on the predictive validity of toefl test tasks

Predictive validity of high -stake tests has come to the attention of applied linguistics a couple of years back. in spite of the presence of plenty of studies on the validity and reliability of the high-stake tests, it appears that the predictive validity of the test of english as a foreign language (tefl) should be examined adequately. one of the important concerns related to the validity of internationally recognized tests has to do with the predictive validity of toefl. the sample of this study was made up of 85 test takers (55 males, and 30 females). accordingly, this investigation was carried out to probe the four research questions regarding the predictive validity of toefl tests. in the first phase, the participants’ scores on the four skills of toefl were collected by the toefl self-report instrument. afterward, the self-assessment inventory developed based on alibakhshi (2013), and the questionnaire was administered to the participants either directly by the researcher or by email. after collecting the required data, spss version 26 was used to analyze the data. the results of the study showed that the toefl scores could significantly predict the participants’ academic performance. the findings of this study have implications for students planning to study abroad, as well as the toefl teachers.