The cost of taking the TOEFL was adjusted in some countries this week. As was announced earlier, test takers in Japan now pay $195 to take the test (a $50 decrease). Meanwhile, their neighbors in nearby Korea must now pay $228 (an $8 increase). The price hike in Korea is the only increase I’ve been able to spot so far.
Prices have been adjusted downward in some (but not all) EU countries so that changes related to VAT collection no longer make the TOEFL wildly more expensive than other tests. I complained quite a lot about that when ETS first started collecting VAT in Europe some months ago, so I am happy to see this course correction.
While I was traveling around at the beginning of the month, I read another issue of the London Review of Books. I can’t remember which issue, ’cause I threw it away when I finished with it. But a couple of fun articles stood out:
“Even the Eyelashes” is about the role of mummies in Inca society. It’s a shorter than usual LRB article, which probably makes it better as a study resource. This topic could make a fun TOEFL reading passage.
“When Paris Sneezed” explores the reasons why people were so pissed off in Paris between 1748 and 1789.
Meanwhile, continuing my journey through the Norton Library Podcast, I read Charles Chesnutt’s “The Marrow of Tradition.” Chesnutt’s book is a work of fiction set before and during the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. I strongly recommend this book; for a 127 year-old novel, it is surprisingly accessible. For some listening practice, you can check out the two-part podcast episode starting here.
For a little more listening practice, you might enjoy this Paul Wells podcast from a few days ago about the topic of book burning – mostly in Canada, but also elsewhere. It also touches on the value of reading “the classics,” which matches one of the ongoing themes of this column.
Surprisingly,Pearson Languages is now selling an updated 4th edition of the “Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL iBT Test.” This is the first update in 11 years. I did not expect to see an update to this old book out of the blue.
As far as I can tell, the new edition is only available as a 12-month ebook subscription direct from the Pearson site. There is an Amazon listing for a physical paperback, but I don’t believe such a publication actually exists right now.
While browsing the “recent acquisitions” shelf at the Doksan Public Library I spotted this newish DET prep book (just beside a handsome new Korean edition of Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons”). Given Doksan’s demographic makeup, we don’t get a lot of new test prep books, so finding it was a pleasant surprise.
A few months ago I wrote about how people working in test prep need to keep their eyes open in order to stay current. Sometimes, I guess, that means visiting their local library. Too many times have I heard people in test prep say things like “everyone stopped accepting the DET after the pandemic” or even “the DET isn’t very popular nowadays.”
Sometimes these statements are a sort of defense mechanism for individuals who have a livelihood tied up in the old testing duopoly. But most of the time they are just rooted in ignorance of what is going on in the world of English testing.
It’s the last day of 2024! How about that? We made it!
So I read the September/October 2024 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact . I know that I should probably stop bringing up this magazine here because the stories aren’t available for free, but I am what I am. I must mention Adam-Troy Castro‘s “Minnie and Earl Have a Kitten.” This is the fourth (and final?) “Minnie and Earl” story to appear in the magazine. The first appeared in, I guess, the late 1990s. If you want to experience a warm hug of a science fiction series, you can find an ebook of the first three stories on Amazon or on Hoopla. They concern a friendly old couple who are discovered, by early Earth astronauts, to be living on the moon. How they got there isn’t immediately clear.
I also read the November 30, 2023 issue of the London Review of Books. A few stories captured my attention:
Searching for the Bee, about a very old book called The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation, which was apparently one of the most widely read books of the 13th century. I won’t try to describe the peculiar contents of the book here. Check out the article if you want to learn more.
A National Evil, which is about how everyone in Switzerland used to have big goiters. The history this article tells is so strange. Apparently for many decades Switzerland was known as a place of goiters, deafness and developmentally disabled children. Apparently this was all due to a lack of iodine in the diets of people there. Tourists would travel to the country just to see the goiters. I’m pretty sure this is the second article I’ve linked to on this topic since I began this column.
