TOEIC
TOEIC is the Test of English for International Communication.
From the ETS (Educational Testing Service) website:
For more than 25 years, TOEIC® has been used by institutions, companies, and government agencies worldwide to measure the English proficiency of nonnative English-speaking people.
With more than 4.5 million test takers per year, the TOEIC test is the standard for workplace English language proficiency worldwide.
What does everyone think of this test? As far as I know, TOEIC is a multiple choice test that measures listening and reading comprehension. It is supposed to test English ability within a business context. Therefore, it is largely used by companies as hiring or promotion criteria. However, some universities and governments use the test for other purposes. See here for a thorough overview of the test as well as useful comparisons with other testing systems.
One thing that stands out to me as an English teacher is that TOEIC tests passive or ‘receptive’ skills. Yet having good reading and listening skills don’t always mean a student has adequate speaking and writing abilities. I have taught many students whose reading was quite good, but they couldn’t speak much more than a few words. So TOEIC isn’t comprehensive, but like all tests, it aims at measuring English levels and achieves some success in doing this.
I find that some students are better at visual learning (reading and writing) - which they can do alone - than they are at oral and aural skills (listening and speaking) - which are more social. Schools sometimes over-emphasize learning from books, and when we study, it’s often alone rather than with a group. But what is the purpose of language? It is by definition a social activity - we use it to communicate our thoughts and ideas to others. There is no purpose to language for a single person, but it is essential for groups, societies and civilizations.
I’ll leave you with a question to consider: how can we make language learning more social?
