Job Discussion Forums

[Capergirl]

TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, CanTest, etc...these are all big tests used to guage students' level of proficiency in the English language. Much time and money is spent preparing students to write these tests but what I am wondering is this: does preparing them for a specific test - in other words "teaching to the test" - really help them? I would argue that it helps to prepare them psychologically but nothing more than that. Next question: If they are given lots of test prep in advance, are their resulting scores a true measure of their proficiency?

[ntropy]

I'd argue the tests themselves don't measure proficiency.

Not that I can suggest any better standard way that would, so I guess I should keep my negative criticism to myself.

I'm just tired of students who have 570 TOEFLs and can't ask the bus driver for directions.

[guest of Japan]

In my experience in Japan I have found the TOEIC to be a very accurate guage of English ability for students who have spent one year abroad or less. Any more international experience than that and the TOEIC is worthless.

The TOEFL seems to be pretty valuable for students who plan to go to university in an English speaking country. Let's face it, professors and textbooks like big words and lots of them.

I don't have any experience with the other tests listed.

In Japan there is also the EIKEN. These tests are confusing. The written test measures the degree to which you have learned about English. The speaking test is more a measure of personality and dress than English ability. That said, I have never met a person with a first grade certificate who wasn't extremely good at English.

Western education in the last 20 years has been steadily moving toward standardation and accountability. English as a second or foreign language is actually a little slow at getting on the bus. The tests that do exist don't match the dominant teaching methods which are more communication focused. Until the standards match the current goals of instruction it seems teachers will be caught in the middle.

[johnslat]

Having taught a good number of TOEFL Prep classes, I'd say that "teaching to the test" does more than just that. For the reading section, I gave my classes a pre-test, then a thorough introduction to skimming and scanning and LOTS of practice. The improvement never failed to amaze me. Then practice with inference, vocabulary through context clues, predicting, etc. All these tools have a great many applications besides test-taking. Same for the grammar/structure section -thanks to the pre-testing, I was able to identify with a high degree of accuracy just what areas the students were especially weak in, which thereafter directed my lesson planning. Instructing for the writing section also goes far beyond just teaching for the test, as the required skills are ones the students will need not only in graduate school, but probably throughout their lives.
Regards,
John
P.S. But it all works for "taking the test", too. The average increase in the classes was about 100 points from the initial TOEFL pre-test.

[FGT]

In my opinion, a mediocre intermediate/upper-intermediate student can be coached in Toefl technique to a successful conclusion. The same does not apply with IELTS because this is a test of use of English rather than memorisation of formulae. The other tests are unfamiliar to me.

[Roger]

Passing such a test cold would seem to indicate the student is proficient; passing it only after endless pre work involving similar tests to the one the student has to pass would seem to me to mean he internalised typical student behaviour in a test for the sake of passing it - in other words: he memorised it.

I too found IELTS to teach students (here in China) some learning techniques not taught to them by their own teachers, such as analysing, infering, reading between the lines.
But it's true too that such techniques must be taught at a sufficiently early stage; once students have been through local teaching for more than 4 years they are not generally amenable to studying in a more enlightened manner that does not focus on rote-memorisation.

[Alitas]

I think johnslat is referring to literacy techniques. Many of today's students do not know how to scan a text, make an inference, predict, etc.

There are those who are well-read in their own language. I call these types of students expert readers. They could win a Scrabble game in a foreign language because they understand the values in place. Do they necessarily understand everything? Perhaps not, but they know the rules.

In my experience teaching high school Spanish, 90% of my students are not expert readers and I end up teaching them to read in order to understand.

We aren't in Kansas anymore! It's not memorization, it's technique. At the high school level, I have found very receptive learners because they want to make meaning out of what they are doing. Which brings me to this point: standardized tests are not real-world. And if you have no concept, culturally, of these non-real-world events (an expert reader!), it makes it much harder to do well on this type of assessment, because you can't make any meaning!

[Will.]

Hi Folks,
I have taught IELTS and am familiar with TOEFl and TOEIC just info...
Who gets the best deal from these tests, the students, the institution or the company that sells the test? They exist to demonstrate achievement of certain skills and an ability to use them at a pre-described level.
I see no mention of the Cambridge, or other, FCE CAE CPE suite of exams and these are the ones that students I am enrolling ask for when applying. These are recognised by institutions in their home country who want more than a score in a test for entry into their faculty.
Just a thought, anyone ever get a commission from TOEFL or other for sending students to do a test?

[Capergirl]

I have no experience with IELTS, but it sounds similar to the CanTest in that the student is required to give complete answers as opposed to multiple choice (TOEFL, TOEIC). My students are required to take the TOEIC test at certain intervals at the discretion of their employer. They like to have some preparation for the test, so we give it to them, but I really think it is only preparing them psychologically to write the test. I really feel that there is no way they are going to improve their scores after a few days of practice questions. However, if it helps to put their minds at ease then it probably does help their scores because they a