Test of English as a Foreign Language
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL /ˈtoʊfəl/ TOH-fəl) 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, sent independently to institutions, for two years
following the test.
History
n 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 exam for the 1963-1964 time frame.[7]
The test was originally developed at the Center for Applied Linguistics under the direction of Stanford University applied linguistics professor Dr. Charles A. Ferguson.[8]
The TOEFL test was first administered in 1964 by the Modern
Language Association financed by
grants from the Ford Foundation and Danforth Foundation.[7]
In 1965, The College Board and ETS jointly assumed responsibility
for the continuation of the TOEFL testing program.[7]
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.[7]
To the present day, college admission criteria for international
students who are nationals of some of the Commonwealth nationsexempt them from taking the TOEFL exam.
Nations which 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 grants 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, such as India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh etc., even though they may have English as the de facto official
language.
Formats and content
Internet-based test[edit]
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[citation needed].
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.[9]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 12 days.[10]
1.
Reading
The Reading section consists
of questions on 3-5 passages, each approximately 700 words in length. 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 six passages, each 3–5 minutes in length. These
passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or
discussions. 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. 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 and four integrated. 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 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.
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.
Paper-based Test[edit]
The TOEFL® paper-based Test (PBT) is available in limited areas.
Scores are valid for two years after the test date, and test takers can have
their scores sent to institutions or face time.[12]
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.[13]
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 250 minutes is allowed to complete the
whole exam process.[14]
·
Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and
each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. 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.
Accepted TOEFL Scores
Most colleges use TOEFL scores as only one factor in their
admission process, with a college or program within a college often setting a
minimum TOEFL score required. The minimum TOEFL iBT scores range from 61 (Bowling Green State
University)[15] to
111 (University of Oxford).[16]
ETS has released tables to convert between iBT, CBT and PBT
scores.
TOEFL ITP Tests
TOEFL ITP ("ITP"
stands for "Institutional Testing Program") tests are paper-based and
use academic content to evaluate the English-language proficiency of non-native
English speakers. The tests use new and previously administered TOEFL test
questions and are used for placement, progress, evaluation, exit testing and
other situations. The test scores, format and content of the test matches the
"TOEFL PBT",[18] with the exception of not including the TWE (Test of
Written Expression).
Unlike the TOEFL iBT and PBT tests, TOEFL ITP tests
are administered by the institution and for internal use. It should not replace
the need for the TOEFL iBT test, which is administered securely and includes
Speaking and Writing components. There are two levels of TOEFL ITP: Level 1
(intermediate to advanced) and Level 2 (high beginning to intermediate).TOEFL
ITP scores are mapped to the CEFR and test takers are provided with a
certificate of achievement.
TOEFL Junior Tests
ETS also offers the TOEFL Junior tests,
a general assessment of middle school-level English-language proficiency. It is
intended for students aged 11+.The tests are administered in two formats: TOEFL
Junior Standard (on paper) and TOEFL Junior Comprehensive
(via computer). The TOEFL Junior Standard test has three
sections: Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension and Language Form and
Meaning. The TOEFL Junior Comprehensive test has four: Reading
Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, Speaking and thWriting. TOEFL
Junior scores are mapped to the CEFR and test takers are provided with
a certificate of achievement.
Linking TOEFL iBT Score Ranges
to IELTS Scores[21][edit]
IELTS Score
|
TOEFL Score
|
IELTS Description
|
9
|
118-120
|
Expert User
|
8.5
|
115-117
|
Very Good User
|
8
|
110-114
|
|
7.5
|
102-109
|
Good User
|
7
|
94-101
|
|
6.5
|
79-93
|
Competent User
|
6
|
60-78
|
|
5.5
|
42-59
|
Modest User
|
5
|
35-41
|
|
4.5
|
32-34
|
Limited User
|
0-4
|
0-31
|
Extremely
Limited/Intermittent/Non User
|
TOEFL
Test of English as a Foreign Language disingkat TOEFL adalah
ujian kemampuan berbahasa Inggris (logat Amerika) yang diperlukan untuk
mendaftar masuk ke universitas di Amerika Serikat atau negara-negara lain di dunia. Ujian
ini sangat diperlukan bagi pendaftar atau pembicara yang bahasa ibunya bukan bahasa Inggris. Ujian TOEFL ini
diselenggarakan oleh kantor ETS (Educational Testing Service) di Amerika Serikatuntuk semua peserta tes di seluruh dunia.
