As English has been strongly emphasized to be a mustacquired language for modern Korean people especially in case of admission for undergraduate or graduate school and job recruitment, many institutions and companies require the results of the standardized English examination such as the TOEFL, TOEIC or TEPS. Among them, the TOEIC scores have played a role in various areas as a measurement of applicants English competence when applying for school, work and promotion, though the measurement for such competence has been questioned. The socalled TOEIC fever has slightly been withered as the government puts pressure on the companies to select applicants based on their personal qualities and competence rather than the applicants specification.
영어영문학 제20권 1호(2015.2), 617-631 617 A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 1) Eunpyo Lee*․Eun Kyung Kim** Introduction As English has been strongly emphasized to be a must-acquired language for modern Korean people especially in case of admission for undergraduate or graduate school and job recruitment, many institutions and companies require the results of the standardized English examination such as the TOEFL, TOEIC or TEPS Among them, the TOEIC scores have played a role in various areas as a measurement of applicants' English competence when applying for school, work and promotion, though the measurement for such competence has been questioned The so-called TOEIC fever has slightly been withered as the government puts pressure on the companies to select applicants based on their personal qualities and competence rather than the applicants' specification A large number of universities still adhere to graduation qualification policy which requires their students to obtain certain scores of the standardized English examination as part of the graduation requirement This policy has been implemented upon the demand from the various social sectors in need of competent English speakers Although high scores of the TOEIC not necessarily guarantee fluency in * first author, ** corresponding author 618 Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim speaking of the test takers, it is worthwhile to examine what helps and motivates students to obtain high scores and improve the results The objectives of the study are 1) to see if fewer mock tests attribute to lower test results in the standardized TOEIC test by comparing the results of the medical students of 2014 (3 mock tests) with those of 2011 (5 mock tests), 2) to examine if and how the subjects are motivated to improve the test scores through face to face interviews 3) and to look into the implication of the findings Literature Review 2.1 Graduation Policy In the past two decades or so, there have been numerous universities which underwent graduation qualification requirement for English proficiency as part of the graduation certification policy The primary objective of such policy is to cultivate competent individuals who can communicate in the English language fluently in the field of their work place at the request of big and medium sized companies in the industry Universities have recently become more competitive than ever before as young population ratio dwindled and also restructuring in some institutions was demanded by the government How to educate and train the students upon the request (or needs) of the industrial sectors has been an important issue Thereby implementing graduation certification policy has become a common trend for many universities The institution where the current study was done is not an exception of such policy Obtaining the minimum scores from the standardized English test is one of the requirements while passing the computer competence test and completion of 30 hours of volunteer work A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 619 are also part of the policy All the students are required to meet the requirement by the summer of their graduation year, except for medical majors who have to finish the requirement by the second year Unlike some of the low proficient students in other majors, such requirement has not been a problem for medical students mainly due to their outstanding performance on the test However, a couple of students who were admitted under the school's special admission policy called "Farmers & Fishermen's Offspring" category of the entrance, usually have some difficulty as their English background is distinctively different from the rest of the medical students from Seoul or other metropolitan cities Medical students' requirement is the minimum of 700 Otherwise, they cannot proceed to the third year of the medical school curriculum and are required to repeat their sophomore year 2.2 Motivation Motivation plays a crucial role in any kind of learning, and it is one of the ultimate factors for success in learning a foreign language Gardner and Lambert (1959) are the founders of motivation theory and they identified two motivational orientations which are integrative motivation and instrumental motivation Instrumental side of the dichotomy referred to acquiring a language as a means for attaining instrumental goals; furthering a career, reading technical material, translation, etc The integrative side described learners who wished to integrate themselves into the culture of the second language group and become involved in social interchange in that group As Dornyei (1990) stated, the learners' desire to identify with members from the L2 community is characterized as the integrative motivation, while the learners' interest in learning L2 for the pragmatic benefit of L2 proficiency is highlighted by the instrumental motivation Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 620 Motivation influences the higher level of achievement in language learning (Clement, Major, Gardner, & Smythe, 1997; Gardner, 1985) It is also identified primarily with the individual person's orientation toward the goal of second language learning within Gardner's framework, known as the Socio-Educational Model (Gardner, 1985) Oxford and Nyikos (1989) also show that motivation directly influences the use of L2 strategies The word "motivation" is derived from the Latin verb movere, which suggests the idea of movement or a drive to complete a particular task (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002) Brophy (1999) refers to motivation as a theoretical concept used to describe the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of some activity, especially if that activity is goal-directed Ryan and Deci (2000) describe motivation as an impulse or inspiration to something and to complete the task The concept of motivation was also outlined by Deci and Ryan in their book published in 1985, Intrinsic-extrinsic motivation Human motivation can be seen to exist on a six-point continuum, from amotivation that is non-internalized, non-regulation through four categories of extrinsic motivation of external, introjected, identified, and integrated regulation, to intrinsic motivation that is fully internalized, intrinsic regulation Intrinsic motivation is defined as "the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable reason" (Ryan & Deci, 2000) They further elaborate that "When intrinsically motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external prods, pressures or rewards." Intrinsically motivated activities are ones for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself People seem to engage in the activities for their own sake and not because they lead to an extrinsic reward Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 621 On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is explained with four natural process where humans actively seek to transform extrinsic or external regulation into a more internalized type of self-regulation by Ryan (1995) This process of internalization occurs across the four distinct categories of extrinsic motivation as follows: 1) External Regulation : This is the least autonomous form of extrinsic motivation and includes being motivated by external reward or punishment as operant reinforcement This form of operant conditioning can take the form of grades, monetary rewards, or even the threat of parental confrontation or a desire on the part of the student to be praised Internalization, if it occurs, is unstable in nature and tends to disappear once external rewards or punishment are removed 2) Introjected Regulation : This involves a degree of internalization of external regulation, but it is not integrated within the self and, therefore cannot be considered to be self-determined (van Lier, 1996) For example, a student studies hard because he/she will feel guilty and shameful if results are bad 3) Identified Regulation : This is a more self-determined form of motivation as there is a conscious acceptance of the behavior as personally important This identification with an action allows for a higher degree of self-autonomy and a change in the locus of causality toward the self For example, the student feels he should study hard because he wants to it 4) Integrated Regulation : This is the most self-determined form of extrinsic motivation External regulation has been internalized and entirely integrated within the self and brought into congruence with needs and values that already become part of the self Thus, this form of motivation shares many of the same qualities as intrinsic motivation, but it is still considered extrinsic in nature as activities performed for this Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 622 kind of motivation are driven by external regulation and not done for their inherent interest or enjoyment (Murray, 2007, p.395 recitation) In this study, first year medical students' TOEIC scores are compared with those of the students' in Lee's (2012) study to see if the number of mock tests affects the overall average scores of the medical students Also, students' types of motivation are studied through interviews to see what motivate them to improve their scores Methods 3.1 Subjects The first year medical students in the Practical English, a required course of the medical school curriculum, were the subjects of the study The class comprised 16 female (40%) and 24 male (60%) students and they had a three-hour once a week class for 15 weeks The Practical English consisted of medical and science related article reading, TED.com lectures on behavioral science, body language, and advanced technology, and mock tests of the TOEIC Since these students were required to score the minimum 700 on the TOEIC by the end of their sophomore year, they were requested to take the test in November 2014, submit the results, and not to bother with the graduation certification policy any longer in their sophomore year as their workload is heavy with anatomy, osteology, embryology and more in their sophomore After the first mock test, strategic tips on the listening comprehension were given during the class hour There were no lectures on the reading comprehension section of the test during the class hours but the subjects were encouraged to ask questions whenever they had questions They were also A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 623 encouraged to study on their own to improve their test results Then, each subject was interviewed face to face, to see if they were motivated to study TOEIC and to improve their scores The interview lasted ten to fifteen minutes, eight students a day throughout a week after the first mock test The interview questions were written on a master sheet and