The Academic Achievement of Undergraduate Students with Different TOEFL iBT Score Profiles: A Replication Study

This replication study sought to compare the academic achievement of undergraduate students with different score profiles on the TOEFL iBT. Two-step cluster analysis of TOEFL iBT section scores identified six clusters among 2,347 undergraduate students who met the required cutscore on the TOEFL iBT for admission to a Canadian English-medium university but had different scores on different sections of the test. The largest cluster, comprising one-third of the students, had high scores on all sections of the test. The second largest cluster had lower scores on writing compared to other sections. The six clusters differed in terms of their demographic characteristics and academic achievement. Students with higher listening and reading scores or higher reading and writing scores and lower scores on other sections tended to have comparatively lower academic achievement. This trend was especially noticeable when contrasted with students with high scores on all sections of the test. However, cluster effects were moderated by study major. Finally, the strength and direction of the correlations between TOEFL iBT total scores and academic achievement varied across clusters. The findings suggest that universities should tailor admission criteria and English language support to meet the diverse linguistic needs of students with varying proficiency profiles pursuing different study majors.