Changes in Japanese EFL Learners’ Proficiency: An Application of Latent Rank Theory

Abstract

In the present study the authors compared achievements of Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at the end of 6 years of formal instruction based on their test performance in the English section of the National Center Tests for University Admissions administered in 1990, 1997, and 2004. Direct comparisons were made possible by equating the scales of these three tests using the common subject design. In addition to 121 Japanese EFL learners who took the tests prepared by the researchers for the equating purpose, 10,000 cases were randomly sampled from each year’s actual test-takers. Their test performance was rendered into analysis based on the Latent Rank Theory (Shojima, Neural test theory: A latent rank theory for analyzing test data (DNC Research Note, 08-01). Retrieved from http://www.rd.dnc.ac.jp/~shojima/ntt/Shojima2008RN08-01.pdf, 2008; Shojima, Neural test theory. In: K. Shigemasu, A. Okada, T. Imaizumi, & T. Hoshino (Eds.), New trends in psychometrics, pp. 417–426, 2009. Tokyo: University Academic Press; Shojima, Neural test theory. In: M. Ueno & K. Shojima (Eds.), Gakushu Hyoka no Shin-choryu [New trends in evaluation of learning], pp. 83–111, 2010. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten). The results indicate that the test-takers in 1990 are unique both in their membership to the latent ranks and in the knowledge that characterizes the high-achievers. Implication of the present study will be discussed in the last section.