Abstract

The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) has been used as a graduation requirement in many higher education institutions. The students failing to meet the required benchmark are often to enroll in a remedial English course. Limited research has examined students’ cognitive and affective preparation for the TOEIC. To address the gap, this study investigated cognitive and affective preparation for the TOEIC reading section: Incomplete Sentences among three proficiency groups. Fifty-four non-English major students participated in this study. The instruments included pre- and post-tests of the reading section: Incomplete Sentences, a demographic questionnaire on background information of the participants, a questionnaire measuring cognitive and affective preparation, and a satisfaction questionnaire regarding the instruction. Quantitative analysis served as the primary research method. The findings revealed that paired-sample t-tests showed statistically significant improvements in participants’ performance on this reading section. Results from the questionnaire of the cognitive and affective preparation indicated that the students demonstrated strong engagement in cognitive preparation and stable affective preparation, particularly the high proficiency group. However, with the extended study hours, lowest stress status, highest relaxed regulation, and the greatest satisfied instruction, the low proficiency group enhanced the greatest score. In contrast, due to the lowest cognitive preparation, the poorest stress regulation, and the lowest level of the diet regulation, the middle proficiency group made less progress than the low group. This study highlights the crucial roles of the cognitive and affective preparation along with test-oriented instruction in contribution to the improved level of TOEIC reading performance.

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