The 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 more than 13,000 universities and other institutions in over 160 countries and territories. The TOEFL is one of several major English-language tests worldwide, including IELTS, PTE, Duolingo English Test, Cambridge Assessment English, and Trinity College London exams.
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.
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 for the 1963–1965 timings.Cf. ETS 2007 document "Test and Score Summary for TOEFL Internet Based Test: September 2005 – December 2006 Test Data", p.3, section "History of TOEFL Program"
The test was initially developed at the Center for Applied Linguistics under the direction of Stanford University applied linguistics professor Charles A. Ferguson.Stanford University, Memorial Resolution: Charles A. Ferguson (1921–1998), May 1999
The TOEFL was first administered in 1964 by the Modern Language Association financed by grants from the Ford Foundation and Danforth Foundation.
In 1965, The College Board and ETS jointly assumed responsibility for continuing 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 nationals of some of the Commonwealth nations exempt them from taking the TOEFL. Nations that are part of the English-speaking world (from most Commonwealth realms to former British colonies e.g., Hong Kong SAR or former/protectorates of the United States (Philippines, Puerto Rico), where English is the de facto official language, automatically grant a TOEFL exemption with some restrictions (e.g., residents of Quebec are required to take TOEFL while the rest of Canada is exempt – also inclusive of Commonwealth nations where English is not an official language e.g., Mozambique or Namibia (English is co-official but spoken by 3% of the population). However, this does not apply to some Commonwealth nations outside the Anglosphere, due to the IELTS, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc., even though they may have English as the de facto official language.
Formats and content
Internet-based test
The TOEFL Internet-based test (iBT) measures all four academic English skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-based Test format has progressively replaced 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. It is offered weekly at authorized test centers. 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. Now, people who wish to take the test create an account on the official website to find the closest place. In the past this test lasted 4 hours, today people can choose to take the test for around 3 hours.
The 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 the 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.
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Reading The Reading section consists of 2 reading passages, each approximately 700 words in length and with 10 questions per passage. The passages are on academic topics whose material is taken from undergraduate university textbooks. Passages require an 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. Listening The Listening section consists of questions on 2 conversations with 5 questions each and 3 lectures with 6 questions each, thus there are a total of 28 questions in this section. Each conversation is 3 minutes and lectures are 3-5 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 do 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. 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 tasks 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 preparation time of 15-30 seconds before they have to begin speaking their part, for which they are given 45–60 seconds. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS's Online Scoring Network (OSN), and evaluated by three to six raters. Writing The Writing section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated (20 minutes) and one independent (10 minutes). 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 of 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 20 questions in total 35 minutes Listening 28 questions in total 36 minutes Speaking 4 tasks 16 minutes Writing 2 tasks 29 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.
Home edition The TOEFL IBT Home Edition is essentially the same test as the TOEFL IBT. However, it is taken at home while a human proctor watches through a web camera (usually built-in to most laptops) and via sharing of the computer screen. The popularity of the Home Edition has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic as it has been the only option during lockdowns. Many students experience technical or security problems during the Home Edition tests. The ETS browser used to administer the test has been unreliable in many cases. Students who have their exams interrupted are not likely to get a refund or the chance to reschedule for a new test as the ETS has technical problems that are hard to document and the processing of a complaint is slow due to the popularity of the Home Edition and the number of complaints. If the test runs smoothly, the results are accepted by most companies and universities that accept the TOEFL IBT standard edition.
Paper-delivered test The TOEFL paper-delivered test is an official test for use where the internet test is unavailable, usually due to internet or computer issues.
It consists of the Listening, Reading, and Writing sections, with scores that are on the same scale as the Internet-Based Test. There is no total score. Not all centers have the possibility of delivering this type of test, so it will generally be necessary to reschedule the day of the test for another available day.
Paper-based test