The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Primary tests, which were held in Taiwan for the first time yesterday, could help parents and teachers better plan their children’s English-language education and track their progress, said Simon Wu (吳紹銘), chief operating officer of Chun Shin Ltd, the Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) distributor in Taiwan.
Over the past few decades, ETS has developed a number of English proficiency tests for different purposes and age groups, including TOEFL iBT, TOEFL ITP, TOEFL Junior and TOEFL Primary, with the last being the most recent, Wu told a news conference in Taipei.
While the more well-known TOEFL iBT was developed for people applying to universities in English-speaking nations, TOEFL Primary was designed to evaluate the English proficiency of students aged eight and above, so that their learning could be planned accordingly, he said.
Since 2013, the test has been held in 47 nations, he said.
The test consists of two parts — reading and writing — and, beginning from this year, is to be held twice a year in Taiwan, he said, adding that test dates and locations are typically announced six months in advance.
A survey conducted by Shih Hsin University’s Institute for Public Opinion among 1,070 parents of elementary and junior-high school students between March 28 and April 9 found that 42 percent of children started learning English before they had begun elementary school, institute executive secretary Yueshin Chung (鍾岳勳) said.
While 64.2 percent of the parents believed that their children receive insufficient English education at school, 69.2 percent said that they send their children to English classes at cram schools and daycare centers, he said.
Taiwanese children spend an average of 6.3 hours studying English every week, Yueshin said.
Nearly 30 percent of parents said that they spend more than NT$48,000 on their children’s English learning every year, which includes tuition fees and the cost of teaching materials, he said.
However, 71 percent of parents said they do not think their children’s school test scores reflect their English proficiency, Yueshin said, adding that those parents evaluated their children’s proficiency based on their spoken English, which he said could be subjective.
The TOEFL Primary test offers an effective, professional way for parents to gauge their children’s English levels and plan their studies for them, ETS research scientist Ikkyu Choi said.
The test reports include overviews of each student’s strengths and weaknesses, concrete learning advice and their suggested Lexile measure, he said.
Knowing a child’s Lexile measure would make choosing books considerably easier for parents, as most English books have a Lexile measure, said Sunny Wu (吳詩綺), an English teacher at the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University.
While the Harry Potter series has a measure of about 800L, the New York Times is rated at 1300L, she said, adding that parents can pick English books that their children are interested in and have a Lexile measure that is close to their children’s abilities.
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