About TOEFL

The TOEFL test is written and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). This test is a measure of general English proficiency. It does not test the test takers subject matter competence; their academic aptitude nor does it directly test their English speaking ability.

For International applicants who are non-native speakers of English, their TOEFL test scores are required by most educational institutions in USA and Canada to provide evidence of their English proficiency prior to beginning academic work.

Two types of computer based testing methods are utilized by the TOEFL, Linear and Adaptive. The Listening and Structure sections are computer-adaptive, and the Reading section is linear.

Linear Testing
In this type of testing method the test takers are presented with questions that cover the full range of difficulty (from easy to difficult) as well as the content specifications designated by the test design. The questions are selected without consideration of the test takers performance on the previous questions; similar to the paper based tests; but each test taker sees a unique set of passages and questions.

Computer-Adaptive Testing
A computer-adaptive test (CAT) is tailored for the individual test taker. In the TOEFL CAT when you first start the test or section you get questions of moderate difficulty. As the test taker answers each question, the computer scores that question and uses that information and as well as information from the responses to the previous questions to determine which question is given next. If the test taker answers the question correctly the he or she will get the next question of greater or equal difficulty. Conversely, if he or she answers the question incorrectly then he or she will get the next question of less or equal difficulty.

This pattern continues for the next few questions after which the computer levels the test taker off to a particular level of difficulty correct for him or her. For example, in a 20-question section, if after the first 10 questions the test taker has given 8 out of 10 questions of average difficulty correctly then the computer gauges his ability to be in the medium to high range. Conversely, if after the first 10 questions the test taker has given 8 out of 10 questions of average difficulty incorrectly then the computer gauges his ability to be in the medium to low range and chooses easier questions.

In a CAT test only one question is presented at a time and the test taker cannot skip any questions. Once the test taker has entered and confirmed an answer then he or she cannot return to that question or any other earlier part of the test.

In the Reading section of the test, which is linear section, the test taker are allowed to skip questions and return to previous questions.

The TOEFL Computer based test consists of the following sections:

1. Listening section

2. Structure section

3. Reading section and

4. Writing section

Listening section
The Listening section is a computer-adaptive section and measures the test taker’s ability to understand English as it is spoken in North America. Conversational features of the language are stressed. The skills tested include vocabulary and idiomatic expression as well as special grammatical construction that are frequently spoken in English.

This section consists of four types of questions: (1) traditional multiple choice questions with four answer choices; (2) questions that require examinees to select a visual or part of a visual; (3) questions for which examinees must select two choices, usually out of four; and (4) questions that require examinees to match or order objects or text.

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Structure section
The Structure section is also a computer-adaptive section and measures an examinee’s ability to recognize language that is appropriate for standard written English. The language tested is formal rather than conversational. The topics of the sentences are associated with general academic discourse so that individuals in specific fields of study or from specific national or linguistic groups have no particular advantage.

Two types of questions are asked in this section. These are questions in which examinees must (1) complete an incomplete sentence using one of four answers provided and (2) identify one of four underlined words or phrases that would not be accepted in English. The two types of questions are mixed randomly. There are about 20 to 25 questions in this section and is 15-20 minutes long.

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Reading section
This is a linear section and measures the ability to read and understand short passages similar in topic to academic texts used in North American colleges and universities. Examinees read a variety of short passages on academic subjects and answer several questions about each passage. The test questions refer to what is stated in the passage, as well as words used in the passage.

This section consists of the following types of questions; (1) traditional multiple-choice questions; (2) questions that require examinees to click on a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to answer; and (3) questions that ask examinees to “insert a sentence” where it fits best.

This section includes 44-60 questions and is 70-90 minutes long. It consists of about four to five passages of 250-350 words, with 10-14 questions per passage.

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Writing section
This 30-minute section measures the ability to write in English, including the ability to generate, organize, and develop ideas to support those ideas with examples or evidence, and to compose a response to one assigned topic in standard written English. Because some examinees are not accustomed to composing an essay on computer, they are given the choice of handwriting or typing the essay. The probable topics that may appear on the TOEFL test are published in the TOEFL Information Bulletin for Computer-Based Testing and on the TOEFL Web site.

The essay rating is incorporated into the Structure/Writing scaled score, and constitutes approximately 50 percent of that combined score.

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