their answers were classified whether their motivation was intrinsic or extrinsic When it was extrinsic, further questions were asked to learn whether they belonged to external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, or integrated regulation 3.2 Procedures and Data Analysis Each student's three TOEIC mock test results and the actual TOEIC test results were compared Their average scores were calculated in terms of listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and the total Then these scores were further compared with the results of Lee's (2012) study which were based on the five mock tests plus actual TOEIC test in November 2011 to see if the number of mock tests played any role in the results Also it was to see what motivated students to study English of the graduation qualification policy Discussion Medical students are usually considered as a hard working elite group with strong motivation toward learning They actually belong to the top 0.5 percentile rank in academic performance Their College Scholastic Aptitude Test scores in English are the top first level There are about 10% of the total medical students who were educated in the English speaking countries and Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 624 their proficiency level is similar to that of native speakers of English Also another 10% of the students had overseas English learning experience prior to entering E University where the study was done However, most of the students did not take the TOEIC test prior to this class Each year, there are about 40% female students in medical school and their academic performance is usually better than that of male students; however, gender difference is not an issue in this study The next table shows number of male and female students in 2011 and 2014 Lee's (2012) study was based on the first year medical students of 2011 who had mock tests throughout the semester Table Number of Male & Female Students Year 2011 2014 Total Male 30(64%) 24(60%) 54(62%) Female 17(36%) 16(40%) 33(38%) Table Comparison of L/C Scores of Mock Tests 2011 2014 1st 307 400 2nd 427 427 3rd 387 419 4th 424 n/a 5th 437 n/a Average 404 415 Table Comparison of R/C Scores of Mock Tests 2011 2014 1st 408 428 2nd 434 407 3rd 400 417 4th 430 n/a 5th 417 n/a Average 418 418 Table Comparison of Total Scores of Mock Tests 2011 2014 1st 755 828 2nd 861 834 3rd 787 836 4th 854 n/a 5th 854 n/a Average 822 833 A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 625 As the above tables show, the average listening scores of the students in 2011 were 404 and 418 in reading comprehension, whereas in 2014, it was 415, and 418, respectively The average total scores were 822 in 2011 and 833 in 2014 The next table shows comparison of actual TOEIC scores of both 2011 and 2014 results Table Comparison of Actual TOEIC Scores L/C 428 451 2011 2014 R/C 410 421 Total 838 872 The results show that the subjects in 2011 improved 16 points in total scores from the average 822 to 838 but in 2014, 39 points from the average 833 to 872 There were 12 subjects (30%) who scored the maximum scores of 495 in listening comprehension in 2014, whereas in 2011, (11%) maximum scores in L/C These results indicate that more mock tests did not result in higher score improvement Table shows these subjects' score range Table Students' Actual TOEIC Score Range Score Range 900 - 970 800 - 895 700 - 795 600 - 695 Total 2011 14(30%) 15(32%) 15(32%) 3(6%) 47(100%) 2014 16(40%) 17(43%) 6(15%) 1(3%) 40(100%) As indicated in the above table, about two thirds of the students (62%) scored over 800 points in 2011 and a majority of them (83%) scored over 800 in 2014 Among them, subjects (11%) in 2011 scored the maximum scores of 495 in listening comprehension and 12 (30%) scored maximum scores in 2014 Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 626 It may be due to the number of subjects who studied in the English speaking countries increased in 2014 Also there were more subjects who had overseas English learning experience among the 2014 subjects Through the interview, it was found that all the subjects were motivated to improve their test scores though not all tried to something on their own Those in the over 800 range showed most competitive attitudes stating that they wanted to obtain points near the maximum scores of 990 When their scores dropped from 960 to 940, for example, they showed extreme disappointment right away and vowed to perform better on the next test And those who scored below 800 expressed their desire to score somewhat similar to their peers explaining that it had to with their ego and pride They wanted better scores in order to save face and/or not to disappoint their parents The next table shows the result of the interview Table Are You Motivated and What Motivates You? Yes 40(100%) Intrinsic 3(8%) Extrinsic 37(92%) External regulation 31(84%) Introjected regulation 6(16%) Three subjects (8%) indicated that they were intrinsically motivated Six subjects (16%) said it would be shameful to get low scores and these subjects belonged to the introjected regulation The rest 31 subjects (84%) belonged to the externally regulated group stating that they were under pressure from their parents to get good grades and/or they would be rewarded to go on a trip abroad if they obtained higher scores A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 627 When asked about what they tried to improve their scores, only subjects (8%) answered they studied the TOEIC practice book and listened to the tape whereas 37 subjects (92%) answered they did not anything,; however, were extremely focused on the test taking to improve their scores Conclusion This study examined the first year medical students' TOEIC scores of 2014 after administering mock