Formats and contents
Internet-based Test
Since its introduction in late 2005, the TOEFL iBT format has
progressively replaced both the computer-based tests (CBT) and
paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based testing is still used in
select areas. The TOEFL iBT test has been introduced in phases, with the
United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy
in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added
regularly. The CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores
are no longer valid.
Although initially, the demand for test seats was higher than
availability, and candidates had to wait for months, it is now possible
to take the test within one to four weeks in most countries. The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring one of the
basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple
skills) and all tasks focus on language used in an academic,
higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the TOEFL
iBT test. The test cannot be taken more than once a week.
- Reading
- The Reading section 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.
- Listening
- The Listening section 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. Test-takers may take notes
while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the
questions. Each conversation is associated with five questions and each
lecture with six. The questions are meant to measure the ability to
understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships
between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker
attitude.
- Speaking
- The Speaking section 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. Test-takers may take notes as they read
and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses.
Test-takers are given a short preparation time before they have to begin
speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online
Scoring Network (OSN) and evaluated by three to six raters.
- Writing
- The Writing section 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.
The test-taker will then write a summary about the important points in
the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key points of
the reading passage. 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. Responses are sent to the ETS OSN and
evaluated by four raters.
- Ref : Wikipedia
USING THE THREE-STEP PROCESS FOR WRITING BAD NEWS MESSAGES
Communicating negative news is a fact of life for all business professionals, from rejecting job applicants to telling customers that shipments will be late to turning down speaking invitations. Bad news messages are challenging to write because we know our readers will not be happy to receive the news. These messages say "no" to the reader:
No, you will not get your loan
No, you aren't being hired
No, you didn't get the scholarship
No, you aren't accepted into the college of business
No, I can't give a donation
No, I can't help you
Bad news means the reader will not be able to accomplish his/her goals. For example, without a loan, a student may have to postpone plans to graduate on time because now the person has to go to work to raise the money. The homeless shelter that doesn't get your donation now has to worry about how it's going to feed its clients.
But news can't always be good. In life, we do have to reject less-qualified applicants, we don't have unlimited funds to give money to every deserving charity, and we can't always fill a customer's request on time.
When we need to say "no" to our readers, we usually mean "not under these circumstances." "No" now isn't necessarily "no" forever. If the student were to get a co-signer, he/she might be able to get the loan after all. Perhaps we'll be able to send a donation to the homeless shelter next month, after we've paid our own bills first.
So how do we give bad news without destroying our business relationship? You can see in list at the top of this page that stating bad news directly can often be very damaging and unnecessarily hurtful. When you need to deliver bad news, you have five goals:
1. to convey the bad news
2. to gain acceptance for it
3. to maintain as much goodwill a possible with your audience
4. to maintain a good image for our organization
5. if appropriate, to reduce or eliminate the need for future correspondence on the matter.
Five goals are clearly a lot to accomplish in one message. However, by learning some simple techniques, you can develop negative messages that reduce the stress for everyone involved and improve the effectiveness of your communication efforts.
Step 1: Plan Your Message
When planning your message, you can't avoid the fact that your audience does not want to hear what you have to say. To minimize the damage to business relationships and to encourage the acceptance of your message, analyze the situation carefully to better understand the context in which the recipient will process your message.
Be sure to consider your purpose thoroughly – whether it's straightforward (such as rejecting a job application) of more complicated (such as creating a negative performance review, in which you not only give the employee feedback on past performance but also help the person develop a plan to improve future performance.) Similarly, your audience profile can be simple and obvious in some situations (such as rejecting a credit request) and far more complex in others (such as telling a business partner that you've decided to terminate the partnership.)
With a clear purpose and your audience's needs in mind, identify and gather the information your audience will need in order to understand and accept your message. Negative messages can be intensely personal to the recipient, and in many cases recipients have a right to expect a thorough explanation of your answer. Empty clichés such as "Due to circumstances beyond our control" are vague because they don't tell the reader anything of substance.
Selecting the right medium is critical when delivering negative messages. For example, you might badly damage a business relationship if you use voice mail to reject a long-time employee's request for a promotion. Since the employee would surely have some important questions to ask, and you would certainly want to soothe hurt feelings, a face-to-face meeting would be the best choice for this situation. However, if your company received 10,000 credit applications a month, you can't afford to engage every rejected applicant in a one-on-one conversation. A well written form letter that limits response options from your readers – so that you don't have to explain the reasons for your decision already covered in your letter – is a better choice.
Step 2: Write Your Message
When adapting a negative message to your audience, every aspect of effective, diplomatic writing is amplified; after all, our audience does not want to hear a negative message and might disagree strongly with you. Be sure to maintain the you-attitude, and strive for polite language that emphasizes the positive whenever appropriate.
If your credibility hasn't already been established with an audience, lay out your qualifications for making the decision in question. Recipients of negative messages who don't think you are credible are more likely to challenge your decision. That's why, for example, messages related to late payments are often signed by a higher executive. And as always, projecting and protecting your company's image is a prime concern. If you're not careful, a negative answer could spin out of control into negative feelings about your company.
When you use language that conveys respect and avoids an accusing tone, you protect your audience's pride. In addition, you can ease the sense of disappointment by using positive words rather than negative, counterproductive ones (see Fig. 1 below.)
Chances are you'll spend more time on word, sentence, and paragraph choices for negative messages than for any other type of business writing. People who receive bad news often look for subtle shares of meaning, seeking flaws in your reasoning or other ways to challenge the decision. By writing clearly and sensitively, you can take some of the sting out of bad news and help your reader to accept your decision and to move on.
Step 3: Complete Your Message
Your need for careful attention to detail continues as you complete your message. Revise your content to make sure everything is clear, complete, and concise – bearing in mind that even small flaws are magnified as readers react to your negative news. Produce clear, professional documents, and proofread carefully to eliminate mistakes. Finally, be especially sure that your negative messages are delivered promptly and successfully. Waiting for bad news is hard enough without wondering whether a message was lost.
