Introduction:
English proficiency is a crucial skill for individuals seeking academic and professional opportunities in an English-speaking environment. One widely recognized assessment of English language proficiency is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, commonly known as TOEFL. Developed and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), TOEFL is a standardized test that plays a pivotal role in evaluating the language abilities of non-native English speakers. This comprehensive examination assesses reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills, offering a reliable measure of a candidate’s preparedness to engage in English-medium education. As an integral part of the admissions process for many universities and institutions worldwide, TOEFL serves as a gateway for individuals aspiring to pursue their academic and professional goals in an English-centric setting. This introduction sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the TOEFL test and its significance in facilitating global communication and education.
Reading
Three to five sections, each lasting around 700 words, plus questions regarding the passages make up the reading component. The sections cover academic subjects; one may come across them in a textbook at an undergraduate institution. interpreting rhetorical devices like cause-and-effect, compare-and-contrast, and reasoning is necessary for interpreting passages. In response to inquiries, students provide specifics, inferences, key information, terminology, sentence insertion, primary ideas, and rhetorical intent. In the iBT, new question categories demand that you complete summaries or fill out tables. It is not required to have studied the topic beforehand in order to arrive at the right response.
Listening
Six three to five minute excerpts and questions on them make up the listening portion. There are four academic lectures or debates and two student chats in these texts. A lecturer or a campus service provider and a student are the two speakers in a conversation. A lecture is a stand-alone segment of an academic lecture that does not presuppose specific prior knowledge in the topic matter and may incorporate student engagement. Every discussion and lecture stimulus is only heard once. Examinees have the option to take notes while listening, and they can use those notes to help them answer questions. There are five questions for every talk and six questions for every presentation.The goal of the questions is to assess one’s comprehension of the key concepts, significant details, consequences, connections between ideas, information arrangement, speaker purpose, and speaker attitude.
Speaking
There are six tasks in the Speaking section: two separate tasks and four combined activities. Test takers respond to opinion questions on well-known subjects in the two independent assignments. They are judged on their ability to communicate concepts effectively and logically when speaking on the spur of the moment. In two integrated assignments, students read a brief piece, listen to a lecture in an academic course or a discussion about campus life, and then combine pertinent details from the text and the talk to answer a question. In the last two integrated activities, examinees listen to a lecture from an academic course or an interview on life on campus, after which they answer a question regarding what they heard.As they read and listen, test takers are allowed to take notes, which they can use to help them prepare for their answers. Before they have to start speaking, test participants are given a brief preparation period.
Writing
The writing portion of the exam consists of two tasks: an integrated task and an independent assignment that gauge a test-taker’s proficiency in writing in an academic context. Examinees read a piece on an academic subject and then listen to a speaker explain the same subject in the integrated activity. After then, the test-taker will write a summary of the listening passage’s major ideas and explain how they link to the reading passage’s main ideas. In the independent assignment, instead of just stating their personal preferences or choices, test-takers must produce an essay that articulates, explains, and provides evidence for their beliefs on a given topic.
Below is the breakup of the sections.
READING 3 – 5 passages, each containing 12 – 14 questions 60 – 100 minutes
LISTENING 6 – 9 passages, each containing 5 – 6 questions 60 – 90 minutes
BREAK – 10 minutes
SPEAKING 6 tasks and 6 questions 20 minutes
WRITING 2 tasks and 2 questions 55 minutes
Extra, uncounted content will be included in one of the exam parts. Extra content is included by Educational Testing Service so that exam questions for next forms can be piloted. Test-takers should give every question their best effort when given a lengthier section since they are unsure of which questions will be counted toward their total and which will be deemed extra. For instance, three of the reading passages will count and one will not if there are four reading passages instead of three. The uncounted section might be any one of the four.
Test on Paper
A paper-based exam (PBT) is administered in places when the internet-based test is unavailable. Test takers are required to register in advance, either through the Supplemental Paper TOEFL Bulletin’s registration form or online. The test centers have limited seats and may fill up early, so they should register ahead of time to guarantee a spot. Six times a year, on specific days, tests are given.
Every exam segment may be taken on the same day, and the test lasts for three hours. The exam may be taken as often as the student chooses. Colleges and institutions, however, often only take the most recent score into account.
Listening (30 – 40 minutes)
The Listening section consists of 3 parts. The first one contains 30 questions about short conversations. The second part has 8 questions about longer conversations. The last part asks 12 questions about lectures or talks.
Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes)
The Structure and Written Expression section has 15 exercises of completing sentences correctly and 25 exercises of identifying errors.
Reading Comprehension (55 minutes)
The Reading Comprehension section has 50 questions about reading passages.
Writing (30 minutes)
The Writing section is one essay with 250 – 300 words in average.
The Scoring Scale
The TOEFL exam implements both automated and human-based raters to determine your final score. Human beings rate writing and speaking sections while computers do the other parts. Here is the actual example of the grading rubric system with scores:
Reading:
- High: 22-30
- Intermediate: 15-21
- Low: 0-14
Listening:
- High: 22-30
- Intermediate: 15-21
- Low: 0-14
Speaking:
- Good: 26-30
- Fair: 18-25
- Limited: 10-17
- Weak: 0-9
Writing:
- Good: 24-30
- Fair: 17-23
- Limited: 1-16