The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the EnglishSection of the National Center Test for University Admissions2017

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(1)Title. The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017. Author(s). MAKI, Hideki; MA, Wen; LIU, Yi; HASEBE, Megumi; TAGUCHI, Shigeki; OKU, Satoshi; UEDA, Yukiko; OCHI, Masao; NAGASUE, Kosuke; SEVIER, Michael; DUNTON,Jessica. Citation. [岐阜大学地域科学部研究報告] vol.[42] p.[27]-[34]. Issue Date. 2018. Rights. Version. 岐阜大学地域科学部 (Gifu University) / 岐阜大学地域科学研究科 (Gif University) / 岐阜大学地域科学研究科 (Gifu University) / 信州大学全学教育機構非常勤 (Shinshu University) / 信州大学全学教育機構 (Shinshu University) / 北海道大学メディア・コミュニケーション研究院 (Hokkaido University) / 山口大学人文学部 (Yamaguchi University) / 大阪大学言語文化研究科 (Osaka University) / 北九州市立大学基盤教育センター (The University of Kitakyushu) / Gifu City International Exchange Association / SAD 4 Schools. URL. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12099/74516. ※この資料の著作権は、各資料の著者・学協会・出版社等に帰属します。.

(2) 27 岐阜大学地域科学部研究報告第 42 号： 27 – 34 （2018）. The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017* Hideki MAKI*1, Wen MA*1, Yi LIU*1, Megumi HASEBE,*2 Shigeki TAGUCHI*2, Satoshi OKU*3, Yukiko UEDA*4, Masao OCHI*5, Kosuke NAGASUE*6, Michael SEVIER*7, and Jessica DUNTON*8 Gifu University*1, Shinshu University*2, Hokkaido University*3, Yamaguchi University*4, Osaka University*5, The University of Kitakyushu*6, Gifu City International Exchange Association*7, and SAD 4 Schools *8 (Received November 13, 2017). 1. Introduction Maki, Wasada, and Hashimoto (2003) developed the original version of the Minimal English Test (MET), a 5-minute English test, which requires the test taker to write a correct English word with 4 letters or fewer into each of the 72 blank spaces of the given sentences, while listening to a corresponding CD. Since then, the Maki Group has found statistically significant correlations between the scores on the MET and the scores on the English section of the National Center Test for University Admissions, or Center Test (which shall be referred to as CT in this paper) in Japan administered by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations. See Maki (2010), Goto, Maki, and Kasai (2010), and Maki (2015) for the details of the MET. Maki et al. (2012) revised the MET, calling the revised version of the MET the MET 6B, where every 6th word was a target word, and examined the correlation between the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the CT 2011. See Maki et al. (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) for the correlations between the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the CT 2012, CT 2013, CT 2014, CT 2015, and CT 2016, respectively. In this research, using the MET 6B, we examined the correlations between the scores on the MET 6B and (i) the total scores on the CT 2017, (ii) the scores on the reading section of the CT 2017, and (iii) the scores on the listening section of the CT 2017. The organization of this paper is as follows; Section 2 provides the materials (the Minimal English Test (MET) 6B and the the English section of the Center Test 2017 (CT 2017)) to be employed in this research. Section 3 reports the results, and Section 4 concludes the paper. 2. Materials 2.1. The Minimal English Test (MET) 6B The Minimal English Test (MET) 6B is based on Lessons 1 and 2 of the textbook for first year university students written by Kawana and Walker (2002) and the CD that accompanies it, exactly like the original MET. The MET 6B was designed along the rules in (1)..

