The new-look TOEFL
THE TEST of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is in the process of being transformed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
The new TOEFL was launched on September 24 in the U.S. It is expected to be launched in India by 2006. A complete schedule will be released on November 1.
ETS has made several changes, with the aim of making the TOEFL a more accurate gauge of English skills. In an effort to create a real-life classroom scenario, a candidate might be asked to read a passage of text and listen to a lecture, and then respond to it verbally or in writing.
The changes are:
- It will be delivered via the Internet, which will certainly make it accessible to a lot more candidates.
- There will be a sense of immediacy, with candidates being able to access their online score at the end of the test.
- The two-and-a-half hour examination will now be a three-and-a-half hour one.
- Scoring, which was from 0 to 300 will now range from 1 to 120.
- The listening section will continue to be a computer adaptive one, but the passages will now follow the pattern of real live situations, like a college lecture.
- The structure section currently tests grammar. In the new TOEFL, grammar will be tested throughout the test.
- In the reading comprehension section, reading passages will be more academic in nature.
- In the writing section, apart from the 30-minute essay, there will be another 20-minute essay too.
For those interested in a full-length practice test, see www.TOEFL.org
Content provided by The Princeton Review, India
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