Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troll_Bait]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/12/117_36346.html

[pkang0202]

The reason people take these tests is that the results are recognized around the world. Your TOEFL score works in Korea, the US, and a bunch of other countries.


The only way the new test would be popular is if it were easier than the others.

[BrianInSuwon]

It sounds like its a move in the right direction. How can so many people complain about the current test (which places way too much stress on minor grammar points) and then complain when the government wants to replace the test with something that focuses more on practical English?

[Smee]

LOL.

Since when have Koreans ever favored practical English over minor grammatical points?

Such a transition would undermine the quote-unquote skill set of all the teachers currently employed.

Just like how every class will be taught in English by 2012. Even though nobody is qualified to do that.

[marlow]

[Jandar]

Let's see TOEFL has been accepted and a success throughout the world.

Let invent our own test and call it TOEIC.

A failure which may be responsible for the 44% dropout rate of Korean students from US colleges and universities.

We could use the TOEFL?

Let's invent a new test!

Sporkling

[Xuanzang]

I wonder if they will use a Playboy article in the reading passage section?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[wylies99]

[weatherman]

It about money. The local mercantilists hate, and I mean hate to see people spend money that goes to a foreign registered test. About skill sets, expect to see this test a mirror of the toelf, so there is no need to change skill sets.

[sojusucks]

[VanIslander]

[bassexpander]

Yeah, I laughed at this too.

It's all about exactly what was said:

1. Students are flopping all over the new/updated test, and it doesn't look good, so let's create a test we can pass. Or more importantly -- a test Korean teachers are capable of teaching for (since so many of them in this confucist society cannot hold an English conversation).

2. They DO NOT like the idea of money leaving the country. The joke of all of this is that it will NOT be accepted internationally. This just opens the floodgates for corruption, bribes, etc., which is really what some people want. This gives them an avenue for a revenue stream to leech off of the public. Some family member of a politician will probably get money from this somehow.

3. Students serious about studying overseas will still have to take the real TOEFL anyway. No way in hell any reputable university is going to allow scores on this test when the rest of the world is required to submit scores for the real TOEFL. This test is an attempted end-run around a very harsh reality: decades of Korean teachers who cannot speak English does not equal students ready to study in an English-speaking country.


This is about Koreans screwing Koreans for more money, bribes, etc. More of the same old same old. In the end, this will cost families MORE.

I got a kick out of Dickey's comment. He was one of my TEFL instructors. I have a feeling he had a lot more to say than what was printed (or perhaps, he held his tongue a bit).

[justaguy]

They don't like a constant flow of money going out for these tests. Many of the tests are unfair in my opinion. They often ask obtuse questions designed to limit the number of high scores just to keep the Koreans shoveling the money to them.

[bassexpander]