TOEFL, or Test Of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL , pronounced "toe-full") evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand standard American English at a college level. The test is designed and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), and TOEFL is a registered trademark of ETS. It was developed to address the problem of ensuring English language proficiency for non-native speakers wishing to study at U.S. universities. It has become 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. TOEFL scores are valid for two years, after then they are no longer reported.
The history of TOEFL test was begun in 1962 when a national council made up of representatives of thirty government and private organizations was formed to address the problem of ensuring English language proficiency for non-native speakers wishing to study at U.S. universities. It developed under direction Dr Charles.A. Ferguson at Center of Applied Linguistik and was first administered in 1964 by the Modern Language Association financed by grants from the Ford Foundation and Danforth Foundation.
In 2005 The TOEFL IBT or Internet Based Test was begun to replace both paper based and computer based. At Internet Based Text it divided to :
1. Reading, 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, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the TOEFL iBT test require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.
2. Speaking, consists of six tasks: two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the two 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 two 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 text and the talk. In the two 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. In the integrated tasks, test-takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material.
3. Writing, measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated task and one independent task. In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss the same topic and in the independent task, the test-taker 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.
4.Listening, consists of six passages 3–5 minutes in length and questions about the passages. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. A conversation involves two 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.
reference :
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL#History
2. http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores
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