THE MAPPING OF TOEFL SCORES AMONG EFL STUDENTS IN ACEH

The purpose of this study was to describe the proficiency level of English for Foreign Language (EFL) students based on their TOEFL scores. The samples for this descriptive quantitative study consisted of 30 English Education Department students from Syiah Kuala University and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University. The scores gathered from the organised TOEFL test were analysed according to the CEFR reference levels to categorise the English proficiency level of the students. The total TOEFL scores gathered showed that, on average, the students placed in the B1 (intermediate) level of English proficiency. Individually, there were four students in the A2 (elementary) level, 15 students in the B1 (intermediate) level, ten students in the B2 (upper intermediate) level, and one student in the C1 (advanced) level of proficiency. Regarding the skills proficiency, on average, the students achieved the B2 (upper intermediate) level in the first section, which was higher than the remaining two sections that averaged on the B1 (intermediate) level. The students’ proficiency levels found in this study showed that, on average, they were able to pass the universities’ TOEFL graduation requirement but still fall short for abroad scholarship admission.


INTRODUCTION
Two of the more prestigious universities in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Syiah Kuala University (USK) and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University (UINAR), implement TOEFL score as a graduation requirement for its undergraduate students. The official Academic Guidebook of USK requires a minimum TOEFL score of 477 for undergraduate students to acquire their Bachelor's degree, although this number may vary as low as 450 in accordance with each faculties' policy (Samad, Jannah, & Fitriani, 2017). Meanwhile, through its rector's circular, UINAR set its minimal score of 350 for non-language departments and 450 for language departments both for TOEFL and TOAFL, the Arabic counterpart of the former. This score prerequisite is in line with most Indonesian universities that established the minimum required score for their undergraduate students within the range of 450-480 (Silviyanti, Rahmadhani, & Samad, 2020).
Available data acquired from the Language Centre of USK and Language Development Centre of UINAR showed the percentage of students that managed to achieve the minimum requirement of 450 is 3.09% and 3.86% respectively. As the most relevant department to the TOEFL test, the English Education Department of both universities are expecting its students to not only get to pass the minimum required score but also to obtain high enough scores to prove their advanced English proficiency.
Based on the statements above, the low percentage of students that are able to pass the minimum TOEFL score is a prevalent problem in both universities. This shall be unacceptable and may show an unprepared nature of the students for their degree as both universities are implementing TOEFL scores as a prerequisite for the Bachelor's degree. English education students, as the ones who encountered English on a regular basis, are expected to perform better in the TOEFL than the others.

TOEFL Test
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardised English language proficiency test administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) that is intended for non-native speakers of English to measure their level of English language proficiency (Gear, J. & Gear, R., 2006). According to Abboud and Hussein (2011), TOEFL is the most accredited test in the world. Additionally, Warfield, Laribee, and Geyer (2013) claimed that the test held international respect and recognition.

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The test was established in the early 1960s as a tool to assess the ability of second language speaker of English who intended to learn in universities that uses English as the main language (Fajri, Kasim, & Fitriani, 2021;Sulistyo, 2009). Developed from its original academic purpose, the test has also been used by non-educational institutions to establish qualification requirements based on the TOEFL score (Ananda, 2016;Mahmud, 2014;Samad et al., 2017;Sulistyo, 2009).

Types of TOEFL Test
Since its initial creation, TOEFL has been developed to include numerous types of tests (Ananda, 2016). As stated by Abboud and Hussein (2011), there are four types of TOEFL tests, namely the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT), Computer-Based TOEFL (CBT), Internet-Based Test (iBT), and Institutional Testing Program (ITP). Each type of test is not only differing in the platform of the test but also the English skill tested by the sections and the scoring systems of the test.
Generally, the TOEFL test that undergraduate students in Indonesia have to partake as a requirement for their degree is managed by a specific governing body within the university, i.e. language centre or language laboratory. This type of TOEFL is known as the TOEFL Prediction test (Mahmud, 2014). This type of TOEFL, which is also known as TOEFL-like or TOEFL-equivalent, is issued directly by the university and is mainly only used for internal purposes, whether as a requirement for entrance, graduation, or scholarship (Mahmud, 2014;Zalha, Alfiatunnur, & Kamil, 2020).
The TOEFL Prediction test is a modified version of the TOEFL ITP test (Mahmud, 2014;Samad et al., 2017). Being a successor of the previous Paper-Based TOEFL, the ITP and the PBT have matching length, format, and complexity (Netta & Trisnawati, 2019;Sharpe, 2004). As the carbon copy from the TOEFL ITP format, TOEFL Prediction also has three different sections to measure the test taker's proficiency in the English language, i.e. listening comprehension, structure and written expression, and reading comprehension (ETS, 2019;Netta & Trisnawati, 2019). Additionally, ETS (2019) stated that the test all are multiple-choice and take approximately two hours to complete.

