TOEFL Tells a Lie

RYO

Today, TOEFL is known as a good test to measure English skills for entering university in the United States. TOEFL is composed of three sections: listening section, grammar section, and reading section. Many teachers believe that the TOEFL can measure student’s English skills because the skills which are used in the TOEFL are really useful to students who want to take classes at university in the United States. Then, they recommend taking TOEFL to their students. However, almost all students criticize it, especially paper based test because the TOEFL cannot measure speaking and writing skills, TOEFL score often changes irregularly, and taking TOEFL takes a long time.

First, some skills cannot be judged by the TOEFL. TOEFL does not contain a speaking section, so it is impossible to measure how well people speak. As a result, even though there is a person who has good speaking skills such as accent, pronunciation, and fluency, he will not show these skills on the TOEFL. Also, TOEFL does not contain a writing section, so it cannot test writing skill. If you can write essay very well, you cannot show the skill on the TOEFL. Therefore, TOEFL makes disadvantages to the people who have good writing or speaking skills.

Second, scores on the TOEFL often go up and down. Scores might change depending on student’s condition. If they take the TOEFL when they are sick, they may not concentrate on the TOEFL. Then, their score will go down. On the other hand, if they are in good condition, they may concentrate on it. As a result, they may get a good score. Scores might also change depending on the subject. If there is the subject that they already know, they can solve the questions easily. However, if there is the subject that they have never seen before, it will make them nervous. Then, they cannot keep their attention anymore. Therefore, TOEFL score does not tell us exact and real ability.

Third, taking TOEFL takes a lot of time. It takes almost three hours, and people start to feel bored gradually as time goes past. If they feel bored, they might be sleepy, and most people lose their attention while they are fighting sleep. Also, they usually start to feel strain as they solve many questions. As their attention goes down, they will be discomposed. Then, they cannot keep the focus any more. Without the focus, they cannot show their real ability on the TOEFL. Therefore, it is difficult to measure English skills by the TOEFL.

Opponents who think that TOEFL is very useful to students who want to take classes at university in the United States claim that the TOEFL inspires students to study hard. However, most students actually do not study like this. Lazy students such as the students who try to cheat other student’s paper are still increasing. Also, there are many students who try to guess the answers at random such as CCC because all of the questions in the TOEFL are multiple choice. If they guess like this, there is a high probability that they can check the correct answers. Thus, TOEFL makes students lazy. Therefore, TOEFL actually does not inspire students to study hard. In fact, TOEFL may make some bad effects on students.

In conclusion, TOEFL does not always measure student’s English skills because of missing some sections, irregular subjects, and taking a long time. TOEFL also should be fair to all students who want to measure their English skills. Then, TOEFL should have speaking and writing section in order to judge all English skills. Also, TOEFL should offer questions that nobody knows (It might be impossible), and TOEFL should be more fun. Unless TOEFL includes these ideas, it must be difficult to measure student’s English skills on the TOEFL.