(3) 28 Hideki MAKI, Wen MA, Yi LIU, Megumi HASEBE, Shigeki TAGUCHI, Satoshi OKU, Yukiko UEDA, Masao OCHI, Kosuke NAGASUE, Michael SEVIER, and Jessica DUNTON. (1). Rules a. Every 6th word is left blank in the revised MET. b. Japanese words, years, and unpronounced words in parentheses are ignored.. Rule (1a) guarantees that the MET 6B is in a cloze test form, where every 6th word is left blank, no matter how many letters the word may consist of. The MET 6B is a simple test, which requires the test taker to write a correct English vocabulary word into each of the 66 blank spaces of the given sentences, written on one A4 paper, while listening to the CD on which the sentences are recorded. The CD lasts about 5 minutes with a speed of 125 words per minute. The MET 6B is shown in (2). (2). The Minimal English Test 6B (The MET 6B). Name: __________________________ Date: Month____Day____Year________ The Score on the Reading Section of the English Section of the Center Test: _____/200 The Score on the Listening Section of the English Section of the Center Test: _____/50 Please fill an English word into each blank spot, while listening to the CD. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.. The majority of people have ( ) least one pet at some ( ) in their life. Sometimes the ( ) between a pet dog or ( ) and its owner is so ( ) that they begin to resemble ( ) other in their appearance and ( ). On the other hand, owners ( ) unusual pets such as tigers ( ) snakes sometimes have to protect ( ) from their own pets. Thirty ( ) ago the idea of an ( ) pet first arose. This was ( ) pet rock, which became a ( ) in the United States and ( ) to other countries as well. ( ) paid large sums of money ( ) ordinary rocks and assigned them ( ). They tied a leash around ( ) rock and pulled it down ( ) street just like a dog. ( ) rock owners even talked to ( ) pet rocks. Now that we ( ) entered the computer age, we ( ) virtual pets. The Japanese Tamagotchi---the ( ) chicken egg--was the precursor ( ) many virtual pets. Now there ( ) an ever-increasing number of such ( ) pets which mostly young people ( ) adopting as their own. And ( ) your virtual pet dies, you ( ) reserve a permanent resting place ( ) the Internet in a virtual ( ) cemetery.. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.. Sports are big business. ( ) Babe Ruth, the most famous athlete of ( ) day, was well-known for earning ( ) much as the President of ( ) United States, the average salary ( ) today's professional baseball players is ( ) times that of the President. ( ) a handful of sports superstars ( ) one hundred times more through ( ) contracts with manufacturers of clothing, ( ), and sports equipment. But every ( ) produces one or two legendary ( ) who rewrite the record books, ( ) whose ability and achievements are ( ) for generations. In the current ( ) Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are two such legendary ( both of whom have achieved ( ) mythical status. The fact that ( ) large number of professional athletes ( ) huge incomes has led to ( ) competition throughout the sports world. ( ) send their children to sports ( ) camps at an early age. ( ) kids typically practice three to ( ) hours a day, all weekend ( ) during their school vacations in ( ) to better their chances of ( ) obtaining a well-paid position on ( ) professional team when they grow ( ). As for the many young ( ) who do not succeed, one ( ) if they will regret having ( ) their childhood.. ),. The test takers are verbally given the following four instructions in advance:.

(4) 29 The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017. 1. 2. 3. 4.. Write the score you received from this year’s Center Test’s English section. Fill an English word into each of the blank spaces, while listening to the CD. The CD lasts about 5 minutes. There is about a three-second interval between Line 18 and Line 19.. After the above instructions are given, the volume of the CD is checked, and the MET 6B is administered. 2.2. The English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017 (CT 2017) The National Center for University Entrance Examinations (2017) provides the summary of the CT 2017 results shown in (3) and (4). (3) The Reading Section of the CT 2017 Observations 540,029 Full mark 200 Number of questions 55 Average score 123.73 Standard deviation 44.95 Time limit 80 minutes Date January 14th, 2017 (4) The Listening Section of the CT 2017 Observations 532,627 Full mark 50 Number of questions 25 Average score 28.11 Standard deviation 10.17 Time limit 30 minutes Date January 14th, 2017 The reading section of the CT 2017 contains questions about pronunciation, grammar, reordering of sentences, and reading comprehension, and the listening section of the CT 2017 contains questions about listening comprehension. 3. Results The MET 6B was administered at seven institutions during the period from mid April to the end of May of 2017. A total of 301 college freshmen participated in this study. We analyzed the data (the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the CT 2017) by a simple regression analysis (correlation analysis). The results are shown in (5)–(7). The significance level was set at .05 for each analysis..

