About the TOEFL

TOEFL is a standardized exam given around the world whose purpose is twofold:

• to evaluate the English proficiency of people whose native language is not English;
• to predict the degree of success those people will have in an English-speaking academic environment.

In order to predict that degree of academic success to be expected in English, the TOEFL uses  “integrated tasks” in the Speaking and Writing sections which require the combining of two or more of the basic language skills (reading, listening, speaking writing) all in the same task, e.g.:

• to listen to input, and then speak in response to a question related to the input heard;
• to read, then listen to complementary input item s, and then speak in response to a question, integrating the information read and heard;
• to read and listen to complementary input items, and write in response to a question, integrating the information read and heard in that written response.

The logic behind including these “integrated” tasks is that the real-life academic world is this way: one rarely speaks or writes in a vacuum, but rather as part of a dialogue with a text, a lecture, other scholars.

Thus two-thirds of the TOELF iBT (and two-thirds of score assessment!) revolves around listening comprehension skills.

Test Structure