hankyoreh

An inadequate number of slots for Korean would-be test-takers for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), despite skyrocketing demand, has been blamed on irresponsible reaction from TOEFL’s developer and administrator, the U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS). The result has been dubbed ’utter chaos’ by South Korean applicants, who have been posting angry missives in droves on related Internet bulletin boards.

At first, the ETS was reportedly going to accept registration of applicants worldwide for its July TOEFL beginning on April 10. However, Korean students attempting to register on that date found themselves blocked from doing so. Some spent days on the computer trying to register, fearing the site was backed up due to so many applicants logging on, and that they would miss their opportunity to take the test. It was only on April 12 that the ETS posted a short message online saying the July test would not be held in Korea or Japan. Those who had been preparing for this test were severely angered, not to mention those who had spent days online trying to register. Then, during a very short window of time during April 13, the ETS suddenly accepted applications for a July TOEFL in Korea, a day after it had announced the test would not be held. The final straw for many Korean TOEFL test-takers came when, on April 15, the ETS posted a second short announcement on its Web site saying that the July test would now be given in Japan, and that only Korea would be excluded as a testing site. By the time ETS made a third Web posting on April 16 saying there would be a paper-based TOEFL in Korea in June, many would-be test-takers were completely fed up, and Internet bulletin boards were full of criticism of the testing company.

Besides the recent mishandling of events, the ETS has been criticized overall for not coordinating supply with demand. The number of South Korean TOEFL applicants has been on the rise for the past seven to eight years. In 2005, the number of applicants reached more than 10,000, compared with some 5,000 in 2000. These growing figures are predictable, given that South Korean students want to study in the U.S. more and more. As of 2006, the number of South Korean students in the U.S. stood at some 93,000 - the number one country sending its citizens to study there - followed by about 76,000 students from India, according to data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But students wanting to study at American universities are not the only reason for the skyrocketing demand.

In South Korea, primary and secondary students are increasingly applying to take the TOEFL because students need the scores to apply for most ‘special-purpose’ high schools, elite magnet schools seen as arbiters of future success. Jo Gyeong-ho, an official of Topia Institute, a test prep center for such special-purpose high schools, said, "Students have no choice but to prepare for the TOEFL at an early age, because middle school students need a TOEFL score to apply for special-purpose high schools, high school students need it to receive good scores on their college entrance exam, and university students need it to study abroad."

An estimated 70,000 middle school students apply for admission to special-purpose high schools every year.

In addition, job-seekers are also increasingly applying to take the TOEFL as a significant number of companies want TOEFL scores as an evaluation of applicants’ English proficiency.

A switch to the Internet-based TOEFL system was also blamed for the recent problems. Since last September, ETS has adopted an Internet-based testing system, allowing applicants around the world to simultaneously sit for the exam. Accordingly, the number of times the test is held per year has significantly decreased.

With the previous paper-based testing system, applicants could choose what time to take the test on given days, but the Internet-based system offers only one fixed time to sit for the exam. Jo Seong-jun, vice president of Park Jeong Language Institute, said, "Chaos has broken out, as the number of testing opportunities has fallen sharply with the introduction of the new system."

At current, there is no clear alternative to replace the TOEFL as the test needed for students who want to study in the U.S. Though there is the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) administrated by the U.K., only about 900 American universities out of some 4,500 reportedly recognize the British exam.

Hong Se-gyu, a director of Edelman, the ETS’s local public relations agent, said on April 16 that a delegation from the ETS will visit South Korea next month and hold a press conference to explain what it called a number of situations.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]