(5) 30 Hideki MAKI, Wen MA, Yi LIU, Megumi HASEBE, Shigeki TAGUCHI, Satoshi OKU, Yukiko UEDA, Masao OCHI, Kosuke NAGASUE, Michael SEVIER, and Jessica DUNTON. (5). Correlation Between the Scores on the MET 6B and the Total Scores on the CT 2017 Regression Statistics Correlation Coefficient (R) .60 R Square .36 Adjusted R Square .36 Standard Error 28.06 Observations 301 P-value 7.16E-31. (6). Correlation Between the Scores on the MET 6B and the Scores on the Reading Section of the CT 2017 Regression Statistics Correlation Coefficient (R) .53 R Square .28 Adjusted R Square .28 Standard Error 24.48 Observations 301 P-value 1.42E-23. (7). Correlation Between the Scores on the MET 6B and the Scores on the Listening Section of the CT 2017 Regression Statistics Correlation Coefficient (R) .63 R Square .40 Adjusted R Square .40 Standard Error 6.87 Observations 301 P-value 4.51E-35. The above analyses show (1) that the scores on the MET 6B and the total scores on the CT 2017 had a moderate correlation (n=301, r=.60, p<.05); (2) that the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the reading section of the CT 2017 had a moderate correlation (n=301, r=.53, p<.05); and (3) that the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the listening section of the CT 2017 had a moderate correlation (n=301, r=.63, p<.05).1 4. Conclusion In this paper, we found that unlike the results of the past surveys from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2017, and like the results in 2012, the scores on the MET 6B and the scores on the listening section on the CT 2017 had the highest correlation coefficient (n=301, r=.63, p<.05) among the three correlation coefficients (the one with the total scores, the one with the scores on the reading section, and the one with the scores on the listening section), as shown in (8)..

(6) 31 The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017. (8). Results of the Analyses of the Scores on the MET 6 and the Scores on the CTs from 2009 to 2017 Year. MET. Observations. 2009. MET 6A. 877. 2010. MET 6A. 1188. 2011. MET 6B. 217. 2012. MET 6B. 127. 2013. MET 6B. 142. 2014. MET 6B. 573. 2015. MET 6B. 444. 2016. MET 6B. 125. 2017. MET 6B. 301. Correlation Coefficient (R) .533 (Reading) .589 (Listening) .592 (Reading and Listening) .48 (Reading) .52 (Listening) .53 (Reading and Listening) .54 (Reading) .56 (Listening) .60 (Reading and Listening) .52 (Reading) .58 (Listening) .57 (Reading and Listening) .57 (Reading) .48 (Listening) .60 (Reading and Listening) .58 (Reading) .51 (Listening) .61 (Reading and Listening) .50 (Reading) .50 (Listening) .54 (Reading and Listening) .55 (Reading) .57 (Listening) .60 (Reading and Listening) .53 (Reading) .63 (Listening) .60 (Reading and Listening). Regression Line y = 1.34x + 93.19 y = .49x + 12.49 y = 1.83x + 105.68 y = 1.45x + 109.12 y = .45x + 23.14 y = 1.90x + 132.26 y = 1.60x + 117.46 y = .51x + 19.75 y = 2.13x + 136.36 y = 1.89x + 112.07 y = .56x + 15.02 y = 2.45x + 127.09 y = 1.87x + 110.37 y = .46x + 26.16 y = 2.33x + 136.53 y = 2.00x + 97.39 y = .45x + 27.15 y = 2.45x + 124.54 y = 1.82x + 96.80 y = .44x + 29.70 y = 2.26x + 126.50 y = 1.58x + 109.75 y = .46x + 25.54 y = 2.04x + 135.29 y = 1.65x + 114.02 y = .60x + 18.98 y = 2.25x + 133.00. The results of the surveys on the MET in the past 9 years shown in (8) then pose the interesting question of what language proficiency the MET actually measures, although the correlation coefficients between the scores on the MET 6(A/B) and the total scores on the CTs are moderately consistent (from .53 to .61). In order to address this question, it will be necessary to keep records on three types of correlation coefficients in future work. References Goto, Kenichi, Hideki Maki, and Chise Kasai (2010) “The Minimal English Test: A New Method to Measure English as a Second Language Proficiency,” Evaluation & Research in Education 23, 91–104. Kawana, Norihito and Stuart Walker (2002) This is Media.com, Seibido, Tokyo. Maki, Hideki (2010) “Introduction to the Minimal English Test,” Gengo Kyoiku Kenkyu (Language Education Research) Volume 3, ed. by Morioka Daigaku Institute of Language, 15–26, Seizansha, Kanagawa. Maki, Hideki (2015) “The Minimal English Test (Saishoo Eego Tesuto) no Yuuyoosee (The Usefulness of the Minimal English Test),” Nihon no Eeego Kyooiku no Ima,.

