TOEFL

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The Test Of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL, pronounced "toe-full", or sometimes just "toffle") evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand Standard American English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many American and English-speaking colleges and universities. A TOEFL score is valid for no longer than 2 years, then it is deleted from the official database.

The TOEFL is administered worldwide by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test was first administered 1964 and has since been taken by nearly 20 million students.

Contents

1 Formats and contents

1.1 Computer-based
1.2 Paper-based
1.3 Internet-based

2 Criticism
3 See also
4 External links

Formats and contents

Computer-based

The computer-based test (CBT), divided into four sections, measures language proficiency in listening, structure (grammar), reading and writing.

Listening Comprehension
*Objective: To test the candidate's listening capabilities
*Type of Questions: Conversations between two or more people in academic environments. Short conversations between students, and lectures may be possible conversations. Questions are basically of the who said what type.
*Duration: 45-70 minutes
Structure
*Objective: To check the candidate's knowledge of English grammar.
*Type of Questions: Identify the erroneous word(s) in the sentence. Fill in the blanks using the appropriate word.
*Duration: 15-20 minutes
Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary
*Objective: To test the candidate's reading and vocabulary skills.
*Type of Question: Three or four long passages, typically 300 words long are given, and questions based on the content, intent of the author, and ideas inferred from the passage. Generally prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer; though a priori knowledge may help.
* Duration: 70-90 minutes
Essay Writing
*Objective: To test the candidate's writing skills
*Type of Question: To write an essay on some general topic, and your position towards it. eg: "Is stem cell research necessary? Explain your stance?"
*Duration: 30 minutes.

The Listening and Structure sections are computer-adaptive, meaning that the difficulty level of each question depends on the correctness of previous responses.

Three subscores are obtained, each of which is given on a 0-30 scale: Listening, Structure/Writing (combined), and Reading. These subscores are averaged to obtain the final score, which is in a 0-300 scale. The Writing score is also reported separately, on a 0-6 scale.

Paper-based

In areas where the CBT is not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. The PBT tests essentially the same skills as the CBT, albeit with some differences. For instance, the PBT has more questions than the CBT. The score scales are also different. The final PBT score ranges between 310 and 677, and is based on three subscores: Listening (31-68), Structure (31-68) and Reading (31-67). Unlike the CBT, the score of the Writing section (referred to as the Test of Written English, TWE) is not part of the final score; instead, it is reported separately on a scale from 0 to 6.

ETS has released [tables to convert between CBT and PBT scores].

Internet-based

The CBT and PBT are being replaced by an Internet-based test (iBT). It is being introduced in phases, with the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006. A Speaking section has been added, thus removing the necessity for a separate speaking assessment.

Criticism

TOEFL, like many standardized tests, has come under increasing scrutiny as a measure of the ability to use English effectively. There is an increasing number of major English speaking universities that now only accept alternate tests or their own test as a measure of whether a student will be capable of using English in an academic milieu. Some of its weaknesses are:

Because English does exhibit some orthological patterns (such as the use of -ing on the end of many verbs), test takers can be taught strategies to look for the patterns without having an understanding of the underlying grammar involved.
Native speakers of English who take the test often find themselves with mediocre results, even in multiple choice questions. Ideally, a test for English proficiency should be simple and straightforward for a native speaker. Instead, such tests often focus on obscure rules of grammar and "proper" uses. For example, the use of "can" and "may" does have a formal use, but native English speakers not only ignore the formal use on most occasions, they are never confused when another speaker switches the two.
Until recently, TOEFL did not test the ability to speak English. In most environments, the ability to speak intelligibly and without undue delay is vital. Because TOEFL did not measure this, learners may neglect this part of their education to focus on the skills the test does measure. As a result, many universities request incoming teaching assistants who are not native English speakers to take additional tests (such as the Test of Spoken English or university-administered tests) to ensure their ability to communicate with their students. The TOEFL iBT, which does test speaking skills, seems to address this issue.

External links

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