Factors influencing English test scores in the College Scholastic Ability Test

대학수학능력시험 외국어(영어)영역에 영향을 미치는 요인들

As an attempt to characterize the English test section of CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and to get some suggestions, this study raised the research questions, as 'What are the main factors that affect students' English test scores in CSAT, and how big influences do they have?' It has been hypothesized that among main factors are the L1 competence, represented by the Korean test scores in CSAT, background knowledge or intelligence, represented by the "total" scores in CSAT, and the two types of L2 knowledge (vocabulary and grammar on one hand and prosody m the other hand), measured by the test devised specially for this study. The individual effect of the L2 vocabulary and grammar (one kind of L2 knowledge) was 70%, that of background knowledge or intelligence 61%, that of the L1 competence 50%, and that of the L2 prosody knowledge (the other kind of L2 knowledge) 32%. According to the stepwise regression, the whole effect of these four factors was 74%. The findings suggest that first, although CSAT is based on the top-down model of comprehension, the bottom-up model of learning should be more emphasized in our English class. Also, since background knowledge or intelligence is the second most influential factor, the top-down model of learning that helps students learn to understand by activating their various schemata must also be very effective.