(7) 32 Hideki MAKI, Wen MA, Yi LIU, Megumi HASEBE, Shigeki TAGUCHI, Satoshi OKU, Yukiko UEDA, Masao OCHI, Kosuke NAGASUE, Michael SEVIER, and Jessica DUNTON. Soshite, Korekara (The Present and Future English Education in Japan) ed. by Nobuko Hasegawa, 302–318, Kaitakusha, Tokyo. Maki, Hideki, Ling-Yun Fan, Megumi Hasebe, Satoshi Oku, Yukiko Ueda, and Jessica Dunton (2014) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the University Entrance Examination (English Part) 2013,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 34, 31–36. Maki, Hideki, Yong-Xin Gao, Toshiro Umezawa, Shigeki Taguchi, Megumi Hasebe, Satoshi Oku, Yukiko Ueda, Masao Ochi, Kosuke Nagasue, and Jessica Dunton (2015) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the University Entrance Examination (English Part) 2014,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 36, 31–36. Maki, Hideki, Takuya Iijima, Megumi Kato, Megumi Hasebe, Chise Kasai, Satoshi Oku, and Jessica Dunton (2013) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the University Entrance Examination (English Part) 2012,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 32, 19–24. Maki, Hideki, Wen-Qi Ren, Can Wang, Megumi Hasebe, Shigeki Taguchi, Satoshi Oku, Yukiko Ueda, Masao Ochi, Kosuke Nagasue, and Jessica Dunton (2016) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the University Entrance Examination (English Part) 2015,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 38, 59–64. Maki, Hideki, Shogo Tokugawa, Megumi Kato, Megumi Hasebe, Chise Kasai, Toshiro Umezawa, Takashi Munakata, and Jessica Dunton (2012) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the University Entrance Examination (English Part) 2011,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 30, 47–54. Maki, Hideki, Hiroaki Wasada, and Ekuko Hashimoto (2003) “Saishoo Eego Tesuto: Shoki Kenkyuu (The Minimal English Test: A Preliminary Study),” Eego Kyooiku (The English Teachers’ Magazine) 53.10, 47–50. Maki, Hideki, Shu-Jing Wu, Zi-Wei Xu, Yue-Huan Zhang, Megumi Hasebe, Shigeki Taguchi, Yukiko Ueda, Masao Ochi, Michael Sevier, and Jessica Dunton (2017) “The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2016,” Bulletin of the Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University 40, 23–28. The National Center for University Entrance Examinations (2017) http://www.dnc.ac.jp/ Retrieved on October 28, 2017. Yanai, Hisae (1998) 4 Steps Ekuseru Tookei (4 Steps Excel Statistics), OMS, Saitama. Note * We are grateful to Yuko Nagao and Yoko Sugiyama for cooperating to help collect data. All errors are our own. 1 We follow Yanai (1998) in interpreting values of correlation coefficients. She assumes the correspondence between correlation coefficients and their characteristics shown in (i)..

(8) 33 The Minimal English Test: Its Correlation with the English Section of the National Center Test for University Admissions 2017. (i). The Correspondence Between Correlation Coefficients and Their Characteristics Correlation Coefficients Characteristics 0 < r < |.2| almost no correlation |.2| < r < |.4| weak correlation |.4| < r < |.7| moderate correlation |.7| < r < |.9| strong correlation |.9| < r < |1| extremely strong correlation.

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