.
Ghana
-
?
2
-
*
2. Uganda ?
- 11 -
* 3.
Kenya
-
?
27
4
3. Mexico ?
- 3
1
4.
Mauritius
-.
?
1
-
4.
West
Indies ?
-
4 -
5.
Nigeria
- ?
8 1 5. Barbados ?
-
4 -
6.
1desia
- ?
2 -
6. Dominican Repub. -
1 -
7. South Africa
- ?
7 1
7 Jamaica
?
- 5
8.
Zaire
- ?
1 1
8. Netherlands Ant. -
6 1
Group 3
Group 4
1.
St. Vincent
- ?
1
-
* 1. Hong Kong
?
- 358
250
2.
Trinidad
- ?
6
-
2. Cyprus ?
- 1
-
3.
Argentina
- ?
4
1
3. Iran ?
- 7
2
4. Chile
-
?
5
-
4. Israel
?
- 2
1
5.
Colarbia
-
?
1
1
5. Jordan ?
-
1 -
6.
Guyana
- ?
2
1
6. Lebanon
?
-
4
1
7.
Brazil
- ?
3
1
7. Turkey
?
- 1
1
8. Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
2
1
Groups
Group
* 1.
India
-
?
25:
4
1. China
?
- 9
4
2.
Pakistan
- ?
7
2
2. Japan
?
-
2 -
*
3.
Indonesia
- ?
10:
7
3. Sth. Korea ?
- 2
1
* 4.
Malaysia -
?
17
14
4. Taiwan
?
- 7
6
* 5.
Philipines
-
?
16
3
* 5. Denmark ?
- 10
1
6.
Singapore
-
?
6
2
6. Finland
3 -
7.
Thailand
- ?
1
1
* 7. France ?
- 14 -
8.
8th. Vietnam
- ?
1
-
8. Netherlands ?
-
6 -
Group
7
Group 8
1. Norway
- ?
5 2
1. Italy
?
- 3
1
2.
Sweden
- ?
3
-
2. Portugal
?
- 2 -
3.
Austria
-
?
1
-
3. Spain
?
-. 3 2
4.
Czechoslovakia
-
?
1
1
4. Yugoslavia ?
-
2 -
*
5. W. Germany
- ?
27
6
5.
Fiji ?
-
8 1
6.
Poland
-
?
1
- 6. Belgium ?
-
1 -
7. Switzerland
-
?
9
3
7. Hungary ?
-
2 -
8. Greece
-
?
7 3
9. Other ?
- 7 3
?
Total ?
N = 64
?
*1Oor more ?
N11
lolita. Wilson
Assistant to the Vice-President, Academic
May 28, 1979
Page four of four

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