Korea: TOEFL on its Way Out
TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language, is the widest used English testing system in the world today. The test was first made public in 1964 and is comprised of reading, listening, speaking, and writing sections. However, the Korea ministry of education has decided to create there own nation wide test.
For decades, Korean students have struggled with the English college entererance exam. TOEFL, a numbered based evaluation for student’s English proficiency, has proven to be high pressure and has driven the English language market through the roof. As TOEFL is an American based company the tens of billions of won the Koreans have spent on it does little to benefit their own economy. In order to partly alleviate the competitive aspect of the exam while at the same time curb the high costs, the new testing system will now be just pass-or-fail and be completely run by the country.
Related article: High demand causes 'Toefl crisis' in South Korea
"The new exam surpasses other similar exams in its credibility because of the fact that it is supported and approved by the state," said Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ahn Byong-man during an exclusive interview with The Korea Times last Tuesday. Korea Times
For decades, Korean students have struggled with the English college entererance exam. TOEFL, a numbered based evaluation for student’s English proficiency, has proven to be high pressure and has driven the English language market through the roof. As TOEFL is an American based company the tens of billions of won the Koreans have spent on it does little to benefit their own economy. In order to partly alleviate the competitive aspect of the exam while at the same time curb the high costs, the new testing system will now be just pass-or-fail and be completely run by the country.
Because the new test is intended to provide a pass-or-fail result for applicants, its adoption in the annual standardized college entrance exams means a significant disincentive for students to take private English lessons. Korea TimesThe new state run test will be more comparable to the Japanese EIKEN test, Test in Practical English Proficiency.
Often called STEP Eiken or the STEP Test — is an English language test conducted by a Japanese non-profit organization, the Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP), and backed by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)…It is also hoped that the new Korean testing system will be globally recognized for college acceptance for international students.
A number of schools outside Japan use Eiken as an admission qualification for international students. In Canada and the United States, approximately 300 colleges and universities recognize Eiken… Wikipedia.org
Related article: High demand causes 'Toefl crisis' in South Korea
Posted by ESL Daily at 11/15/2009 
Categories: ASIA,Korea,Finding ESL employment
Tags: ASIA Korea Finding ESL employment
Categories: ASIA,Korea,Finding ESL employment
Tags: ASIA Korea Finding ESL employment
"It is also hoped that the new Korean testing system will be globally recognized for college acceptance for international students." With only a pass-fail grade, I highly doubt it will be accepted by anyone.
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That is why we distinctly stated "hoped"... agreed about the pass fail thing as a university acceptance over seas... but there is always HOPE right??? The test is more or less just a requirement stating that you have reached a certain level of English. However, information regarding this test is very limited at this point. I think the key idea the Korean government wishes to establish, keep Korea with Korea and curb the spending in the ESL industry. Will it work??? another discussion for another day. But, there is always hope.
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Afte having used almost all of the Korean-made English tests for preparing my students, I honestly can say that I have little "hope" for the efficacy and accuracy of the proposed test.
Having recently prepared several students for entrance into foreign language high schools using previous entrance tests from all of the foreign language schools, I have seen examples of the incompetence and lack of English skills that would make you laugh.
One of the tests, the Seoul foreign language school test, had only seven questions with English answers to choose from out of 35 question! The remainder of the questions were entirely in Korean.
Compare this with "Nivel Incicial" Spanish test, which is entirely in Spanish.
I also found the original article in the Times entertaining as they speak of the test in the present tense, before it has even been created.
We actually have to teach our middle school students "Korean English" so that they do well on their school tests, because they naturally answer the questions they way a native speaker would, which would be considered incorrect on their school tests!
BTW-this year our students killed the other haagwons' students' with regards to their test scores!
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