Jenis tes bahasa Inggris TOEFL ini pada umumnya diperlukan untuk
persyaratan masuk kuliah pada hampir semua universitas di Amerika Serikat dan
Kanada baik untuk program undergraduate (S-1) maupun graduate (S-2
atau S-3). Hasil tes TOEFL ini juga dipakai sebagai bahan pertimbangan mengenai
kemampuan bahasa Inggris dari calon mahasiswa yang mendaftar ke universitas di
negara lain, termasuk universitas di Eropa dan Australia. Secara umum, tes
TOEFL lebih berorientasi kepada American English, dan sedikit
berbeda dengan jenis tes IELTS yang
berorientasi kepada British English. Tidak seperti tes IELTS,
tes TOEFL ini pada umumnya tidak mempunyai bagian individual interview
test. Selain itu TOEFL pada dewasa ini sudah mulai digunakan dalam dunia
kerja sebagai salah satu mekanisme rekruitment atau jenjang kenaikan pangkat.[1]
Biasanya tes ini memakan waktu sekitar tiga jam dan
diselenggarakan dalam 4 bagian, yaitu bagian:
·
listening
comprehension,
·
grammar
structure and written expression,
·
reading
comprehension, dan
·
writing.
Jenis
TOEFL dan skornya
es bahasa inggris TOEFL terdiri dari dua jenis yaitu Computer-based
Testing dan Paper-Based Testing.[1] Model Computer-based Testing adalah tes
yang menggunakan media komputer. Skor penilaian model ini berada pada kisaran
216-677. Sedangkan Paper Based Testing adalah tes yang
menggunakan kertas sebagai media pengujiannya.[1]. Skor penilaian dengan model ini berada pada kisaran 450-550 ke
atas.[1] Nilai hasil ujian TOEFL berkisar antara: 310 (nilai
minimum) sampai 677 (nilai maksimum) untuk versi PBT (paper-based
test).
Sejak tahun 1998, tes TOEFL ini diadakan secara online dengan
menggunakan komputer (Computer-based Testing/CBT), dan sejak tahun
2005 disebut iBT (Internet-based Test). Di tempat-tempat yang belum
bisa melaksanakan CBT atau iBT (karena belum ada fasilitas komputer dan
jaringan internetnya), ujian TOEFL ini masih tetap diadakan secara manual
menggunakan kertas dan potlot (paper-based test atau PBT). Informasi
lebih lengkap tentang tes CBT dan paper-based TOEFL berkaitan dengan
pendaftaran, lokasi penyelenggaraan, biaya, dan bahan-bahan persiapan tes dapat
dilihat di situs resmi TOEFL, http://www.toefl.org (hasil ujian TOEFL versi CBT mempunyai
nilai berkisar antara 0 sampai 300, sementara nilai untuk iBT adalah dari 0
sampai 120) [2].
Akhir-akhir ini penyelenggara tes TOEFL juga mengadakan jenis
tes TWE (Test of Written English) yang hasil nilainya terpisah
dari nilai tes TOEFL. Tes ini memakan waktu selama 30 menit, dan peserta akan
diminta untuk menuliskan karangan singkat yang menggambarkan mengenai kemampuan
peserta untuk mengekspresikan dan menuangkan suatu gagasan atau ide, serta
mendukung gagasan itu dengan contoh-contoh yang terdapat dalam kehidupan
sehari-hari dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris yang standar. Bila TWE (Test
of Written English) termasuk bagian yang diujikan, biasanya tes ini
dilaksanakan sebelum ujian Listening Comprehension.
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