What
is TOEFL?
Test
of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardized
test to measure the English
language ability of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in
English-speaking 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 the Educational Testing Service (ETS), a
private non-profit organization, which designs and administers the tests. ETS
issues official score reports which are sent independently to institutions and
are valid for two years following the test.
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CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores are no longer valid.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 3 days, starting from September 2019.
1.
Reading
The Reading section
consists of questions on 3-4 passages, each approximately 700 words in length
and with 10 questions. 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 2-3 conversations with 5 questions each, and 5-7
lectures with 6 questions each. Each conversation is 2.5-3 minutes and lectures
are 4.5-5.5 minutes in length. 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. The listening 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 4 tasks: 1 independent (Task 1) and 3 integrated (Task 2, 3, 4). In
task 1, 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 task 2 and 4, 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 task 3, test-takers listen to an academic course lecture 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.
· Paper-delivered
Test
The
TOEFL PDT is an official test for use where the internet test is unavailable,
usually due to internet & computer issues.
It
consists of the Listening, Reading, and Writing sections, with scores that are
the same scale as the Internet Based Test. There is no total score.
The
TOEFL paper-based Test (PBT) was still available in limited areas until 2017,
when it was replaced by the Paper-delivered test. Scores are valid for two
years after the test date, and test takers can have their scores sent to
institutions or face 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.
Test scores
TOEFL iBT Test
·
The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
·
Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and
Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four
sections are added together to determine the total score.
·
The reading and listening sections are tested first, followed by
a ten-minute break. The speaking and writing sections are then completed
following the break. A maximum amount of 203 minutes is allowed to complete the
whole exam process.
·
Each speaking question is initially given a raw score of 0 to 4,
with 1-point increment, and each writing question is initially given a raw
score of 0.0 to 5.0, with 0.5-point increment. These scores are converted to
scaled scores of 0 to 30.
Paper-based Test
·
The final PBT score ranges between 310 and 677 and is based on
three subscores: Listening (31–68), Structure (31–68), and Reading (31–67).
Unlike the CBT, the score of the Writing component (referred to as the Test of
Written English, TWE) is not part of the final score; instead, it is reported
separately on a scale of 0–6.
·
The score test takers receive on the Listening, Structure and
Reading parts of the TOEFL test is not the percentage of correct answers. The
score is converted to take into account the fact that some tests are more
difficult than others. The converted scores correct these differences.
Therefore, the converted score is a more accurate reflection of the ability
than the raw score is.
The TOEFL PBT was
discontinued at the end of May 2017. Official testing in areas without internet
or computers now uses the TOEFL PDT.
Sumber:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_of_English_as_a_Foreign_Language
https://www.prepscholar.com/toefl/blog/what-is-toefl/
