CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. English Achievement
1. Definition of English Achievement Test
In Indonesia, English has been thought as compulsory subject at Junior High School and Senior High School or even at Vocational School. The English learning activity that has been done by the students will bring the changes whether in their knowledge, understanding, their ability or their attitude. This changes can be seen through the students’ achievement. In order to know the students’ mastery, usually teachers give a test to the students.
English achievement test is the act of gaining or reaching English knowledge and skill by effort and it will always exist in all of students who learn English. According to Hughes (1997:10-12) achievement test are directly related to language course, their purpose being to establish how successful individual students, group of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives. There are two kinds final achievement test and progress achievement test.
making. Since “progress” is towards the achievement of course objective, these tests too should relate to objective.
2. Evaluating Students’ Achievement in English
a. Reading
According to Tarigan (1979 : 7) reading is a process of getting a message that will be given by the writer through words or written language.
The main aim of reading is to catch the idea or information. (Tarigan, 1979 : 9)
According to Hughes (1997:116) there are some ways in test of reading:
1. Scanning text to located specific information 2. Skimming text to obtain the gist
b. Speaking
Tarigan (1979 : 16 ) says that speaking is the competence to express, explain, and convey thinking, feeling, and idea.
The aim of speaking is conveying information and facilitating the exchange a goods and service.
Harmer (1988:343) According to Nurgiyantoro ( 2001: 278-289 ) there are some ways in test of speaking:
a. Telling Picture
situational context. It can consist of one picture or more. If use more than one picture, it must be related to each other, has sequence of story and has certain context. And that picture give series number to show event sequence. So the students can express their idea based on the picture which they see.
b. Interview
Interview is the common way to measure the speaking ability. It is usually used for the students who language ability is good enough. It is possible for them to express their feeling and idea using the target language. Anything can be the topic of interview, as long as it is appropriate with the level of students, like age, kinds of school and language ability.
c. Telling Story
Telling story can be a way to measure the speaking ability programmatically. It can be done using pictures. The students also can tell their daily activity, their experience or tell a story can story book they have read. Those stimuli can be applied for any level students.
d. Speech
e. Discussion
It is good for high level students to measure the students speaking ability. And to give their argue each other. The students must tell their idea and their opinion, give response to other members, critically and also depend on their opinion with logical and responsible arguments. Because of that speaking ability and fluency is determined.
c. Writing
Writing as a process of expressing ideas or thoughts in words should be done at our leisure (Leo, 2007: 1)
Harmer (1988: 130) explains the purpose of writing as motivator, one of our principal roles in writing tasks will be to motivate the students, creating the right condition for the generation of ideas, persuading them of the usefulness of the activity and encouraging them to make as much effort as possible for maximum benefit.
According to Hughes ( 1997: 91-92 ) there are some ways in test of writing:
a. Grammar b. Vocabulary
d. Listening
The purpose of listening is listening for specific information and obtaining gist of what is being said. Hughes (1997:134)
According to Harmer ( 1988: 307 ) there are some ways to test listening:
a. Reading alound
Reading alound an enjoyable activity, when done with conviction and style, is for the teacher to read alound to a class. This allows the students to hear a clear spoken version of a written text and can be extremely enjoyable if the teacher is prepared to read with expression and conviction.
b. Story- telling
Teachers are ideally placed to tell stories which, in turn, provide excellent listening material. At any stage of the story, the students can be asked to predict what is coming next, to describe people in the story or pass comment on it in some other way.
c. Interviews
One of the most motivating listening activities is the interview, especially where students themeselves think up the qquestions. In such situations, students really listen for answer they themselves have asked for rather than adopting other people’s question.
d. Conversations
Students then have the chance to watch the interaction as well as listen to it. We can also extend storytelling possibilities by role- playing with a coleague.
3. TOEIC
a. Definition of TOEIC
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is English language test designed specifically to measure the everyday English skill of people working in an international environment. (Riyanto, 2008: 3)
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is a standardised test administered by the Educational Testing Service, a company located in New Jersey, USA.
The TOEIC tests English that is used in everyday work life and in the workplace. People who may wish to take the TOEIC test could include employees who use English in their daily work or who might need to take a job-related course or training classes in English. It is suited for people who want to have an internationally recognised measure of their English proficiency.
The TOEIC tests the kind of English used in everyday activities that are related to the workplace, such as corporate development,dining out, entertainment, finance and budgeting, general business, health, housing personnel, purchasing and travel. It does not test English used in academic situations, nor does it test factual information such as historical events. There are no math questions on the TOEIC test.
b. The Importance of TOEIC Test
The importance of the TOEIC test differs widely from employer to employer. Some employers use the test in hiring, others use TOEIC scores to determine advancement within the company. If we do not currently have a job, we may take the test and our score can be a wonderful addition to our resume, it will demonstrate to our prospective employer that we can speak English to a degree.
(Words are taken from The Princeton Review.) (http://www.impartlearning.com/about1.html)
c. Form of TOEIC Test
According to Riyanto (2008:4) there are two form of TOEIC tests: Listening and Reading test.
Section I: Listening
Test takers listen to a variety of questions and short conversations recorded in English, then answer questions based on what they have heard (100 items total) and the time was 45 minutes.
• Part 1: Photographs
The number of questions 20 question.
Here, you will see a picture in your test book and hear four short statements. You should choose the statements that best describes the picture.
The number of questions 30 question.
Here, you will hear two speakers, the first speaker will ask question. You will then hear three possible responses to the question. You should pick the best response.
• Part 3: Conversations
The number of questions 30 question.
Here, you will hear a short conversation between two people, then you will read a question in the test book about the conversation followed by four answer choice. You should pick the best response.
• Part 4: Short Talks
The number of questions 20 question.
Here, you will hear short talk, you read several question for each talk followed by four answer choice. You should pick the best response.
Section II: Reading
Test takers read a variety of materials and respond at their own pace 100 items total and the time was 75 minutes.
• Part 5: Incomplete Sentence
The number of questions 40 question.
Here, you will read incomplete sentences, there are four answer choice with words/ phrases.
The number of questions 20 question. Here, you will recognize errors.
Four words/ phrases are underlined in each sentences. You should choose the letter (A,B,C and D) that contains the error.
• Part 7: Reading Comprehension
The number of questions 40 question.
You will read several passage in the form of letters, article, notice, form and advertaisment. Several questions will follow each passage. You should choose the one best answer. The best answer is stated or implied in the passage.
B. Basic Assumption
The TOEIC is a standard assesment of English-language proficiency, that has been developed by linguistic, language expert, and staff to evaluate the English language skills of non-native speakers of English in the field of business. And the students who have a good TOEIC result or score, they must have a good English mastery also which is proved by their good result on their daily test score, mid semester test score, and semester test score.
C. Hypothesis
