Introduction to TOEFL

What is TOEFL?

TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is kind of test to measure the English competence in academic setting. This test must be taken by English non-native speakers wishing to study abroad. Nowadays, it is used as an admission requirement for not only colleges or universities in English-speaking Countries but also any English-speaking Universities in all over the world including Indonesia. Besides, institutions such as government agencies, licensing bodies, businesses, or scholarship programs may also require this test. However, we must also note that TOEFL tends to American English and is different with IELTS (International English Language Testing System) which tends to British English.

When someone has taken the test, they will get a certificate. It is only valid for two years since the candidate's language proficiency will probably change significantly as the time goes by. The universities or institutions will only consider the most recent score of TOEFL.  

Formats

•  Internet-Based TOEFL

Since its introduction, the Internet-based Test (IBT) has progressively replaced both the computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based testing is still used in some areas. There are 4 skills tested in IBT as follows:

1. Reading

   The Reading section consists of 3–4 passages, each approximately 700 words in length and questions about the passages. The passages are on academic topics. 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.

2. Listening

   The Listening section consists of six passages 3–5 minutes in length and questions about the passages. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. Each conversation and lecture stimulus 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 tasks and four integrated tasks. 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 task and one independent task. In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss the same topic. The test-taker will then write a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, the test-taker must write an essay that states, explains, and supports their opinion on an issue, supporting their opinions or choices, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS OSN and evaluated by four raters.

Task	Description	Approx. time
Reading	3–4 passages, each containing 12–14 questions	60–80 minutes
Listening	6–9 passages, each containing 5–6 questions	60–90 minutes
Break		10 minutes
Speaking	6 tasks and 6 questions	20 minutes
Writing	2 tasks and 2 questions	50 minutes

One of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material in order 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 three of those passages will count and one of the passages will not be counted. Any of the four passages could be the uncounted one.
 

 

 

Paper-Based TOEFL

 

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Palita Ruhamaningtyas

I am an English teacher in SMA N 1 Pati who love to read and write. -You know my name, not my story. You know what I've done, not what I've been through. If you were on my shoes, you'd fall at the first step.- ^_^

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