There was some weirdness coming out of ETS earlier this month. ETS Japan (a subsidiary of ETS) put out an “alert” about the TOEFL Home Edition on Twitter and its website. I mentioned that on LinkedIn and how I found it puzzling. The alert was quickly removed.
If you are curious, here is what puzzled me about the alert:
- It recommended system requirements quite higher than those on the ETS website and suggested that interruptions could occur if they are not met.
- It recommended things for test-takers to avoid during the test that are not mentioned on the ETS website (though some are buried in the TOEFL Bulletin).
- It mentioned that since 2022 testing has become more stringent due to cheating in some countries, and therefore some test-takers may not even realize they have broken a rule.
- It recommended that people taking the TOEFL iBT for the first time opt to take it at a test center.
Now, that’s all very good stuff. Indeed, it is similar to what I tell test-takers who ask for my opinion. That said, the last part isn’t the most ringing endorsement of the product. Nor is the third part, I suppose.
There was also stuff in there about test-takers only getting help from ETS Japan if unable to resolve a problem via the US office of ETS. One senses that the announcement came as a result of a certain number of complaints from local test-takers. Perhaps it came from a feeling of frustration.
I’ve written many times about how at-home test takers have been experiencing high levels of frustration. I’ve also expressed my feeling that testing companies are not doing all they can do (and should do) for their customers. If you are new to a testing company and have been tasked with figuring out why your test’s market share is way below 2019… well… this is a big part of it. This isn’t a dig at ETS, as I think it is a problem with all testing companies, to some extent.
But we are on the topic of ETS, for the moment. One of the traditional criticisms of that organization (see: David Lewis, “None of the Above”) is that entrenched as they are on 400 acres of bucolic New Jersey countryside, they don’t always have a clear picture of how test-takers in the outside world are experiencing their products. And sometimes I get the impression that there is insufficient communication between various departments and offices of the organization (hence a quickly deleted “alert” about their most popular test).
Anyway. The point of all this is to suggest that perhaps some of the people in the TOEFL program who don’t usually deal with complaints from test-takers could call up the folks in Japan and ask what prompted the alert to be posted. And, moreover, discuss what the head office can do better moving forward.