Category: Blog

Review: TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

My friends at ETS India sent me a copy of the new “TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide.”  A hard copy of this book is now sent free of charge to people who register for the TOEFL in India.  ETS’s current “get a free book” promise seems to be a unique quirk of the super-competitive Indian market – IELTS registrants in that country have been entitled to a free book for as long as I can remember.

I’m happy to report that most people will find the beginner’s guide really useful.  The first ten pages describe the format, content and scoring of the test.  The rest consists of a complete (and accurate) practice test, followed by sample speaking and writing responses.  I’m VERY happy to report that the test will be totally new to most TOEFL test takers.  This is not one of the tests from the Quick Prep collection, the PDF sets, or the TestReady page! It’s new! And there is so much unmet demand for new and accurate practice tests.  That said, a few experts may recognize it as one of the tests currently licensed to New Oriental for use in their schools in China (test #50, I think).

It must be noted that about 50% of the book is made up of blank pages for note taking.  This means that a second complete test could be easily added without increasing the cost of printing or mailing the book.  Indeed, it is likely that with some creative thinking a third complete test could be added without increasing the page count. Perhaps this should be considered. Have I mentioned the unmet demand for accurate practice tests? Note that the free IELTS book contains four tests.

As an aside: if the so-called “New Oriental Tests” are now cleared for use outside of China… well, I can think of a few good uses for them.

I took the EnglishScore WRITING Test

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A few days ago I completed the writing component of the British Council’s EnglishScore Test. I unlocked this component by first completing the EnglishScore “Core Skills” Test. You can read my thoughts on that test in an earlier post. This is a mobile-only test which takes 30-40 minutes to complete.

As I noted in that post, the EnglishScore Test is used by individuals seeking to increase their employability, as well as institutions. The test is free, but an official digital certificate can be purchased for $24.99. Below find my own certificate, which includes derpy photos taken while I completed the test (a security feature).

A few notes:

  1. The content of the writing test is determined by the test taker’s score on the core skills test.  According to the test’s validity report, test takers are placed into one of three streams based on those results. The stream affects the difficulty and nature of the questions they get.

 

  1. A mobile-only writing test is a bold proposition. Some might find it awkward to write 70-word responses on a phone. Needless to say, auto-complete and spelling suggestions are turned off. Test takers should probably practice this skill.

 

  1. There are four types of tasks on the writing test: write what you hear, respond to a question, describe a picture, have a chat.

 

  1. Instructions can sometimes be a bit clumsy. At the beginning of the short answer section I was told to write as much as I could. When the questions themselves appeared, I was told to write between 50 and 70 words. When I exceeded 100 words, the word counter turned red and I lost the ability to manually submit my answer. I let time run out without deleting anything, and I suppose my answer was submitted.

 

  1. My approach to tutoring would probably focus on achieving grammatical perfection (or as close as possible). On top of that, I would remind students to show off a bit of grammatical sophistication (probably through the use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions) and squeeze in a few uncommon words.

 

  1. Results arrived in less than 24 hours. I’m not sure of the exact amount of time, because I didn’t get a notification. Perhaps one should be added. My certificate was available a couple hours after I requested it.

 

  1. In addition to an overall score, the certificate includes subscores: language, organization and communication.

 

  1. Most of the scoring is done by AI. Some of the scoring is done via peer review. I think this approach is innovative, but some could feel otherwise.  Details are provided in the test’s validity document (I’ll link to this in the comments). At least 16 different peers (other test takers) assess the responses of a given test taker. I think I assessed 20 at the end of my test.

 

  1. A printed certificate is not available for the writing test. Only a digital version is available.

 

  1. There are quite a few practice questions and responses on the EnglishScore website.

 

I’ll take the speaking component when I have a moment.

 

More on Potential SELT Changes

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The PIE just published a useful summary of the ownership structure of the IELTS test.  It can sometimes be tricky to wrap one’s head around the ownership of the test, which is shared, equally, between Cambridge English, the British Council (both non-profit organizations) and IDP Education (an Australian for-profit).  Making things even trickier is the fact that the latter two parties compete with each other to deliver the test in some (but not all) markets. One might predict friction between these parties, but they seem to get along pretty well.

As the PIE points out, the British Council may be “the logical choice” to develop the new English test that the Home Office has put out a tender for. This makes sense considering their worldwide network of testing centers, and IELTS’s current status as a market leader.  But since Cambridge is responsible for the design, development and validity research of IELTS test items, perhaps a more likely front-runner is a new partnership between that organization and the British Council. Note also that the tender seems to invite separate bids for the development and delivery of the test, but how that would work in reality isn’t immediately clear.