Finally, I read Nicholas Lemann’s new book “Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline and Return of Standardized Testing.” This slim volume is something of a followup to Lemann’s brilliant “The Big Test,” published about 25 years ago. It tells the story of (mostly) the SAT – how it came to become dominant, the impact it has had on American education, and why many schools have recently abandoned it. I actually penned a few words about the book a few days ago. Do check out that post.
That’s all for now! I will spend most of next month traveling, but I should find time for at least a short list of recommendations.
I heard fromThe Princeton Review that they will not publish a new edition of their TOEFL prep book in 2025. But they might publish again in 2026. That’s sort of sad, as they have published a new edition every year for as long as I can remember, if only to change the cover and fix the typos I send in.
There probably won’t be a new book from Barron’s (now part ofKaplan), but that’s normal as they don’t update every year. Note that in recent years the Barron’s TOEFL line has been winnowed to just one main title (plus an electronic-only vocab guide).
Interestingly,Collins International updated their TOEFL line earlier this year to match the 2-hour version of the test, but I missed it since the books didn’t immediately show up in the tracking system I use. I probably won’t order these ones as Collins divides their content across four separate books which makes them a pricey buy. I’ll hunt around for them at a library next time I’m in Canada, though.
Those are the only global publishers still in the TOEFL game, aside from the official stuff from McGraw-Hill. Printed TOEFL prep has become a dicey proposition in recent years. Sales are down and it is increasingly hard to stand out on Amazon, where search results are often cluttered with AI slop (and worse). On the flip side, people in some foreign markets (especially in East Asia) have access to pretty good books from local publishers, so perhaps there is less of a need for books from US and UK based publishers.
Overall, though, the decline of TOEFL books from major international publishers is unfortunate. I think there is still a place for this sort of prep material. For students who have access to a public or academic library, printed materials from trustworthy publishers are an incredibly affordable and accessible option. Speaking of which, if you’ve read this far perhaps you’d consider filling out the “suggest a purchase” form at your own local library to encourage the addition of some good prep books to their collection.
Continuing along with the Norton Library Podcast, this month I read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” You can check out the podcast episodes starting here.
One unique feature of this classic horror novel is that it is an epistolary novel. That refers to how the book is presented as a collection of letters, diary entries, phonograph transcripts, newspaper articles and telegrams written by characters in the novel. While the topic of vampires has likely never appeared on the TOEFL, I am quite certain that at some point there has been an article or lecture about this kind of writing. So instead of reaching for Dracula, perhaps take a moment to sharpen your reading skills by exploring the wikipedia article on this topic.
Next, I read the 16 November 2023 issue of the London Review of Books. Yeah… I have another pile of unread magazines. Fortunately, this is one of my favorite publications and I look forward to working through all of the old issues on my shelf. A few stories stood out in this issue:
“Kettle of Vultures” is a quick look at the history of interest. The charging of it, the collecting of it, the religious implications of it, and more.
“Red Flag, Green Light” is the story of famous fraudster John Ackah Blay-Miezah. He may have invented the famous “Nigerian Prince” scam.
“I Thought You Were Incredible” is a fun read for film fans. It’s a quick overview of the life of Elizabeth Taylor, with special consideration paid to her relationship with Montgomery Clift.
I’m very happy that I can mark the 50th monthly installment in this column with a few words about Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “English.” As I’ve mentioned a few times in this space, this play is set entirely in a TOEFL classroom in Iran. It is a very sparse play, but is a touching exploration of what it means to learn a language and to be able to (or not able to) express ourselves when we desire to do so. It is also quite funny at times. Highly recommended!
This month, while flying home from India, I plowed through the final four “New Yorker” magazines in my collection. A few articles stood out.
First up, in the April 24 & May 1 2023 issue I read “How Much Can Duolingo Teach Us?” Of course this one is worth mentioning here! The article briefly mentions the Duolingo English Test and the TOEFL Test!
Finally, in the May 29, 203 issue I read “Two Weeks at the Front in Ukraine.” I don’t usually include reporting from the war in this column. I liked this article, though, as this sort of embedded reporting that tells personal stories seems the best we can do in an era where accurate “big picture” reporting seems impossible to find.
