Category: Trinity

Thoughts from PIE Live Europe 26

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

I made it home from London! I had a lovely time at I do recommend the PIE events to anyone seeking to expand their knowledge of the international education sector and to connect with some fairly interesting folks. And if you are just interested in tests? Good lord, do the test companies have a presence. There will be an event in Australia in July… or you can wait ‘till April of ’27 for the next London gathering.

A few stray thoughts:

  1. I gave a talk about testing in 2026, and I think it went pretty well. There was a big crowd, I said everything I wanted to say, and got a decent amount of participation from the audience. I signed up for this in part to get out of my comfort zone, so I’m happy to have done a good job. Regular readers might argue that talking about English tests is precisely my comfort zone, but you know what I mean…
  2. I can’t mention all the excellent presentations, but I will highlight “Kathmandu or Kathmandon’t? Is Nepal a viable recruitment market?” That’s a market I should know more about. I’m always happy to learn about the scene in specific countries. There were a few interesting comments and questions about proof of language proficiency.
  3. Walking around and around the exhibition space I was able to chat with kind folks from just about every testing company.  And a handful of off-site meetings took me all over London (and beyond). I learned an incredible amount about these assessments, and collected enough literature to keep me learning for some time to come.
  4. I learned a bunch about the new ISE Digital Test from Trinity College London (a blind spot because of its newness), about the new PTE Express, about the new TOEFL… about all the tests.
  5. Notwithstanding recent changes to the TOEFL, I’m starting to get the impression that integrated questions are on the rise.
  6. I went to Oxford to gain a bit of knowledge about the Oxford Test of English. That’s been a real blind spot for me since it is only taken on-site and they don’t have any test centers in Korea. And, as a somewhat new-ish member of the “long tail” of upstart tests, it hasn’t been covered in the press as much as other products. But it is backed by an impressive depth of talent that few testing companies could ever hope to match. That may set it apart from the pack. We should all keep an eye on it.
  7. Oxford is a pretty town. The realization that I would not be able to remain there for the remainder of my days filled me with some wistfulness.
  8. I actually recommended a couple of test centers in Korea that the Oxford test might make use of. But a later meeting with some folks who are actually in that business showed me that there is a lot more to the industry than I am aware of.
  9. If you go to the British Library you can peer at the handwritten manuscript for Mrs. Dalloway. How about that?

 

Writing Research from Trinity

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

Some really great research this month from Alina Reid in support of the new ISE Digital Test from Trinity College London.  The research examines how the test’s new integrated reading/writing task connects to real-life academic writing.

This is important in a world where testing companies are quick to claim that their tests are “fit for purpose” without really supporting that claim.  Indeed, the author references studies which seem to question the validity of both the IELTS and TOEFL independent writing tasks.

In the case of Trinity’s test, 64% of surveyed EAP instructors agreed that the task in question resembled the assignments they give in their classes.  Which is good, but not great.  A greater share – 86% of respondents – agreed that the task engages similar skills and strategies that are used in their classes.  That’s a bit better.

Said one respondent:

“…if students are able to write reasonably well [at] this level, they could be equipped with many of the skills and strategies required to write lengthier assignments. You will have concrete evidence as a teacher of the capability of the student in terms of understanding texts, choosing relevant information from sources, synthesizing, and paraphrasing by answering a question like this.”

But another:

“This task does not reflect the real needs of university students. University students need to engage with extensive reading and evaluate the suitability of texts. They would never have to write something so short in forty minutes. Instead, they would have weeks to work on a more extensive research task which would result in a longer piece of academic writing. Shorter texts are more simple to organize and may not emphasize the importance of coherence.”

Personally, my perspective is similar to the latter comment. Tests can be great measures of one’s ability to use the English language. But I’m wary of claims that any two or three hour test can indicate the ability of a student to do meaningful academic work. Especially when a test maker just asks us to take their word for it.