TOEFL Test Scoring Systems and Usages
The scoring systems of TOEFL tests vary from one type to the other. The TOEFL ITP has a score range of 310-677. This is exactly The mapping of TOEFL scores among EFL students in Aceh (N. Umar, U. Kasim & I. A. Samad) 270 placed on a different scoring scale from the CBT which has a range from 0-300 and iBT that ranges from 0-120 (Abboud & Hussein, 2011;ETS, 2009;Sharpe, 2004). While there is no minimum score for passing a TOEFL test, various institutions establish different score requirements for their TOEFL test (Phillips, 2001). Moreover, an institution could issue different TOEFL score benchmarks for different purposes (Samad et al., 2017).
These different purposes in the usage of TOEFL scores is vividly shown by numerous universities in the world that requires a TOEFL score in the applicant's letter of application, including universities in the United States that enforced the rule to its non-native English students (Samad, Sofyan, Kasim, Fitriani, & Mustafa, 2016;Vu, L., & Vu, P., 2013). Furthermore, the TOEFL test score is also utilised as a requirement by universities in Indonesia to its undergraduate students before achieving their Bachelor's degree (Mahmud, 2014;Samad et al., 2017). In addition to its academic nature, the TOEFL test score is also utilised by corporations and other non-educational institutions for its administrative necessity, e.g. for job application or a prerequisite for promotions (Ananda, 2016;Mahmud, 2014;Samad et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the validity of this score usage is limited to a period of two years as language proficiency could change in a relatively short time period (ETS, 2019).

CEFR Reference Levels
The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is an internationally recognised framework that describes learners' language ability (Cambridge ESOL, 2011;ETS, 2019). The official score report of TOEFL ITP presents the CEFR performance levels as additional information that are linked to the sections scores and the total score of the test (ETS, 2019). To determine the minimum score required in each section and in total to be incorporated to the CEFR levels, ETS undertook a study through Tannenbaum and Baron (2011) in setting the mapping for the minimum TOEFL ITP scores to be incorporated into the CEFR levels.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The method employed in this research is the descriptive quantitative approach. This descriptive quantitative research aims to describe the English proficiency level of Syiah Kuala University and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University English Education Departments students viewed from their achieved TOEFL scores. A TOEFL test was carried out as a means to gather the measured data. The data were then grouped into TOEFL ITP mapping of CEFR levels.
The population of this study was the 4th semester English Education Department students of Syiah Kuala University and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University. The population was sampled using the simple random sampling method that takes the same amount of sample from groups with an equal amount of population (Sugiyono, 2015). The randomly selected students formed a total of 30 students as the sample for this study.
The research instrument utilised in collecting the data in this research was the 'Complete TOEFL Test' taken from the book written by Phillips (2001) titled Longman Complete Course for the TOEFL Test: Preparation for the Computer and Paper Test. Meanwhile, the answer sheet and the identification requirement for the test were modified from the Test Taker Handbook: The TOEFL ITP Assessment Series by ETS (2017) to accommodate the research needs.
The data were collected through a virtually organised test under as close as a possible condition to an actual test administered by both universities in organising the TOEFL test utilising Google Forms as the medium and Zoom Meetings as the supervising platform. Phillips (2001) suggested that a non-formal test shall be as similar as possible to the condition of a real TOEFL test; wherein each of the sections shall be in the required time constrain and without any outside interruption.
The EFL students' TOEFL score data from USK and UINAR were presented to be described both from the sections scores and the total TOEFL scores. The data was then grouped subsequently according to the TOEFL ITP mapping for the CEFR proficiency levels..

