The TOEFL Test of Written English: Causes for Concern

Abstract

Owned and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), taken by approximately 600,000 students a year, influences access to or exclusion from colleges and universities in North America. This article provides background information about the TOEFL and ETS; describes the development of ETS tests of composition for native speakers of English and of the most recent addition to the TOEFL testing program, the Test of Written English (TWE); and explores seven areas of concern with respect to the TWE: the comparability of topic types; the lack of topic choice; the lack of distinction between graduate and undergraduate students; the scoring system; the question of what the test measures; the question of whether both the TOEFL and the TWE are needed; and the backwash effect of the TWE, including the proliferation of coaching and test-specific instructional materials. The article urges careful scrutiny of new developments in ETS testing as they affect our students, and ends with seven recommendations for action.