TOEFL PBT Tells a Lie?

TOEFL PBT tells a lie?

TOEFL PBT tells a lie?

Name: Chao Hua Huang

School: CSUMB

Class: IST522

Instructor: Karen Wisdom

7/20/2009

Introduction:

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) test is the standardized test for non-native speakers of English to apply for almost every college or university in the USA, Australia, UK, Canada and New Zealand. Generally speaking, TOEFL is a requirement for the colleges and universities to select the students who have a good chance of success in the United States.

TOEFL is known as a good test to measure English skills for entering university in the United States. It is composed of three sections: listening section, grammar section, and reading section. Many educators believe that the TOEFL can measure foreign student’s English skills because the skills which are used in the TOEFL are useful for them to take classes at university in the United States. Therefore, students are recommended to take TOEFL before applying for a college or university. However, almost all students criticize it, especially paper based test (PBT), because the TOEFL cannot measure speaking and writing skills, TOEFL score often changes irregularly, and taking TOEFL takes a long time. TOEFL does not adequately measure the abilities of the test takers.

Summary

The TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language, is an admission requirement for non-native English speaker at most of colleges and universities. TOEFL test is provided by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the largest private educational testing organization in the world, and has been administered since 1964. There are three kinds of TOEFL test offered from ETS - Paper-Based Test (PBT), Computer-Based Test (CBT), and Internet-Based Test (IBT).

Paper-Based Test is the first format being used at the beginning, and test takers should register in advance before the given deadlines. It takes maximum three hours to finish PBT, and it includes Listening (30 to 40 minutes), Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes), Reading Comprehension (55 minutes), and Writing (30 minutes). The final score range is from 310 to 677, and it is based on three sub-scores: Listening (31 to 68), Structure (31 to 68), and Reading (31 to 67); however, writing section is not counted to final score.

The format of Computer-Based Test (CBT) is quite similar as PBT, but the test takers need to complete all sections via computer. The score range is from 0 to 300, and is also based on Listening (0 to 30), structure/Writing (0 to 30), and Reading (0-30)

Beginning in September 2005, the Internet-based version of the TOEFL test has replaced both the PBT and CBT; however, some schools still accept the TOEFL result taken from paper-base test (PBT), and PBT does not adequately measure the abilities of the test takers.

First of all, on the PBT, it does not contain a speaking section and writing section, so it is impossible to measure how well the test takers speak and write. A test taker might have poor listening and writing skills with a good test result.

Secondly, scores on the TOEFL PBT might be changed depending on the subject. People can take TOEFL test unlimited times until they are satisfied with the score; test takers can solve the questions easily if they have already taken or seen the similar questions before. Therefore, TOEFL PBT is not fair enough for every test taker.

The final reason that TOEFL PBT does not adequately measure the abilities of the test takers is that most of the questions in the TOEFL are multiple choices. There is a high probability that people might get correct answers by guessing, so TOEFL PBT score does not tell us the test takers’ exact and real abilities.

In spite of difficulty to adequately measure the English abilities of the test taker via TOEFL PBT, TOEFL iBT has updated new contents in listening section as well as added speaking section to meet the insufficient part from TOEFL PBT.

On the listening section from TOEFL PBT, visuals, classroom lectures and campus conversations are inserted to approximate actual listening experiences. The purpose is to measure the test takers’ listening ability to comprehend academic discourse. In addition, more words and phrases are added in the reading section to test the examinees’ knowledge in the rhetorical organization of a passage. The final part, writing section, measures the examinees’ ability in writing structure by responding to an assigned topic.

Even though the TOEFL PBT does not contain a speaking section to measure how well the examinees speak, the oral part is added in the TOEFL iBT. The test taker is able to show the accent, pronunciation, and fluency skills to get higher result as well as meet the academic requirement.

“The TOEFL program routinely analyzes examinees' responses to ensure that the test continues to meet the highest standards of comparability and reliability, issues summaries of data for students across national boundaries and geographic regions, and funds dozens of studies each year to improve test development and to explain what the scores mean. Because of the program's high standards of test design, fairness, reliability, verification, and security, institutions know that when they receive TOEFL scores they are getting measurement information that is accurate and legally defensible.” (Walker, 1999).

Conclusion

TOEFL paper-base test does not always measure students’ English skills because some skills cannot be judged by the TOEFL, scores might also change depending on the subject, and the people might get good score by only guessing. Therefore, school still can use TOEFL PBT as a standard requirement for foreign students; however, the students also need to take English placement test offered by schools for the second selection. Or TOEFL PBT should be abolished and use iBT, which offers speaking section, for the standard test to measure student’s English skill on the TOEFL. Besides, the TOEFL iBT is designed to measure nonnative English speakers’ listening, reading and writing skills, and the scores are processed faster than paper-based scores (PBT) to make admission decision more efficiently.

References

Breland, H. & Lee, Y. & Najarian, M. & Muraki E. (February 2004). An analysis of TOEFL CBT Writing Prompt Difficulty and Comparability for Different Gender Groups. Retrieved June 22, 2009. New Jersey: ETS.

Good Luck TOEFL. (2009). TOEFL iBT Speaking Skills. Retrieved June 22, 2009. http://www.goodlucktoefl.com/2-1-3-TOEFL_speaking_skills.html

IIE Organization. (2008). Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Paper-Based Test and Internet-Based Test. Retrieved June 22, 2009. http://www.iieapplicationcenter.org/applicants/TOEFLtips.pdf

Krausz, J. & Schiff, A. & Schif, J., & Hise, J. (2005). The impact of TOEFL scores on placement and performance of international students in the initial graduate accounting class. Retrieved June 22, 2009. From Accounting Education.

Soverinsky, J. (June 2006). Beyond the LSAT. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from ABA Journal Ereport. http://jerrysoverinskycreative.com/Documents/BEYONDTHELSAT.pdf

The China Post. (2005). New TOEFL exam may place local students at a disadvantage. Retrieved June 22, 2009. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2005/10/01/69471/New-TOEFL.htm

TOEFL iBT Score Comparison Tables. Retrieved June 14, 2009, from ets.org.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/TOEFL_iBT_Score_Comparison_Tables.pdf

Walker, G. (1999). Value Added by computer-Based TOEFL. Retrieved on June 28, 2009. From virtual education. http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/oseas/briefing5.html

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