چکیده:
TOEFL iBT has turned recently heads to the impacts language tests can have on language learning. Since error analysis-based instruction has gained a new life with the advent of the computer analysis of the learner’s language, the researchers of this study embarked on examining a sample of integrated and independent writing tasks of 45 Iranian TOEFL iBT candidates in order to identify and classify their errors. Examining 90 writing tasks in toto, the researchers categorized the errors into three major categories: grammar, mechanics, and content errors. Although, the errors of integrated and independent tasks at the levels of grammar and mechanics, with slight differences, had much to share, the content errors exhibited considerable differences. The content errors of the integrated task included plagiarism, for instance while the independent category was limited to organization of ideas and task fulfillment. Given the relative youth of TOEFL iBT for language teachers and learners, the results of this study can have promising potential for enhancing Iranian TOEFL iBT teachers’ understanding of the problems of their prospective candidates. The findings can also be used to improve TOEFL iBT preparatory materials as adopting a troubleshooting approach seems to be more viable in short-term tailor-made courses.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Since error analysis-based instruction has gained a new life with the advent of the computer analysis of the learner’s language, the researchers of this study embarked on examining a sample of integrated and independent writing tasks of 45 Iranian TOEFL iBT candidates in order to identify and classify their errors.
To our knowledge, the present study in Iran is the first to investigate a sample of integrated and independent writing tasks of a group of Iranian TOEFL iBT candi- dates in order to identify and classify their most common errors.
Traditional threshold TOEFL score, 550 (PBT) or 213 (CBT), were considered as the indication of the readiness of prospective university students to study in an English-medium academic setting (Tannenbaum & Wylie, 2004) but Johnson, Jordan, and Poehner (2005, cited in Zareva, 2005) found evidence of the insufficient writing and oral communication skills of the admitted students, which would consequently impede their full participation in academic pro- grams.
Pointing to the increasing research findings showing effectiveness of error correction in writing classes, in a response to Truscott’s negative position (1996), Ferris (1999, cited in Bitchener, Young & Cameron, 2005) introduces Truscott’s ideas as premature and extremely strong.
Considering all these, this study embarked on presenting error taxonomy of the TOEFL iBT in the hope that this taxonomy could help language teachers to better understand the most common types of errors Iranian candidates typ- ically make while attempting the new version of TOEFL writing section."