Results
The result of the test consisted of the TOEFL scores gained by a total of 30 students with 15 students from each university. The data are presented with the scores gained by the students and the proficiency level categorisation of the scores based on the TOEFL ITP mapping for the CEFR levels. The scores and the levels of proficiency are presented both from the total TOEFL scores and each section scores gained by the students from the two universities.  Table 1 shows the complete score data obtained from the TOEFL test. The table shows that the average total score of the test is 514 with the average score of 56 in the first section, 49 in the second section, and 50 in the third section. Additionally, the minimum score observed is 38 in the first and second sections and 31 in the third section while the minimum total score observed is 393. Whereas, the maximum score observed is 66 in the first section, 65 in the second section, and 61 in the third section while the maximum total score observed is 640.        Table 5 shows the proficiency levels of UINAR students based on their listening comprehension scores. The data showed that there is one student in the advanced level, seven students in the upper intermediate level, five students in the intermediate level, and two students in the elementary level of proficiency. Consequently, based on their first section scores, the students of UINAR are, on average, in the intermediate level of proficiency.  Table 6 shows the proficiency levels of USK students based on their structure and written expression scores. The data showed that there is one student in the advanced level, two students in the upper intermediate level, eight students in the intermediate level, and four students in the elementary level of proficiency. Consequently, based on their second section scores, the students of USK are, on average, in the intermediate level of proficiency.  Table 7 shows the proficiency levels of UINAR students based on their structure and written expression scores. The data showed that there is one student in the advanced level, four students in the upper intermediate level, seven students in the intermediate level, and three students in the elementary level of proficiency. Consequently, based on their second section scores, the students of UINAR are, on average, in the intermediate level of proficiency.    Table 9 shows the proficiency levels of UINAR students based on their reading comprehension scores. The data showed that there are two students in the upper intermediate level, ten students in the intermediate level, and three students in the elementary level of proficiency. Consequently, based on their third section scores, the students of UINAR are, on average, in the intermediate level of proficiency.

Discussions
Based on the overall data obtained from the TOEFL test, the proficiency levels of the students, subsequent to the TOEFL ITP mapping for the CEFR levels, average on the score of 514 or the B1 level that classified as the intermediate level of English proficiency. The average score gained by the students does meet the criteria regarding the minimum score of 475 for USK and 450 for UINAR for their undergraduate students to be able to obtain their bachelor's degree (Samad et al., 2017). Additionally, the data also showed 9 out of 10 participants being able to score higher than 450. This percentage is significantly higher compared to the previously stated reports in the research background that described only 3.09% of USK students and 3.86% of UINAR students managed to pass the same mark. Although the number presented in this particular comparison could be subject to skewing as the previously stated data also includes students from other The mapping of TOEFL scores among EFL students in Aceh (N. Umar, U. Kasim & I. A. Samad) 282 departments and faculties rather than exclusively English Education Department students.
Still, the students' average score might not be enough to qualify as an admission application to continue their study abroad as universities in the United States considered a common minimum score of 550 in order for a student's admission to be accepted, while Australian universities require an equivalent minimum IELTS score of 6.5 (Samad et al., 2016). Nonetheless, concerning the samples were just at the midpoint of their study, another four semesters are still available to improve their TOEFL performance and English proficiency if that is the case.

