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Information about the TOEFL Test
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a widely accepted means of proving English-language competence for undergraduate or graduate study at universities in the English-speaking world. First offered in 1964, the TOEFL is now accepted by over 9,000 universities in more than 130 countries. The TOEFL is administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), whose mission is to "advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research, and related services." Established in 1947, ETS has been described as "the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization." For an introduction to and overview of the TOEFL, please have a look at the following test:
- TOEFL Paper-Based Test
TOEFL PBT General Information and Policies
The TOEFL paper-based test (PBT) is currently taken by a very small percentage of students, in locations where internet testing is impractical (Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, and Libya are examples of countries where some test centers offer the PBT). Students may register for the PBT by phone, email, or online. Standard test security and academic honesty measures (such as the prohibition on bringing personal items into the test center) apply to the PBT, and accommodations may be provided for test-takers with disabilities. Available testing dates are far less frequent than those for the internet-based test (iBT), and the PBT is generally administered no more than once per month at any individual center. Test-takers receive PBT scores by mail, approximately five weeks after the test date. Educational Testing Service (ETS) ultimately plans to discontinue the PBT, and it remains available for the sole purpose of ensuring access to the TOEFL for all students. The ETS website publishes materials that help test-takers prepare for the PBT, including sample questions, strategies, and tips. The fee for the TOEFL PBT is $170. Students taking the PBT must complete all four sections in order to receive an official score (taking PBT sections individually is not allowed).
Timing, Sections, and Scoring of the TOEFL PBT
The TOEFL PBT takes two hours and 20-30 minutes to complete. The PBT's four sections (discussed in greater detail below) are Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, Reading Comprehension, and the separate Test of Written English (TWE). Total PBT scores are given from 310-677 and do not include the TWE. Listening Comprehension and Structure and Written Expression are each scored from 31-68 and Reading Comprehension scores are given between 31 and 67. ETS calculates the total PBT score by converting raw scores (number of correct answers) into scaled scores for each of these three sections, adding them together, multiplying the sum by 10, and dividing the product by 3. TWE scores are reported from 1 to 6 in half-point increments.
TOEFL PBT Listening Comprehension
PBT Listening Comprehension exercises are based on audio recordings of short or long conversations and lecture excerpts. This section of the PBT is structured in three parts: A (short conversations), B (longer conversations), and C (talks). Each part has its own set of unique instructions, and students are not allowed to take notes. In each part, test-takers answer multiple-choice questions that ask about issues such as main points, included facts, vocabulary, and expressions idiomatic to the English language. Each question has four answer choices, which is true of all sections of the TOEFL PBT except for the TWE. PBT Listening Comprehension consists of 50 questions to be completed in 30-40 minutes (broken up into 30 questions in part A, 8 questions in part B, and 12 questions in part C).
TOEFL PBT Test of Written English (TWE)
On the TWE, students must write a single essay on a given topic, for which they are given 30 minutes. Essays are written by hand in the provided test booklet. Successful completion of the TWE is dependent on demonstrating the ability to organize and express ideas, provide evidence to support assertions, and follow conventions of written English. Essay topics may cover a variety of subjects, and the essay usually involves staking out a position on some debatable issue.
TOEFL PBT Structure and Written Expression
PBT Structure and Written Expression includes two sections. Structure questions require students to select multiple-choice answers that accurately complete sentences with given words or phrases. In Written Expression exercises, students are asked to choose the incorrect word or phrase in a sentence from the underlined options. The Structure and Written Expression portion of the TOEFL PBT is intended to assess students' command of grammar and standard written English. PBT Structure and Written Expression is 25 minutes in length, in which students must complete 40 questions (15 Structure questions and 25 Written Expression questions).
PBT Structure and Written Expression includes two sections. Structure questions require students to select multiple-choice answers that accurately complete sentences with given words or phrases. In Written Expression exercises, students are asked to choose the incorrect word or phrase in a sentence from the underlined options. The Structure and Written Expression portion of the TOEFL PBT is intended to assess students' command of grammar and standard written English. PBT Structure and Written Expression is 25 minutes in length, in which students must complete 40 questions (15 Structure questions and 25 Written Expression questions).