That said, a question that comes to mind is whether an IELTS-ish test is even desirable. Is it safe to assume that this is what the Home Office is seeking?

Here’s a bit from a review of the IELTS by John Read published in Language Testing back in 2022:

“As its recent history shows, IELTS has been successful in incorporating technical innovations in the delivery of the test and in a whole range of back-office functions that support the industrial scale of its operations. However, in its adherence to design principles dating from the 1980s, it has proven resistant to any fundamental re-thinking of the construct of academic language proficiency in the light of current concerns in the field, such as the renewed focus on integrated tasks, the importance of assessing interactional competence, the value of diagnostic feedback, and the diversity of academic literacies. Although there are numerous IELTS-funded studies by external researchers suggesting ways in which [the] test could be enhanced, there is no sign of an integrated programme of renewal of the test.”

Keep in mind that the review isn’t all bad. But needless to say, a test like the IELTS has pros and cons.

If the Home Office is seeking a more modern approach to testing, perhaps there is an opportunity for a firm already known for producing such products.  That’s a big “if,” of course, but it is worth considering.

Major SELT Changes Coming?

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

Shocking news out of the UK this morning.  The PIE is reporting that the UK Home Office is reconsidering how it handles Secure English Language Testing .  Rather than accepting results from a handful of approved tests, the Home Office is considering instead a single test, owned by the Home Office and designed by one supplier.   Says the PIE:

“The government appears to be planning to move away from the current concession model based on multiple Home Office-approved suppliers, to a dedicated test owned by the Home Office and designed by one supplier.

The service, carrying an estimated contract value of £1.13 billion, will cover the development and ongoing support of a Home Office branded test to be used globally for all HOELTs, and the facilitation of tests around the world.”

Read the whole tender here.

As most readers know, SELT-approved tests are those tests which are approved by the Home Office for visa and citizenship purposes.  They are delivered at test centers that meet the strict security requirements set by the Home Office.  Testing providers must also meet certain post-test requirements.  SELT-status is highly valued in the testing industry.

Within the UK, these tests are currently delivered by the IELTS partnership, Pearson, Trinity College and LanguageCert.  Outside of the UK, tests are delivered by the IELTS partnership, LanguageCert, Pearson and PSI.

The aforementioned change would represent a seismic shift in the language testing world.

A few thoughts and questions come to mind:

  1. It takes a very long time to develop a test.  Many years of research and development are required.  Would a Home Office-owned test end up being a variation of an existing test?
  2. Aside from the above-mentioned organizations, who might be capable of bidding for this tender?  Keep in mind that PSI is a subsidiary of ETS. 
  3. I would like to know more about the financial implications of this change.  How impacted would some of the major testing firms be by the loss of SELT business?  Perhaps some representatives of those firms will chime in. 
  4. Perhaps someone who follows the industry more closely than I do might wager a guess at how likely it is that the Home Office will actually go in this direction.  Obviously it is not set in stone. 
  5. If this change is implemented, will other governments follow suit? 
  6. Regular readers of this space know that I value competition. I feel that testing monopolies can sometimes be bad for test takers.  This change could reduce competition in the testing space. 
  7. I also value accessibility.  Accessibility is impacted by the number of approved test centers available to test takers, and how close they are. This change could reduce the number of test centers available to test takers.

I’ll post more news as it becomes available, obviously.A big thank-you goes to Polly Nash for digging this story up. Apparently the tender was put out during the holiday and went unnoticed by all but her.

I Took the EnglishScore Test from British Council

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

A few days ago, I took the British Council‘s EnglishScore Test.  This one is a mobile-only English test.  It is used by institutions for placement purposes and by individuals who need a certified English score for some purpose.  I suppose it operates in the same space as the TOEIC, TOEFL iTP (ETS), Upskill (Cambridge) and Versant (Pearson) tests.  I’m so happy that this space has become more crowded in recent years. Competition is vital.

Below, check out my official certificate.

Keep in mind that EnglishScore actually consists of three separate tests: the core skills test, the writing test and the speaking test.  The writing and speaking tests are unlocked after you earn an A2 or above result on the core skills test.  Each test takes about 30-40 minutes to complete.  I’ll take the writing and speaking tests in the weeks ahead.

