Friday, 6 March 2015

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers wishing to enroll in U.S. universities. The test is accepted by many English-speaking academic and professional institutions. TOEFL is one of the two major English-language tests in the world, the other being the IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

TOEFL is a trademark of ETS (Educational Testing Service), a private non-profit organization, which designs and administers the tests. There are two formats for the TOEFL test. The format you take depends on the location of  test center. Most test takers take the TOEFL Internet Based Test (iBT). Test centers that do not have Internet access offer the Paper-based Test (PBT).

1.      Internet Based Test (iBT)

The TOEFL iBT test is given in English and administered via the Internet. There are four sections (reading, listening, speaking and writing) which take a total of about four and a half hours to complete.

TOEFL iBT Test Sections

Section
Time Limit
Questions
Tasks
Reading*
60–80 minutes
36–56 questions
Read 3 or 4 passages from academic texts and answer questions.
Listening
60–90 minutes
34–51 questions
Listen to lectures, classroom discussions and conversations, then answer questions.
Break
10 minutes
Speaking
20 minutes
6 tasks
Express an opinion on a familiar topic; speak based on reading and listening tasks.
Writing
50 minutes
2 tasks
Write essay responses based on reading and listening tasks; support an opinion in writing.

a.       Reading Section

The Reading section consists of questions on 4–6 passages, each approximately 700 words in length. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook. Passages require understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the TOEFL iBT test require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.

b.      Listening Section

The Listening section consists of questions on six passages, each 3–5 minutes in length. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. The conversations involve a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. The lectures are a self-contained portion of an academic lecture, which may involve student participation and does not assume specialized background knowledge in the subject area. Each conversation and lecture passage is heard only once. Test-takers may take notes while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the questions. Each conversation is associated with five questions and each lecture with six. The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.

c.       Speaking Section

The Speaking section consists of six tasks: two independent and four integrated. In the two independent tasks, test-takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics. They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their ideas clearly and coherently. In two of the integrated tasks, test-takers read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk. In the two remaining integrated tasks, test-takers listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond to a question about what they heard. In the integrated tasks, test-takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material. Test-takers may take notes as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses. Test-takers are given a short preparation time before they have to begin speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online Scoring Network (OSN), and evaluated by three to six raters.

d.      Writing Section

The Writing section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated and one independent. In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss it. The test-taker then writes a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explains how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, the test-taker must write an essay that states their opinion or choice, and then explain it, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS OSN and evaluated by at least 3 different raters.

2.      Paper Based Test (PBT)

The TOEFL paper-based Test (PBT) is available in limited areas. Scores are valid for two years after the test date, and test takers can have their scores sent to institutions or agencies during that time.

a.       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.

b.      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.

c.       Reading Comprehension (55 minutes) 

The Reading Comprehension sections has 50 questions about reading passages.

d.      Writing (30 minutes) 

The TOEFL PBT administrations include a writing test called the Test of Written English (TWE). This is one essay question with 250–300 words in average.

 


Nama         : Pika Rustia
Kelas         : 3EB09
NPM         : 25212671           

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