TOEFL PBT Reading Comprehension
PBT Reading Comprehension features a series of multiple-choice questions on brief reading passages that are each approximately 10-35 lines of text. Reading passage subject matter is intended to reflect topics that are likely to be included in college courses. Among the important skills for PBT Reading Comprehension are understanding of main ideas, using context to infer meaning, and comprehension of factual information. On the Reading Comprehension portion of the TOEFL PBT, students must answer 50 questions in 55 minutes. The number of questions associated with each reading excerpt depends on the length of the passage and can range from 6-12 questions for each. PBT Reading Comprehension features a series of multiple-choice questions on brief reading passages that are each approximately 10-35 lines of text. Reading passage subject matter is intended to reflect topics that are likely to be included in college courses. Among the important skills for PBT Reading Comprehension are understanding of main ideas, using context to infer meaning, and comprehension of factual information. On the Reading Comprehension portion of the TOEFL PBT, students must answer 50 questions in 55 minutes. The number of questions associated with each reading excerpt depends on the length of the passage and can range from 6-12 questions for each.
PBT Reading Comprehension features a series of multiple-choice questions on brief reading passages that are each approximately 10-35 lines of text. Reading passage subject matter is intended to reflect topics that are likely to be included in college courses. Among the important skills for PBT Reading Comprehension are understanding of main ideas, using context to infer meaning, and comprehension of factual information. On the Reading Comprehension portion of the TOEFL PBT, students must answer 50 questions in 55 minutes. The number of questions associated with each reading excerpt depends on the length of the passage and can range from 6-12 questions for each. PBT Reading Comprehension features a series of multiple-choice questions on brief reading passages that are each approximately 10-35 lines of text. Reading passage subject matter is intended to reflect topics that are likely to be included in college courses. Among the important skills for PBT Reading Comprehension are understanding of main ideas, using context to infer meaning, and comprehension of factual information. On the Reading Comprehension portion of the TOEFL PBT, students must answer 50 questions in 55 minutes. The number of questions associated with each reading excerpt depends on the length of the passage and can range from 6-12 questions for each.
- TOEFL Internet-Based Test (iBT)
TOEFL iBT Skills
The TOEFL iBT evaluates English-language abilities in four areas: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each of these competencies is represented by an individual section of the exam, and the exercises included in these sections duplicate situations commonly encountered in postsecondary coursework and everyday university life. Test-takers must be able to answer questions based on reading excerpts from college textbooks and spoken lectures, articulate their own opinions and analysis in written and spoken form, and demonstrate their general ability to interact with others at universities in which the primary language is English. The TOEFL is deliberately designed to assess communication skills rather than mere knowledge of the English language, and it is therefore difficult for students to receive high scores without functional capabilities in all TOEFL areas.
Taking the TOEFL iBT
Students take the TOEFL iBT entirely on computers at official test centers. The reading section includes text passages and answer choices in split-screen format, while the listening section features audio recordings of lectures and conversations. Responses for the writing section are entered into the computer, and students are provided with a microphone headset to record their answers to speaking section exercises. Unlike many electronic standardized tests, the TOEFL iBT is not computer-adaptive (the difficulty level of questions is not affected by previous answers). Note-taking is allowed on all sections of the test, but for test security reasons, ETS mandates the collection and destruction of all notes at the conclusion of the exam. Total testing-time is 200-250 minutes, depending on the number of experimental questions included in the reading and listening sections (students will not know which questions are experimental) and the number of passages in the reading section. Test-takers can access their score reports online, or they may receive hard copies of their reports by mail.
TOEFL iBT Scoring and Assessment
Each section of the TOEFL iBT is scored from 0 to 30 in one-point increments. Score reports include classification of each section's score range. Reading skills are considered "high" if the reading sub-score is between 22 and 30; reading scores of 15-21 and 0-14 are classified as "intermediate" and "low" respectively. The same three categories apply to listening skills, with a slightly different scale (22-30=high, 14-21=intermediate, and 0-13=low). Writing skills are either "good" (writing sub-score of 24-30), "fair" (17-23), or "limited" (1-16). Speaking sub-scores can be "good" (26-30), "fair" (18-25), "limited" (10-17), or "weak" (0-9). The TOEFL total score is calculated by adding all four sectional scores (0-120), which has also been classified by score range as follows: 118-120=expert, 110-117=very good, 94-109=good, 60-93=competent, 35-59=modest, 32-34=limited, and 0-31=extremely limited. The writing and speaking responses are assessed by human graders, and score reports include descriptions of the appropriate scoring ranges on these sections.