A few thing are worth noting here:

  1. Yeah, this one is mobile-only.  The only other major test of this type I can think of is Cambridge’s Upskill test. That said, this one is much bigger: EnglishScore has 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, while the Upskill test has about half a million.

 

  1. The test taker completes a room scan before beginning, and photos are taken throughout the test and appended to the official certificate.  If test makers can get institutions to trust their security features, mobile tests are a great way to increase access and reduce costs. I think we’ll see more tests like this in the future (especially for lower-stakes uses).

 

  1. Everyone can take the test (and get a score) for free.  An official digital certificate costs $24.99.  A printed certificate (couriered to your door) costs $49.99.  Since printed certificates are still big in my neck of the woods I’m curious about the printed version, but I don’t want to pay for it.

 

  1. Account creation can be done via Google, and the whole setup process and security check can be done in minutes.  How nice.

 

  1. The core skills test is a multiple-choice affair, so it is the easiest to deliver via mobile.  And the easiest to score.  I have no complaints about the delivery, which was very smooth.  I’ll raise some issues when talking about the W and S tests.  But this one is completely painless.

 

  1. If you are helping someone prepare for the test, ensure that they go through the test guide beforehand.  Make sure they know how the timers work, as it isn’t always clear in the UI.  Note, also, that the reading test includes quite a few “pick the best title for this passage” questions, which can be tricky for people who haven’t encountered that sort of thing in the past.

 

  1. The grammar section seems to go heavy on questions about verb tenses.  A keen teacher could probably build a study guide using Murphy’s “English Grammar in Use.”

 

  1. Results max out at C1.

 

  1. Attached are both pages of my certificate.  Note the derpy photos on the second page, which were taken while I was completing the test.  The certificate was available a few hours after I completed the test.

 

  1. BC’s private sector partner on this one is Blenheim Chalcot.

 

IDP Annual Report for FY2024

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

Yesterday, IDP Education released its financial report for FY2024.

Regarding the IELTS test, a few things are worth mentioning here.  They are:

  1. IELTS test volumes are down 18% worldwide.
  2. IELTS test volumes are down 42% in India.
  3. Outside of India, things are rosier: IELTS test volumes are up 12%.
  4. IDP says they “expect to record a decline in volumes in [their] key business lines in FY25.”

IDP Education seems pretty determined to convey that IELTS declines are due to regulatory changes in Canada, Australia and UK.  And that competition from other tests is not a major factor.  I don’t know if I buy that.  Ithink competition from Pearson and Duolingo is having a serious impact. But I’m just a guy on the Internet.  What do I know?

I listened to the shareholder’s call and about 30 seconds of it really captured my attention.  CEO Tennealle O’Shannessy said:

“We completed a strategic review of the mainland China market. Off the back of that, we are exploring a direct testing model in China. We’re at the early stages of this process, but we believe that over time this will open up additional growth for us as we connect directly with a greater number of test takers and students in China.”

Currently in China, the British Council alone administers the IELTS test (in conjunction with the NEEA, which is part of the Ministry of Education). Based on an agreement between IDP and the British Council, the British Council pays IDP a fee for each IELTS test that is taken in the country. This arrangement dates back to 2001.

What O’Shannessy seems to be suggesting is the  sunsetting of this arrangement in favor of IDP Education directly administering IELTS tests themselves in China.

This could be advantageous for both IDP and test takers. But, as is well known, China can be a tricky place to do business.

You Should Read More – Part 48!

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My wife and I enjoyed a holiday in Borneo this month.  And that means we spent many hours on an airplane.  And that means I read a few more issues from my endless stack of New Yorker magazines!

First up, I read the May 8, 2023 issue (yeah, I am still more than a year behind).  I enjoyed “The Fugitive Princess of Dubai” about how several princesses (daughters of the ruler) have attempted to flee that country.  It’s a weird, weird story.  But it really captured my attention.

Next, I read the June 5, 2023 issue.  That was the annual music issue!  An interesting story is “The Case for and Against Ed Sheeran.”  The premise here is that one of Sheeran’s songs sounds quite a lot like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”  Did he steal from Mr. Gaye and co-writer Ed Townsend? That’s for the court to decide.  Some academic stuff about writing will strengthen your TOEFL muscles, perhaps.