I just found some photos I took while I was in Pittsburgh this past June. While in the city, I visited the world famous Carnegie Library to read up on Chomsky, in hopes of better understanding the TOEFL writing and speaking rubrics.
Sadly, I left the library as perplexed as when I arrived. It turns out that Chomsky is very difficult. Who knew?
I kid. But really: if a test maker creates a scoring rubric and refers test takers to it when they seek guidance on the test, the rubric should contain language that is easily grasped. Telling test takers that their responses should include “a variety of syntactic structures” doesn’t really help them.
Note the presence of Dippy the Dinosaur in the background of the first photo. Study alcoves in the library stacks offer a nice view of the natural history wing of the Carnegie Museum. Local children write letters to the dinosaurs and tape them to the windows.
Below are photos of the endcap displays of TOEFL and IELTS books at the big Kyobo Books location near Seoul City Hall. Even more books of both types are found on the store’s shelves. Eagle-eyed readers will spot a mixture of both official and third party publications.
When trying to account for why certain tests are popular in the East Asian market, it is really important to pay attention to the amount of prep materials on the market, especially (but not only) collections of practice tests.
To some extent, here in Korea TOEFL and IELTS have avoided the headwinds they face in other markets because there is such a healthy ecosystem of prep materials available. The PTE is doing okay here, but it isn’t challenging IELTS to the same extent that it is in India. Likewise, while the DET has a lot of fans here, it hasn’t supplanted the TOEFL as a test for America-bound students like it has in Europe.
People here want to take tests that they can prepare for on their own. Young people in Korea spend a lot of time studying for tests, and are pretty good at breaking them down to their component parts and mastering them bit by bit. But that can only be done when they have access to a ton of super accurate study materials. Reputable third party publishers here are trusted to produce practice tests that are 99% similar to the real thing. That’s one reason why some people here are sticking with the legacy tests.
In markets with less of this sort of stuff, there is less reason to stick with the legacy tests.
In part this explains the high volumes (in Korea) of somewhat older English tests like the G-TELP, TOEIC and OPIc, all of which remain extremely popular in the region. Surprisingly so.
Test makers should keep this in mind. They should also remember that the legacy tests can count on third party publishers to crank out a steady stream of materials on their own, but upstarts might have to shoulder some of the burden themselves.
(For the record, I didn’t spot any PTE books and I’m not sure any are available from Korea publishers at all. I didn’t spot any DET books either, though the influential “Siwon School” company does have a line on the market.)
The Chinese market deserves a post all of its own. So… I think I’ll save my thoughts on that one for a later date.
I saw thatNicholas Lemann has written a new book on standardized testing called “Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing.” I’m looking forward to reading it, as Lemann’s “The Big Test” (published 25 years ago) is one of my favorite works on the topic. It was also the inaugural selection for my standardized testing book club, which is almost a real thing.
A quick mid-month column this month since I am off to India tomorrow morning and won’t have time to write between now and the end of the month (though I will have plenty of time to read magazines, as it is a long flight).
Next, I read a couple issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. The best story I encountered was “The Last Days of Good People” by A.T. Sayre. It tells the story of a research team sent to a distant plant to study a pre-industrial civilization being impacted by a deadly pandemic. If you can I’ve been reading Analog for quite a few years now, and this is one of the best things they’ve published in recent memory. You ought to read it if you can figure out how to get a copy of the July/August 2024 issue. A free PDF version might be available during awards season. If that’s the case, I’ll post a link in a future column.
I read Catherine Liu’s “Virtue Hoarders.” One day I must compile all books of this type into the the “Test Resources Left Book Club.”
Lastly, I read the April 11, 2022 (!) issue of The New Yorker. It included a lovely profile of the actress Natasha Lyonne, to coincide with the broadcast of the second season of “Russian Doll.” That’s one of my favorite TV shows of the past five years or so. Check it out if you haven’t already. It’s on Netflix.
