Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Companies like Samsung Electronics, L'Oreal Paris and IBM will conduct new tests that aim to assess a candidate's actual English ability. Other companies leading the trend toward "real world" English evaluation include JW Marriott, LG Caltex, Koreana, Oil Bank, Roche and Hite Beer.

Many companies will no longer evaluate a candidate's English proficiency solely based on the Test of English for International Communication score. In fact, many are completely doing away with the standard TOEIC that applicants have come to memorize.

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/11/25/200311250014.asp

Applicants can memorize the tests.
Well, how do the researchers at ETS feel? ETS might not get all that money?
http://www.ets.org/tests.html
http://www.toeic.com/

[katydid]

Ha ha...I can hear the sound of some of my Korean friends' heads as they are pounding their desks.
It's about time. Has anyone ever talked to someone who ONLY studies TOEIC? They sound so unnatural to me.

[Real Reality]

katydid,

Sometimes I am impressed with how high some students score without being able to effectively communicate in English. They are really good at scoring high on tests.



They need to have "actual English ability."

[katydid]

And also, they keep studying and studying hoping to get that perfect score! I know of one student who is crazy about TOEIC and he really can't communicate well with me in class. I know of another friend of mine who uses ridiculous synonyms for words like "said" and "saw".
TOEIC is a standardized test, is it not? And doesn't that mean no matter how much you study, you'll always fall into some sort of average range?

[mithridates]

It makes perfect sense though, as most people study 'English' in order to make more money, and if TOEIC is the way to do it then there's no point in bantering around and making friends with English speakers when you can just write a good test and make the big bucks...it must be mortifying though to a person who has spent a lot of time becoming much like one of us, but has put no thought into TOEIC and gets surpassed in the company payroll by a TOEIC-crazed goon who can't talk his way out of a paper bag. How depressing.

[Bulsajo]

ETS spends a lot of time effort and money to make it as hard as humanly possible to cheat on their tests. I'd like to hear of an example of someone with poor English skills 'cheating' their way to a high TOEFL score. I believe it rarely happens. TOEIC, on the other hand, appears to be about as useful as *beep* on a bull.

[Zed]

udders?

[posco's trumpet]

[Bulsajo]

[weatherman]