The Test of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL, pronounced "toe-full") evaluates the ability of an individual to use and understand English in an academic setting. It is an admission requirement for non-native English speakers at many English-speaking colleges and universities. The TOEFL test is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is administered worldwide. The test was first administered in 1964.
Institutions such as government agencies, licensing bodies, businesses, or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then will no longer be officially reported since a candidate's language proficiency could have significantly changed since the date of the test. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent TOEFL score.
Formats and contents
Internet-Based Test
Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-Based test (iBT) has progressively replaced both the computer-based (CBT) and paper-based (PBT) tests. The iBT 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.
Reading
This module determines proficiency in understanding intellectual reading issues. The Reading module contains questions about 3 to 5 long passages. The passages are chosen from the academic topics, which are found in undergraduate university textbooks.
READING
3 passages and 39 questions or 5 passages and 70 questions
60 minutes or 100 minutes
Listening
This module determines proficiency in understanding spoken English as it is used in colleges and universities. The listening module consists of 6 comprehensive passages. Two passages will be conversations between students, and the other four will be academic lectures or discussions. Students have to understand the conversations and answer the corresponding questions.
LISTENING
6 passages and 34 questions
50 minutes
Speaking
This module determines proficiency with speaking in English. The speaking module consists of 6 tasks: two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the independent tasks, students have to answer opinion questions concerning academic life. In two of the integrated tasks, students have to read a passage, listen to a passage, and speak about how the ideas in the two passages are related. In the other two integrated tasks, students have to listen to long passages, review them and speak about the information in the passages.
SPEAKING
6 tasks and 6 questions
20 minutes
Writing
This module determines proficiency with writing in English that is pertinent for colleges and universities assignments. The writing module consists of two tasks: one independent task where students have to read an academic passage, listen to an academic passage and write their reviews about the two passages, and another integrated task where students have to write an essay.
WRITING
2 tasks and 2 questions
55 minutes
At least one of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to try out material for future tests. If the test taker is given a longer section, he must work hard on all of the materials because he does not know which material counts and which material is extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, three of the passages will count and one of the passages will not be counted. It is possible that the uncounted passage could be any of the four passages.
Paper-Based Test
In areas where the iBT and CBT are not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. Because test takers cannot register at the testing center on the test date, they must register in advance using the registration form provided in the Supplemental Paper TOEFL Bulletin. They should register in advance of the given deadlines to ensure a place because the test centers have limited seating and may fill up early. Tests are administered only several times each year.
The PBT tests essentially the same skills as the CBT, albeit with some differences, noticeably the number of questions (which is higher in the PBT) and the score scales. The test lasts 4 hours more or less. Students can take the test as many times as they wish. However, colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent score.
Listening (30–40 minutes)
It consists of three 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.
Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes)
This part has 15 exercises of completing sentences correctly and 25 exercises of identifying errors.
Reading Comprehension (55 minutes)
It has 50 questions about reading passages.
Writing (30 minutes)
One essay with 250-300 words in average.
Test Scores
Internet-Based Test
Computer-Based Test
Paper-Based Test
ETS has released tables to convert between iBT, CBT and PBT scores. Click here to download it!!
Reference
http://www.toefl.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL
http://www.stuff.co.uk/toefl.htm
http://www.ets.org
http://www.testwise.com/review.html
Download Materials
Institutions such as government agencies, licensing bodies, businesses, or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then will no longer be officially reported since a candidate's language proficiency could have significantly changed since the date of the test. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent TOEFL score.
Formats and contents
Internet-Based Test
Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-Based test (iBT) has progressively replaced both the computer-based (CBT) and paper-based (PBT) tests. The iBT 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.
Reading
This module determines proficiency in understanding intellectual reading issues. The Reading module contains questions about 3 to 5 long passages. The passages are chosen from the academic topics, which are found in undergraduate university textbooks.
READING
3 passages and 39 questions or 5 passages and 70 questions
60 minutes or 100 minutes
Listening
This module determines proficiency in understanding spoken English as it is used in colleges and universities. The listening module consists of 6 comprehensive passages. Two passages will be conversations between students, and the other four will be academic lectures or discussions. Students have to understand the conversations and answer the corresponding questions.
LISTENING
6 passages and 34 questions
50 minutes
Speaking
This module determines proficiency with speaking in English. The speaking module consists of 6 tasks: two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the independent tasks, students have to answer opinion questions concerning academic life. In two of the integrated tasks, students have to read a passage, listen to a passage, and speak about how the ideas in the two passages are related. In the other two integrated tasks, students have to listen to long passages, review them and speak about the information in the passages.
SPEAKING
6 tasks and 6 questions
20 minutes
Writing
This module determines proficiency with writing in English that is pertinent for colleges and universities assignments. The writing module consists of two tasks: one independent task where students have to read an academic passage, listen to an academic passage and write their reviews about the two passages, and another integrated task where students have to write an essay.
WRITING
2 tasks and 2 questions
55 minutes
At least one of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to try out material for future tests. If the test taker is given a longer section, he must work hard on all of the materials because he does not know which material counts and which material is extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, three of the passages will count and one of the passages will not be counted. It is possible that the uncounted passage could be any of the four passages.
Paper-Based Test
In areas where the iBT and CBT are not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. Because test takers cannot register at the testing center on the test date, they must register in advance using the registration form provided in the Supplemental Paper TOEFL Bulletin. They should register in advance of the given deadlines to ensure a place because the test centers have limited seating and may fill up early. Tests are administered only several times each year.
The PBT tests essentially the same skills as the CBT, albeit with some differences, noticeably the number of questions (which is higher in the PBT) and the score scales. The test lasts 4 hours more or less. Students can take the test as many times as they wish. However, colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent score.
Listening (30–40 minutes)
It consists of three 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.
Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes)
This part has 15 exercises of completing sentences correctly and 25 exercises of identifying errors.
Reading Comprehension (55 minutes)
It has 50 questions about reading passages.
Writing (30 minutes)
One essay with 250-300 words in average.
Test Scores
Internet-Based Test
- The iBT version of the TOEFL 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 overall score.
- Speaking is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and writing is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.
Computer-Based Test
- Three subscores are obtained, each of which is given on a 0–30 scale: Listening, Structure/Writing (combined), and Reading. These subscores are averaged to obtain the final score, which is on a 0–300 scale.
- The score for Writing is a component of the score for the Structure Section. Even though the college or university where the test taker applied did not require a score for Writing, the test taker had to write the essay to complete the test.
- The Writing test is scored on a scale from 0 to 6. A score of 6 showed strong writing abilities, 5 average writing abilities, and 4 minimal writing abilities. A score of 3, 2 or 1 showed a lack of writing technique. The essay was read by two testing evaluators. Each one gave the essay a score. The two scores are averaged to produce the final Writing scores. If the evaluators were more than 1 point different in their assessment, a third evaluator scored the essay.
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 section (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 TOEFLtest 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 correct answer score is.
ETS has released tables to convert between iBT, CBT and PBT scores. Click here to download it!!
Reference
http://www.toefl.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL
http://www.stuff.co.uk/toefl.htm
http://www.ets.org
http://www.testwise.com/review.html
Download Materials
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