THE CHALLENGE OF THE TOEFL

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)

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