Tomorrow (June 4) I’ll host an “office hours” chat on Zoom to talk about the upcoming changes to the TOEFL. Just like we had when the Test was revised in 2023! If you want to hang out with some people in the test prep space this is for you! There have been 128 registrations so far. If memory serves, about 25% of registrants show up for these sorts of things, so there should be enough people for a fun conversation. You can sign up over here.
Just note that this isn’t a webinar or a presentation or anything like that. It’s just an opportunity to chat about what’s going on in testing (particularly the “transformed” TOEFL iBT). A few topics come to mind:
- What does it mean when a test is “adaptive” and how might this be added to a test which has not been adaptive for the past two decades?
- Might the speaking and writing sections of the TOEFL be adjusted? The verbiage used to describe the changes suggests that they will not change, but the announcement isn’t exactly clear in this regard.
- What about Australia? The last time the TOEFL was revised, the Home Office paused acceptance of the test for several months.
- Speaking of changes, this is the third major revision of the TOEFL iBT since 2019 (the fourth if you count TOEFL Essentials). All of the changes have been attempts to increase its competitiveness in a challenging marketplace. Will this be the one that does the trick?
I’m also interested in hearing about what sorts of materials people in the prep space are currently using, and how they might respond to a bigger than expected change to test content.
Anyway. All are welcome – whether you are in the test prep space, student recruitment or work for a testing company. I’ll even upgrade my Zoom plan just in case more people than expected show up.