Figure 1. Overall proficiency levels based on total TOEFL scores
Based on the total TOEFL scores gained, as shown in Figure 4.1, half of the 30 students that partake in the test managed to reach the B1 level of proficiency and 10 of them managed to achieve the B2 level. This means that majority of the students are on the intermediate to upper intermediate level of English proficiency. Meanwhile, out of the remaining samples, four students are on the lower A2 level of elementary proficiency, while one student managed to achieve the advanced C1 level of proficiency. The low number of student that was able to achieve the advanced proficiency level is to be expected. The bare minimum score needed to be categorised as C1 is in the 98 th percentile (ETS, 2021). That means only two per cent of students internationally managed to achieve that level of proficiency. A previous study on the same subject by Supeni and Fauziah (2020) also showed an agreement on this matter as just 0.6% of students were able to achieve the highest CEFR proficiency level on the TOEFL test. While in another study, Sucahyo (2016) found no EFL student managed to achieve the advanced proficiency level in the test.
Concerning the proficiency seen from each skill tested in the TOEFL test, the data shows that the C1 (advanced) proficiency level was achieved by a total of four students in the listening comprehension section, two students in the structure and written expression section, and nobody in the reading comprehension section. On the other hand, the B2 (upper intermediate) proficiency level was achieved by 15 students in the listening comprehension section, six students in the structure and written expression section, and five students in the reading comprehension section. At the same time, the B1 (intermediate) proficiency level was achieved by eight students in the listening comprehension section, 15 students in the structure and written expression section, and 16 students in the reading comprehension section. Meanwhile, the A2 (elementary) proficiency level was achieved by three students in the listening comprehension section, seven students in the structure and written expression section, and nine students in the reading comprehension section. Therefore, on average, the students have the B2 upper intermediate proficiency level on the first section and B1 intermediate proficiency level on the remaining sections.
Regarding the proficiency level gained by the students that need to be improved, the reading comprehension section of the test produced the most amount of students that achieved the lowest A2 elementary proficiency level compared to the rest of the sections. This result is interesting as Abboud and Hussein (2011) regarded the third section of the TOEFL test as the easiest section in the test. Nonetheless, several students made repetitive answers in the end of the third section, e.g. choosing D as the answer for the several last questions. The test's nature of being a multiple-choice based test made the test-takers able to swiftly answer the questions without thinking properly, especially in a situation when not much time or motivation is left. These very problems were noted by Abboud and Hussein (2011) that found the students were having difficulty in doing not only the reading section but also the listening section comfortably in the given time. At the same time, the students' diminishing motivation poses them serious difficulties in answering the last section of the test (Hamra & Syatriana, 2010).
Furthermore, the test sheet chosen for the test might also influence the outcome of the test. The question sheet from Phillips (2001) that was used in the test is widely adapted as a TOEFL teaching material, thus exposing some of its content to the general public. Although the test from the same source has been used in several academic research design, the book's recognition could influence a different gained scores compared to the actual institutional issued test (Fitri, 2017;Silviyanti et al., 2020).

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
The research concluded that, based on the average total TOEFL scores gained by the 4 th semester English Education Department students of Syiah Kuala University and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, the students are shown to possess an intermediate level of English proficiency. The total score from all of the students that average on the number of 514 is positioned on the B1 level of the CEFR reference. Separated by the university, the EFL students of USK managed to get an average total score of 518 while the UINAR students achieved an average total score of 510, which both placed on the B1 intermediate proficiency level. These average scores show relatively similar outcomes were achieved by the EFL students of both universities. Therefore, on average, the students possess the same level of English proficiency.
Moreover, regarding the English skills that were tested by each section of the test, the students obtained an average score of 56 in the listening comprehension section which placed them on the B2 upper intermediate proficiency level. This level of proficiency is found out to be higher than what the students achieved in the following sections of the test. This is shown by the average score of 49 that the students managed to gain in the structure and written expression section of the test that put them in the B1 level of intermediate proficiency. Likewise, the students average with the score of 50 in the reading comprehension section that correspondingly placed them on the same level of proficiency as the previous section.
That being said, some suggestions are to be advised. Firstly, it is important for EFL to have individual assessments in the form of TOEFL test to recognise ones' level in the language. Secondly, the result of this study could give a picture of how the students performed in the TOEFL test and in which part they showed their strengths and weaknesses. Lecturers could use this help the students in improving their performance in the test and consequently their English proficiency by teaching them strategies to be used in that particular setting. Lastly, a screening or placement test is crucial for the departments to obtain an overview of their students' initial abilities. Even better, regular tests will serve as an invaluable assessment tool to see how far their students have developed after enrolling for a set amount of time in the department.