Linguistics and Economic Determinants of TOEFL Score

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate at the cross-country level the linguistic and economic factors influencing the variation of proficiency in the use of English as a second language. As a proxy for English proficiency, we use the average TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores by the residents of a total of 88 countries. The regression results suggest that both linguistic and economic factors have statistically significant impacts on the variation of TOEFL score. It is found that residents of a country whose language is linguistically "closer" to English, in terms of historical affinity and word order, attain a higher level of proficiency in English, when other factors remain the same. It is also found that the TOEFL score is influenced by economic factors such as GDP per capita (proxy for the quality of education), average years of schooling, and trade share of GDP. Implications for Korean EFL learners will be suggested based on these results.