Test of English as a Foreign
Language or TOEFL is
a standardised test of English
language proficiency for non-native English language speakers
wishing to enroll in U.S. universities. The test is accepted by many
English-speaking academic and professional institutions. TOEFL is one of
the two major English-language tests in the world, the other being the IELTS.
TOEFL is a trademark of ETS (Educational Testing Service), a private
non-profit organisation, which designs and administers the tests. The scores
are valid for two years; then they are no longer reported.
History
In 1962, a national council made up
of representatives of thirty government and private organizations was formed to
address the problem of ensuring English language proficiency for non-native
speakers wishing to study at U.S. universities. This council recommended the
development and administration of the TOEFL exam for the 1963-1964 time frame.
The test was originally developed at
the Center for Applied Linguistics under
the direction of Stanford University applied linguistics
professor Dr. Charles A. Ferguson.
The TOEFL test was first
administered in 1964 by the Modern Language Association financed
by grants from the Ford Foundation andDanforth Foundation.
In 1965, The College
Board and ETS jointly assumed responsibility for the
continuation of the TOEFL testing program.
In 1973, a cooperative arrangement
was made between ETS, The College Board, and the Graduate Record Examinations board of
advisers to oversee and run the program. ETS was to administer the exam with
the guidance of the TOEFL board.
To the present day, college
admission criteria for international students who are Commonwealth of Nations nationals are
exempted from taking the TOEFL exam - nations which are part of the Anglosphere
(from Commonwealth realms to former British colonies e.g. Hong Kong SAR or
former protectorates of the United States) where English is the de facto
official language automatically grants a TOEFL exemption with some restrictions
(e.g. residents of Quebec are required to take TOEFL while the rest of Canada
is exempt).
Formats and content
Internet-based test
Since its introduction in late 2005,
the TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT) format has progressively replaced the
computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based
testing is still used in select areas. The TOEFL iBT test has been introduced
in phases, with the United States, Canada, France, Germany,
and Italy in
2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added regularly. The
CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores are no longer valid.
Initially, the demand for test seats
was higher than availability, and candidates had to wait for months. It is now
possible to take the test within one to four weeks in most countries. The
four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring one of the basic
language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills), and all
tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment.
Note-taking is allowed during the TOEFL iBT test. The test cannot be taken more
than once every 12 days.
1.
Reading
The Reading
section consists of questions on 4–6 passages, each approximately 700 words in
length. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that
might be found in an undergraduate university textbook. Passages require
understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast
and argumentation. Students answer questions about main ideas, details,
inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical
purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the TOEFL iBT test require
filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject
under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.
2.
Listening
The
Listening section consists of questions on six passages, each 3–5 minutes in
length. These passages include two student conversations and four academic
lectures or discussions. The conversations involve a student and either a
professor or a campus service provider. The lectures are a self-contained
portion of an academic lecture, which may involve student participation and
does not assume specialized background knowledge in the subject area. Each
conversation and lecture passage is heard only once. Test-takers may take notes
while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the
questions. Each conversation is associated with five questions and each lecture
with six. The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas,
important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of
information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.
3.
Speaking
The Speaking
section consists of six tasks: two independent and four integrated. In the two
independent tasks, test-takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics.
They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their
ideas clearly and coherently. In two of the integrated tasks, test-takers read
a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about
campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the
text and the talk. In the two remaining integrated tasks, test-takers listen to
an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond
to a question about what they heard. In the integrated tasks, test-takers are
evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey
information from the reading and listening material. Test-takers may take notes
as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their
responses. Test-takers are given a short preparation time before they have to
begin speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online
Scoring Network (OSN), and evaluated by three to six raters.
4.
Writing
The Writing
section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and
consists of two tasks: one integrated and one independent. In the integrated
task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a
speaker discuss it. The test-taker then writes a summary about the important
points in the listening passage and explains how these relate to the key points
of the reading passage. In the independent task, the test-taker must write an
essay that states their opinion or choice, and then explain it, rather than
simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS
OSN and evaluated by at least 3 different raters.
|
Task
|
Description
|
Approximate time
|
|
Reading
|
3–5 passages, each containing
12–14 questions
|
60–100 minutes
|
|
Listening
|
6–9 passages, each containing 5–6
questions
|
60–90 minutes
|
|
Break
|
Mandatory break
|
10 minutes
|
|
Speaking
|
6 tasks
|
20 minutes
|
|
Writing
|
2 tasks
|
50 minutes
|
One of the sections of the test will
include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes
extra material to pilot test questions for future test forms. When test-takers
are given a longer section, they should give equal effort to all of the
questions because they do not know which question will count and which will be
considered extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of
three, then one of the passages will not be counted. Any of the four could be
the uncounted one.
Paper-based Test
The TOEFL® paper-based Test (PBT) is
available in limited areas. Scores are valid for two years after the test date,
and test takers can have their scores sent to institutions or agencies during
that time.
1.
Listening (30 –
40 minutes)
The
Listening section consists of 3 parts. The first one contains 30 questions
about short conversations. The second part has 8 questions about longer
conversations. The last part asks 12 questions about lectures or talks.
2.
Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes)
The
Structure and Written Expression section has 15 exercises of completing
sentences correctly and 25 exercises of identifying errors.
3.
Reading Comprehension (55 minutes)
The Reading
Comprehension sections has 50 questions about reading passages.
4.
Writing (30
minutes)
The TOEFL
PBT administrations include a writing test called the Test of Written English
(TWE). This is one essay question with 250–300 words in average.
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