Representing Language Use in the University - Analysis of the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic Language Corpus

Sep 30, 2026

Upload by Elsa

Few large-scale empirical investigations have addressed academic registers, and virtually none have examined spoken academic registers, making it difficult to judge how representative ESL/EFL materials and assessment instruments are. Within the TOEFL 2000 effort, lacking tools prevented evaluation of whether listening and reading texts match linguistic characteristics of real spoken and written academic registers. The T2K-SWAL Corpus was constructed and analyzed to describe its design and analysis, including linguistic analyses and diagnostic tool development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages390

Reading Time16 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

TOEFL 2000 project background

Corpus construction and analysis

Abstract

Monograph Series MS-25 JANUARY 2004 Representing Language Use in the University: Analysis of the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic Language Corpus Douglas Biber Susan M. Conrad Randi Reppen Pat Byrd Marie Helt Victoria Clark Viviana Cortes Eniko Csomay Alfredo Urzua Representing Language Use in the University: Analysis of the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic Language Corpus Douglas Biber Northern Arizona University Susan M. Conrad Portland State University Randi Reppen Northern Arizona University H. Patricia Byrd Georgia State University Marie Helt Sacramento State University Victoria Clark Northern Arizona University Viviana Cortes Iowa State University Eniko Csomay San Diego State University Alfredo Urzua Old Dominion University Educational Testing Service Princeton, New Jersey Educational Testing Service is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Copyright © 2004 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Violators will be prosecuted in accordance with both U.S. and international copyright laws. EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, ETS, the ETS logos, Graduate Record Examinations, GRE, and TOEFL are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service. The Test of English as a Foreign Language is a trademark of Educational Testing Service. To obtain more information about TOEFL programs and services, use one of the following: Email: [toefl@ets.org](toefl@ets.org) [Web site: www.toefl.org](Web site: www.toefl.org) Foreword The TOEFL Monograph Series features commissioned papers and reports for TOEFL 2000 and other Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM (TOEFL®) test development efforts. As part of the foundation for the TOEFL 2000 project, a number of papers and reports were commissioned from experts within the fields of measurement and language teaching and testing. The resulting critical reviews and expert opinions have helped to inform TOEFL program development efforts with respect to test construct, test user needs, and test delivery. Opinions expressed in these papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or intentions ofthe TOEFL program. These monographs are also of general scholarly interest, and the TOEFL program is pleased to make them available to colleagues in the fields of language teaching and testing and international student admissions in higher education. The TOEFL 2000 project is a broad effort under which language testing at Educational Testing Service® (ETS®) will evolve into the 21st century. As a first step, the TOEFL program revised the Test of Spoken EnglishTM (TSE®) and introduced a computer-based version of the TOEFL test. The revised TSE test, introduced in July 1995, is based on an underlying construct of communicative language ability and represents a process approach to test validation. The computer-based TOEFL test, introduced in 1998, takes advantage of new forms of assessment and improved services made possible by computer-based testing, while also moving the program toward its longer range goals, which include • the development of a conceptual framework that takes into account models of communicative competence • a research agenda that informs and supports this emerging framework • a better understanding of the kinds of information test users need and want from the TOEFL test • a better understanding of the technological capabilities for delivery of TOEFL tests into the next century Monographs 16 through 20 were the working papers that laid out the TOEFL 2000 conceptual frameworks with their accompanying research agendas. The initial framework document, Monograph 16, described the process by which the project was to

FAQs

Why was it difficult to evaluate ESL/EFL materials and assessments before this study?

Few large-scale empirical investigations existed for academic registers, especially spoken ones, leaving insufficient basic knowledge and tools to evaluate representativeness.

What is the T2K-SWAL Corpus used for in this report?

It was constructed and analyzed to fill the knowledge gap and to support evaluation of whether listening and reading exam texts reflect real spoken and written academic registers.

What were the two major stages of analysis completed?

First, linguistic analyses of text categories were completed to identify salient language-use patterns across registers, disciplines, and levels; then diagnostic tools were developed to indicate whether task language is representative of real-life language use.

Sep 30, 2026

Upload by Elsa