TOEFL-Test of English as
Foreign Language
What is the purpose of the TOEFL?
Since 1963 the TOEFL
has been used by scholarship selection committees of governments,
universities, and agencies such as Fulbright, the Agency for
International Developments, AMIDEAST, Latin American Scholarship program
and others as standard measure of the English proficiency of their
candidates.
How Difficult is the
TOEFL?
The
level of difficulty of the TOEFL is directly related to the average
level of proficiency in English of the candidates who take the
examination. This means that each question will probably be
answered correctly by 50 percent of the candidates.
Types of Test
The TOEFL® test is the world’s most popular English-language test. There
are two popular version of TOEFL available in the world today namely :
1. TOEFL-iBT
2. TOEFL paper-based
Score well, get the ticket of admission world wide
Almost every student wants
to go abroad for further study especially to USA, UK, New Zealand,
Canada, AUSTRALIA etc., If you score well on the TOEFL® iBT, it is like
a ticket for admission in the world most prestigious universities and
colleges.
TOEFL® iBT help students
getting sure admissions into more than 6,000 universities
worldwide.
The Internet-based TOEFL test is available almost in every city world
wide. The TOEFL paper-based test is offered to the students where
the facility for TOEFL iBT is not available.
List of
TOEFL Centers
To view the list of TOEFL test center locations,
visit
www.ets.org/toefl/locations
TOEFL
Registration
The test comprises of four
sections and can be taken on the same day. If you want to register visit
this website address.
www.ets.org/toefl/info/register
How
can one obtain TOEFL Score?
Test scores can be obtained
online after 15 business days after the test and a copy of the score
dispatched to the students by mail. Colleges, schools universities
and agencies are allowed to view the score online by the ETS.
Test
Details
TOEFL iBT provide an
opportunity to the students to prove their English-language skills to
communicate effectively in a scholastic atmosphere. For instance, test
participants read a passage, listen to a short lecture about a topic and
then speak or write in response.
In the Speaking section,
students use headphones and reply the questions into a microphone. The
responses are digitally recorded and sent to ETS’s Online Scoring
Network (OSN). To guarantee utmost impartiality and trustworthiness,
three to six certified ETS raters assess the responses. All raters
undergo constant monitoring to guarantee the maximum accuracy and
quality control.
There are two tasks to be
responded by the participants in the Writing section, Responses are sent
to the ETS OSN, where they are assessed and evaluated by four raters.
English language skill
level is exposed from the score of the test takers. Comprehensive
scoring information, including four skill scores and a total score is
provided by the ETS. A performance feedback is also sent to the students
about their strong and weak points so that they can improve their
skills.
Comparison of TOEFL and TOEFL-iBT
Below is a comparison of
two tests showing great flexibility for Internet based TOEFL test.
|
Features |
Internet-based TOEFL Test |
Paper-based TOEFL Test |
|
Skills tested |
• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing |
• Listening
• Structure
• Reading
• Writing |
|
Total time |
4 hours |
3 hours |
|
Integrated tasks |
Yes |
No |
|
Note taking
|
Yes |
No |
|
Computer adaptive |
Not computer adaptive.
Each test taker receives the same range of questions in any given
form of the test.
|
Not applicable |
|
Reading |
3-5 passages from
academic texts
Approximately 700 words
long Includes multiple-focus passages (compare/contrast,
cause/effect)
12-14 questions for
each passage
Time: 60-100 minutes
Score scale: 0-30 |
5 passages from
academic texts
250-350 words long
10 questions per
passage
Time: 55 minutes
Score scale: 31-67 |
|
Listening |
4-6 lectures, some with
classroom discussion
• each 3-5 minutes
long, 6 questions each2-3 conversations
• each 3 minutes long,
5 questions each
Time: 60-90 minutes
Score scale: 0-30 |
3-4 mini-talks
• each 60-90 seconds
long, 3-5 questions each
2-3 extended
conversations
• each 60-90 seconds
long, 3-5 questions each
30-40 dialogues
• each 5-15 seconds
long,1 question each
Time: 30-40 minutes
Score scale: 31-68 |
|
Speaking |
Six tasks
• 2 independent tasks —
express an opinion on a
familiar topic
• 4 integrated tasks —
speak based on what is
read and heard
Up to 30 seconds to
prepare the response
Up to 1 minute to
respond
Time: 20 minutes
Score scale: 0-4
points; total of ratings converted
to 0-30 score scale
|
Not measured |
|
Writing |
Two tasks
• 1 integrated task —
write based on what is
read and heard
• 1 independent task —
support an opinion
on a topic
Time: 50 minutes
• 20 minutes for
integrated task
• 30 minutes for
independent task
Score scale: 0-5
points; total of ratings converted
to 0-30 score scale |
1 independent task
(Test of Written
English TM)
Time: 30 minutes
Score scale: 0-6
points, reported separately on
score report
Handwriting only |
|
Structure
(grammar) |
No grammar section on
the test, although grammar is
Evaluated in speaking
and writing responses. |
40 questions
Time: 25 minutes
Score scale: 31-68 |
|
Total score |
0-120
|
310-677 |
|
Performance feedback |
Performance feedback
for each skill is provided on the
Test-taker report.
|
Not provided |
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
For the latest information
about the TOEFL iBT, please visit >>>
www.ets.org/toefl/info