TOEFL, TOEIC, and jobs « Readable Blog

Shall we discuss how to effectively challenge the tyranny of ETS standardized exams? May I strongly recommend reading this earnest critique by Clarissa, a frustrated English teacher who has taught TOEIC and TOEFL and prominent ESL blogger for many years?

TOEFL, TOEIC, and jobs « Readable Blog

As somebody who has often criticized - even ranted against - the overuse and misuse of standardized exams, consider me quite sympathetic of your analysis. It's also worth noting that no outside study has even found a correlation between TOEFL scores and actual academic performance in either university or graduate school. Although I'm less familiar with the TOEIC, it seems to share many of the perceived advantages for large institutions (test consistency, convenience, cost) and the same disadvantages (artificial context, limited scoring, weak correlation with alleged goals, excessive test preparation).
Having said all that, it seems a tad unfair to attack the TOEIC as " still not perfect or very realistic." Not perfect? Isn't that asking for far too much? No standardized test - and very few human endeavors - are "perfect." Noting the TOEIC is not "very realistic" in the next phrase only adds some irony to the critique. May I suggest it "not realistic" to expect any exam to be "perfect"?

Further, I'm not sure that we can wish away either the TOEIC or TOEFL or just advise our students to disregard the results. As an experienced TOEIC and TOEFL teacher, you have seen - first hand - the power to open doors or defer dreams that these strange standardized exams continue to hold. Scores matter. ETS holds real power. Power must be recognized.

Let us, instead, speak truth to power as your fine article does - and prepare students to develop their authentic English skills. For instance, I would recommend students both study for the TOEIC with both a traditional test prep book and the multiskill Target Score (Cambridge University) that correlates authentic newspaper articles to TOEIC vocabulary. In other words, we need to both help our students raise their scores and authentic English communication skills in the short run. TOEFL and TOEIC scores matter. We must be realistic in our counseling to students.

Of course, we also need to find ways to reduce the influence of standardized exams in both international companies and educational institutions, but that is a very daunting, difficult challenge. I would prefer, for instance, that universities supplement the TOEFL with their own language tests - especially for speaking skills. Videotaping a 10-15 minute interview, for instance, can fairly accurately assess student speaking skills and conversational abilities.

I deeply appreciate the author's profound misgivings about both the TOEFL and TOEIC. Far too few English teachers seem willing to note that the ETS emperor has far too few clothes on!

Ask more. Know more. Share more.Create Compelling Conversations.Visit www.CompellingConversations.com

Looking for Quality, Free Conversation Lessons for Your Advanced ESL or EFL Class?

Are you looking for quality, free conversation materials for your advanced English class? Do you teach ESL to adult or community college students? Or do you teach English as a Foreign language (EFL) thousands of miles from home? And do you sometimes tutor private students to improve their conversation skills?

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Enjoy these five free sample chapters including this month's feature PDF Making and Keeping Friends.

Enjoy!

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Another Five Star Review for Compelling Conversations on Amazon

Allow me to brag for a moment. Another five-star review for Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics showed up on Amazon. Consider me pleased!

Here's the entire Amazon review:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wholesome learning resource!, December 4, 2008
By Erika Villafane "Erika" (Miami, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
When compelling conversations got into my hands I couldn't help but to think: I wish I had this book when I was learning English!

As English as a second language speaker, I can really tell the difference that compelling conversations has with other ESL text books: topics richness that takes learning at a higher level.

Not only you will feel motivated to improve your language skills, but you will have a rich-provoking theme about life to discuss and share with your tutor or classmates. That in turn makes you grow personally and you certainly will remember the discussed matter here when need it to apply into a situation out of the classroom. You will appreciate American culture as well as other's point of view.

The book is very well structured into four sections totaling 45 chapters. Each one of them is organized into conversations starters followed by vocabulary, proverbs and the indispensable quotations. One that really caught my attention was the Arab proverb "he who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything"

I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn while enjoying the process.

Erika Villafane
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This makes 14 positive Amazon
reviews - all four and five stars - that various ESL teachers, writers, English language learners, and other fine folks have written. Not bad for a self-published book!

Three other bits of positive news about Compelling Conversations. A private language school in Chile made a large order, another community college in California adopted the conversation book as the course textbook, and Compelling Conversations has been added to an adult education center in Rwanda for advanced English class. Whether due to changes in the TOEFL test that require test-takers to actually speak, a strong word-of-mouth campaign, or just the belief that conversations should go beneath the surface, sales of Compelling Conversations have gone up. These successes may seem small, but they all make me smile!

Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.CompellingConversations.com