On the 2nd episode of the AudioBLOG, we go over the following Blog post:
Does TOEIC Score Still Matter?
Link to the Original Blog Post
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2 replies to "AudioBLOG 2 ｜ Does TOEIC Score Still Matter?"
First of all, thanks for the nice podcast! I would like to make a comment about TOEIC scoring system and the philosophy behind it. Back in the 1990s – I guess this was before they launched the Speaking and Writing version of the test – a representative of ETS visited the language school where I used to teach (in the south of Brazil) and when we asked him “what about the speaking and writing skills?”, “aren’t they assessed at all?”, he explained to us that ETS believed that there is a sort of equivalency between your speaking and listening skills as well as between your writing and reading skills, so even though you were not assessing the speaking and writing skills directly you could tell that a candidate with a 600 TOEIC score would be in an operational level, being able to communicate with native speakers naturally, but of course with restrictions and limitations. there is a kind of “can do” list for TOEIC which might be of your interest.
Personally I think TOEIC is far from being the best proficiency exam, but I think it does its job given the low cost for companies and professionals trying to assess their proficiency level in an impartial way.
I hope my contribution is helpful.
Thanks for reading and keep up the good work!
Hi Marcos,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! It’s definitely good to hear from someone with a direct connection to the exam.
The points you raise certainly make sense. I can understand the relationship between listening-speaking and reading-writing. I guess my experience here in Japan has got me wondering about the output skills (speaking and writing) since they are really lacking compared to the others.
But as you mentioned, if the purpose is to gauge the proficiency on a general level, I agree that it does its job. Most of the businesspeople I work with that have a 600 score or above, can usually communicate well enough for basic interactions and some business functions. I just hope that students make a conscious goal for themselves and also be realistic about what the TOEIC test is rather than having it defined by their job or their boss.
Thanks again for your contribution!
Happy holidays!
Al