A Comparison of the Abilities Measured by the Cambridge and Educational Testing Service EFL Test Batteries

Abstract

A Comparison of the Abilities Measured by the Cambridge and Educational Testing Service E F L Test Batteries' Lyle F. Bachman University of California, Los Angeles Fred Davidson University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign John Foulkes University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate This paper compares the abilities measured by the First Certificate of English (FCE) administered by the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). An investigation of the factor structure of the two test batteries, both within each test battery as well as across test batteries, is presented. The analyses suggest that the FCE and ETS test batteries administered in this study appear to measure, to a large degree, the same common aspect of language proficiency of the subjects in the sample. The contribution of this study to language testing is also discussed. INTRODUCTION The First Certificate in English (FCE), administered by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (Cambridge) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), are widely used as measures of proficiency for English as a foreign language (EFL) throughout the world. Hundreds of thousands of I Issues in Applied Linguistics ©Regents of the University of California ISSN 1050-4273 V o l . 1 No. 1 1990 30-55

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