tests with strategic tips on how to improve TOEIC scores and then compared the results with those of the students who had mock tests three years ago to determine if having more mock tests affected the test results positively Subjects' motivation was also evaluated by interviewing the students during the fall semester 2014 The results showed that these mostly advanced level students' test results were not influenced by the number of mock tests administered Even though the results in 2011 of Lee's (2012) study showed improvement of 32 points on the final mock test compared to the average scores, and 16 points increase from the average to the actual TOEIC test, it could not claim they gradually improved as more mock tests were added Their 3rd test results showed score drop from 861 to 787 and up in the 4th test For the group of subjects who had mock tests, their actual TOEIC scores improved by 39 points from 833 to 872 The results indicate that fewer mock tests not mean lower points And therefore, it can be concluded that the number of mock tests does not affect the test results When the subjects were asked question, "Are you motivated to improve your TOEIC scores?," all 40 subjects answered they were motivated Then further questions included "For what reasons are you motivated?" and "What you try to in order to get better scores?" Based on their answers, Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 628 subjects' responses were classified into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation was further classified based on Ryan's (1995) into four regulations including external, introjected, identified, and integrated regulations Upon a question on what they actually tried in order to improve, only subjects studied the TOEIC practice book and listened to the TOEIC tapes for listening comprehension The rest 92% of the subjects did not anything although they wanted to improve However, they added that they at least tried to concentrate on the test to maximize their results It was learned in the study that having fewer mock tests not necessarily mean lower results in medical students These subjects (84%) were already strongly motivated, mostly externally regulated This study is not without limitations though A sample size of 40 in one medical school is not enough to generalize its results in anyway There may be other variations if it were done on a larger size And since there were more subjects who were exposed to English speaking countries' education, the group of 2014 may have showed higher average and different results However, it is plausible to conclude that academically highly motivated students in the range of 800 or higher TOEIC scores are less likely to be affected by the number of mock tests or other training in order to improve their scores References Brown, H 2000 Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th ed) White Plains, NY: Longman Brophy, J 1999 Research on Motivation in Education: Past, Present, and Future In T C Urdan (Ed.), The role of context (pp 1-44) Stamford, CT: JAI A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 629 Press Clement, R., Major, L., Gardner, R C., & Smythe, P C 1977 Attitudes and motivation in second language acquisition: An investigation of Ontario francophones Working Papers on Bilingualism, 12, 1-20 Dornyei, Z 1990 Conceptualizing motivation in foreign-language learning Language Learning, 40, 45-78 Dornyei, Z 2001 Teaching and Researching Motivation New York: Longman Gardner, R C & Lambert, W E 1959 Motivational variables in second language acquisition Canadian Journal of Psychology, 266-272 Gardner, R 1985 Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of Attitude and Motivation London: Edward Arnold Lee, E 2012 A review of an enhancement course for college students' standardized English test English Language & Literature Teaching 18(1), 153-169 Murray, B 2007 Classroom Motivation of Korean EFL Students from the Perspective of Self-determination Theory English Teaching, 62(4), 391409 Ryan, R M 1995 Psychological needs and the facilitation of integrative processes Journal of Personality, 63, 397-427 Ryan, R M., & Deci, E L 2000 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67 van Lier, L 1996 Interaction in the Language Classroom New York: Longman Chaudron, C 1988 Second Language Classrooms: Research on Teaching and Learning Cambridge University Press Eunpyo Lee․Eun Kyung Kim 630 의과대학생의 토익결과에 관한 연구 이은표․김은경 (을지대학교․충북대학교) 이 연구에서는 2011년 2학기에 실용영어수업을 수업한 의예과 1학년 (모의토 익을 5번 실시한 경우) 47인과 2014년 2학기에 같은 수업을 수업한 같은 학과 학년(모의토익을 3회 실시한 경우) 40인의 토익성적을 비교하여 모의토익의 회수 가 점수에 미치는 영향이 있는지를 알아보고 의과학생들의 학습 동기는 어떠한 것인지 면담을 통해 조사하였다 2011년의 경우 5회의 모의토익을 실시하고 듣 기 점수를 향상시킬 수 있는 방법을 강의하여 연습시켰고 2014년의 경우는 3회 만 실시하여 듣기 점수를 향상시키는 방법을 강의한 후 결과를 비교하였다 두 집단의 모의토익 듣기, 읽기, 총점의 평균점수를 구하여 비교하고 최종적으로 정 규토익의 결과를 비교하였다 모의토익을 5회 실시한 경우 모의토익평균 822점 이었던 것이 정규토익에서는 838점으로 16점 향상되었고, 3회 실시한 경우는 평 균 833에서 정규토익 872점으로 39점 향상되었다 따라서 학습 동기가 뚜렷한 의과대학생들에게는 모의토익이 3회이건 5회이건 회수에 의한 직접적인 영향을 받지 않는 것으로 나타났으며 대부분(84%)의 의과대학생들은 학습동기가 뚜렷한 데 특히 외부적인 요인 즉, 부모님과의 약속, 상당 점수를 얻을 경우, 외국으로 여행을 갈 수 있는 조건, 금전적인 보상 등이 토익성적을 높이는 학습 동기 요 인으로 나타났다 주제어 : 의과대학생, 정규토익, 모의토익, 학습동기 접수일: 2014 12 31 A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results 수정일: 2015 20 게재확정일: 2015 10 631 ... Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination A Study of Medical Students' TOEIC Results. .. motivation as there is a conscious acceptance of the behavior as personally important This identification with an action allows for a higher degree of self-autonomy and a change in the locus of causality... the students did not take the TOEIC test prior to this class Each year, there are about 40% female students in medical school and their academic performance is usually better than that of male students;