TOEFL

TOEFL is called the Test of English as a Foreign Language(pronounced"toe-full") .

TOEFL evaluates the ability of an individual to use and understand English in an academic setting. It sometimes is an admission requirement for non-native English speakers at many English-speaking colleges and universities.

Additionally, institutions such as government agencies, licensing bodies,businesses,or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then will no longer be officially reported since a candidate's language proficiency could have significantly changed since the date of the test. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent TOEFL score.

The TOEFL test is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service(ETS) and is administered worldwide. The test was first administered in 1964 and has since been taken by more than 23 million students. The test was originally developed at the Center for Applied Linguistics led by linguist,Dr.Charles A.Ferguson.

Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-based Test(IBT)has progressively replaced both the computer-based (CBT)and paper-based(PBT)tests,although paper-based testing is still used in select areas. The IBT has been introduced in Phases, with the United States, Canada,France,Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added regularly. The CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores are no longer valid.

Although initially, the demand for test seats was higher than availability, and  candidates have to wait for mouths, it is now possible to take the test within one to four weeks in most countries. The four-hour test consists of four sections,each measuring one of the basic language skills(while some tasks require integrating multiple skills)and all tasks focus in language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the IBT. The test cannot be taken more than once a week.

Reading

The reading section consists of 3-5 passages,each approximately 700 words in length and questions about the passages. 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 purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the IBT require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer,

listening

The listening section consists of 6 passages, 3-5 minutes in length and questions about the passage. Those passages include 2 student conversations and 4 academic lectures or discussions. A conversation involves 2 speakers, a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. A lecture is 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 stimulus 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 5 questions and each lecture with 6. 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.

Speaking

The speaking section consists of 6 tasks, 2 independent tasks and 4 integrated tasks. In the 2 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 2 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 talk.In the 2 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.

Writing

The Writing section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of 2 tasks, 1 integrates task and 1 independent task. In the integrated task, test takers read a passage on academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss the same topic. The test taker will then write a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, test takers must write an essay that states, explains and supports their opinion on an issue, supporting their opinions or choices, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices.