HULLO!
Source: Pixabay, Public Domain
BASIC
INFORMATION
The TOEFL
is the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is administered by Educational
Testing Service (ETS), who also owns the registered trademark for TOEFL.
The main
objective of this Test is to provide valid information on the non-native test
takers’ proficiency in the use of the English language, as an important element
towards ensuring that the students will be able to use and understand American
English in academic situations.
The TOEFL
is now also being used outside of the United States as an admission requirement
for various institutions of higher learning who plan to teach their courses in
English. This is very common when the courses are a part of an international
study program of some kind or other.
In
addition, other institutions such as government agencies or scholarship
providers have begun to require this Test.
The scores
obtained on this TEST are valid for a two year period.
Since its
initial steps, TOEFL has evolved over time from the PBT format (paper based
test) through the CBT (computer base test) to the IBT (internet based
test). At present, the TOEFL IBT has
replaced the other forms, with a few exceptions. In some places where the
Internet connection is not the best, the administrators allow the PBT form to
be used. Everybody else must submit to
the IBT form.
When
registering, the candidates must select the test center that is available to
them, or that they can travel to. Once they have done this, they must select a
date amongst those offered on the testing schedule. This needs to be done some
weeks in advance, as the date selected may have no vacancies, which means that
the candidate would have to choose a second best date, and so on. Each authorized test center has some
restrictions related to the number of computer carrels or stations the center can
set up at the same time.
The Test
covers the four basic language skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking and
Writing. Each one of these sections has a maximum of 30 points within the points
scale designed for the Test. This means that the top score for the overall test
is 120.
The TOEFL
IBT not only includes specific sections for each one of these four skills, it also
considers the so-called “integrated skills”. For instance, there are some
questions that require the candidate to read
a text, listen to a dissertation or
discussion about the content of the reading text, and then write a brief essay type
answer to some question that requires the effort of combining the reading
contents and the listening contents.
The test
takers may take notes at any moment throughout the Test on scrap paper provided
by the examination center at the start of the Test.
NUMBER OF
QUESTIONS AND THE TIME PERIODS OF THE TEST.
This list
is tentative, it depends on the length of the texts and the number of questions
could vary too.
READING – 3
– 5 passages, 12 – 14 questions for each one.
60 – 100 minutes.
LISTENING:
(a) 4 – 6 lectures, 6 questions for each
one. (b)
2 – 3 conversations: 5 questions each. 60 – 90 minutes.
BREAK 10
minutes.
SPEAKING: 6
tasks, that is 2 independent tasks and 4 integrated ones
WRITING: 1
integrated task – 20 minutes. 1 independent task (the essay!) – 30 minutes.
THE NEW
INTEGRATED TASKS.
These tasks
involve the combination of the language skills.
Students are expected to do the following:
- Read,
listen and speak in response to a question.
- Listen and
then speak in response to a question.
- Read,
listen and then write in response to a question.
This new
style of integrated tasks is meant to determine whether the candidates have the
skills they need for academic success. These integrated tasks can be somewhat
demanding, so be warned!
QUESTION
FORMATS
Initially,
the PBT TOEFL was practically all based on the classic format of the multiple
choice question with 4 alternatives and one correct answer.
However,
the IBT TOEFL shows more variety in its question formats. For instance, there
are some types of questions that need 2 or 3 or more correct answers. These
questions usually include a line in the instructions that state that this
particular question is worth 2 points or 3 points as the case may be.
I will
refer to these formats in future Blog posts.
SOME PRELIMINARY
CONCLUSIONS.
As the
demands on our lives within a globalized society increase, so do the demands on
the various graduate and post-graduate programs that are offered by numerous
high level academic centers the world over.
This complex
interaction in turn places demands on the work place and on the academic world,
so that more candidates are applying for post-graduate degrees, and in turn these
courses are raising their standards so as to provide what society expects from
them, that is, highly qualified scientists, thinkers, innovators and project
managers.
So it is to
be expected that the TOEFL has become somewhat more demanding as well. Through
conversations with my various students over a period of a few years, it is
becoming clear that the Reading section is beginning to cause difficulties that
were not in place before. So beware!
I will be
writing a post (and probably several of them) with lots of tips on the Reading
section of the Test, so stay tuned!
See you on
the next post!
© 2013
joanveronica (Joan Robertson)
I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just
click the word “comments” lower down.