Later, while sitting in the lobby of the luxurious Capital Residence Suites in Bandar Seri Begawan, I read a copy of the “Borneo Bulletin.”  It had a perfect TOEFLy article about the discovery of some hobbit-sized bones.  They connect to a scientific concept called “Island Dwarfism,” which I’m sure has already appeared on the test at least once.  I took a picture of the article for you!

Moving ever forward, I also found the time to read a proper non-fiction book.  It was “The Meritocracy Trap” by Daniel Markovits.  The central premise here is that work in America has changed in recent decades.  The author supposes that a small elite group of workers has monopolized profitable work, at great expense to themselves (who work way too hard) and the former middle class (who doesn’t have as much to do as before).  If true, I suspect that this trend will be accelerated as AI takes over more and more tasks.  I’ve even seen it in test prep – five overworked AI gurus can replace 100 teachers who formerly worked at a leisurely pace and enjoyed a nice work/life balance.  Highly recommended.

Finally, continuing along with the Norton Library Podcast, I read a modern English translation of “The Canterbury Tales.”  Look… I don’t recommend this to my TOEFL students, but the matching podcast episode could strengthen your academic listening skills.

More recommendations next month.  Maybe even a bit more airplane time, if I’m lucky.

New TOEFL Registration System!

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A new TOEFL registration system is being rolled out. You might be able to see it now. Or you might not be able to. In any case, you can check out some screenshots which I’ve attached.

I joked a few months ago about how booking an English test sometimes feels like booking an airplane ticket. I suppose that’s no longer the case with TOEFL as the process is much more straightforward than in the past. I’m happy to see that the endless requests for personal details and demographic data have been pushed to the post-registration period, to be filled out at the test taker’s leisure. Same for the selection of score recipients. And for the search service opt-in. The hard sales pitch for prep products has mostly been eliminated as well.

I believe that pushing all of that stuff to the post-registration period will reduce user error and registrants make more informed choices about the preparation products they buy. It can be overwhelming to do all of that stuff while you are picking a test time, a test center and parting with $250.

Additional DET Security

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Here’s an interesting new Duolingo English Test thing. Some test takers are now required to use their phone as a second camera while taking the test.

After scanning a QR code on the DET desktop app, the test taker must prop their phone against an object on their desk so that the camera can capture a live image of their monitor and keyboard for the duration of the test.

This has not yet been rolled out to all test takers.

I really ought to take the test sometime next month.

TOEFL’s Potential in India

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I saw this quote from TOEFL head Omar Chihane in Education Times the other day:

“The percentage of TOEFL test takers in India increased from 5.83% in 2021 to 7.77% in 2022.”

That number is lower than expected. Going by Amit Sevak’s earlier statement that the TOEFL is taken by “almost a million” people per year, we can deduce that the test is taken about 77, 000 times in India per year. That’s a respectable number, but also a modest one.

I suppose this speaks to the potential for growth in that market and explains why ETS seems to be so all-in on India.

The astronomical growth of the PTE in recent years suggests that Indian test takers aren’t as wedded to the IELTS as once believed. If ETS can figure out how to address the issues that have plagued the TOEFL in recent years they might be able to quickly increase the test’s overall market share. That’s a big ol’ if, but hope springs eternal.

A Made in India English Test?

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I was quoted in this “Inside Higher Ed” article about lobbying to create a made-in-India English test.

As I said, “it won’t be easy.” And: “it will be very slow-going at first to convince more than a handful of schools to accept a new test. It will be even harder to get governments to accept a new test for immigration purposes.”

It isn’t quoted, but in conversation with the author of the piece, I noted that it will take years of research, development and relationship building.

But, hey… it isn’t just wishful thinking. Many new tests have successfully launched and attracted score users in the past five years.

TOEFL Test and Score Data for 2023

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TOEFL Test and Score Data for 2023 is now available. 

The overall mean score was 87 points.  That’s down from 88 points in 2022.  I’m glad that changes to the test format do not seem to have had a major impact on scores.

Here are the mean scores for each section (change vs last year):

  • Reading: 22.3 (-0.5)
  • Listening: 22.3 (-0.7)
  • Speaking: 20.8 (-0.1)
  • Writing: 21.2 (-0.5)

Among the countries I track closely…

  • The mean score in China was 86 (-4)
  • The mean score in Korea was 86 (no change)
  • The mean score in Japan was 73 (no change)
  • The mean score in Brazil was 88 (-1)
  • The mean score in India was 93 (-2)
  • The mean score in Iran was 95 (-2)
  • The mean score in the USA was 92 (-1)