TOEFL iBT Development
The TOEFL iBT was first administered in September of 2005 as a replacement for the computer-based test (CBT), which was introduced in 1998 and discontinued in 2006. ETS asserts that the TOEFL iBT "emphasizes integrated skills and provides better information to institutions about students' ability to communicate in an academic setting and their readiness for academic coursework." In the view of ETS, this makes the TOEFL iBT a better assessment than other English-language tests. Development of the iBT began in 1996 with a team of ETS staff members and external experts in subjects such as applied linguistics, test development, and psychometrics. The team produced frameworks for each of the four sections that would be included on the iBT (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), including proposed exercises for the assessment of these four areas as well as agendas for further inquiry. Final test specifications were designed to ensure comparability of test questions across tasks. The TOEFL iBT development process is extensively documented by a series of ETS monographs and a book published externally.
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Information on the Format of the TOEFL
Structure of the TOEFL
First offered in 1964, the TOEFL has now been taken by over 27 million international applicants to universities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries. Nearly all students currently take the TOEFL online, and this version is known as the internet-based test, or iBT. The paper based TOEFL (PBT) is being phased out and is only offered in countries where internet testing is unavailable. The administration of the iBT begins with a 60–80-minute reading section, followed by a 60–90-minute listening section. Test-takers are then offered a 10-minute break. The TOEFL iBT concludes with a 20-minute speaking section and a 50-minute writing section. Total testing time can range from three hours and 20 minutes to four hours and 10 minutes (the exact timing is determined by the number of passages in the reading section and by the number of experimental questions, which are unscored). Students taking the iBT receive a total score of 0-120, which consists of the four sectional scores, each of which is reported from 0 to 30.
TOEFL iBT Reading Section
The reading portion of the TOEFL assesses three core skills: reading to find information, basic reading comprehension, and reading to learn. The reading section includes 3-4 reading passages that are each approximately 700 words in length. These passages are taken from college textbooks in a several subjects, and they are either expository, argumentative, or historical in nature. Test-takers will see three distinct question formats, all of which involve multiple-choice answers. Reading section question formats include traditional multiple choice with a single correct answer, exercises that ask test-takers to choose the most appropriate point to insert a given sentence into reading passages, and multiple choice with more than one correct answer. The TOEFL reading section is graded electronically.
TOEFL iBT Listening Section
The TOEFL listening section emphasizes listening for basic comprehension, listening for pragmatic understanding, and correcting and synthesizing information. Listening exercises include 4-6 academic lecture excerpts (each 3–5 minutes in length) and 2-3 conversations (approximately 3 minutes each). Academic lectures can be either professor-only or classroom discussion. Conversations are based on typical out-of-class interactions with faculty and staff. TOEFL listening questions are given in four formats: multiple choice with one correct answer, multiple choice with more than one correct answer, ordering of events or steps in a process, and matching text or objects to categories in a chart. Test-takers must be able to understand tone of voice and other verbal cues in order to successfully complete the TOEFL listening section. Grading for the TOEFL listening section is completed by computer.
TOEFL iBT Speaking Section
The TOEFL speaking section measures test-takers' competence with spoken English in classroom and non-classroom academic settings. This section is intended to ensure that students can answer questions, contribute to classroom discussions, summarize lectures and reading assignments, express their own views, and function in situations commonly encountered in university life. Students must complete six tasks in spoken form, with responses preserved via audio recording. The first two are independent tasks, in which test-takers answer question prompts with their own opinions and ideas. The other four are integrated tasks, characterized by synthesis of reading, listening, and speaking. TOEFL speaking exercises are evaluated by 3-6 human graders. Assessment criteria include clarity of delivery, effectiveness of language use, and coherence of topic development.
TOEFL iBT Writing Section
The TOEFL writing section consists of an integrated writing task and an independent writing task. The former task requires reading, listening, and writing skills, and students must compose a written response to a reading passage and a spoken lecture excerpt on the same topic, for which they are given 20 minutes. On the latter exercise, students write an essay that expresses and supports their own opinion of an issue raised by the essay prompt. Typical independent essay questions ask test-takers to choose between two sides of an argument or discuss why they agree or disagree with a given statement. The suggested length of the independent essay is at least 300 words, and the time allotment is 30 minutes. TOEFL writing exercises are also assessed by human graders, who consider the quality of writing in terms of organization, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, accuracy, and development.
TOEFL PBT Format
The TOEFL PBT includes a Listening Comprehension section of 50 questions (for which test-takers are given 30-40 minutes), a Structure and Written Expression section that includes 40 questions (25 minutes), a Reading Comprehension section with 50 questions (55 minutes) and Writing section with one topic to complete (30 minutes).