Preparation for the international language exam as a part of globalization in education (TOEFL, its structure and practical recommandations)

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Preparation for the international language exam as a part of globalization in education (TOEFL, its structure and practical recommandations)

Bogachevska L.O.,

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Foreign Languages and Translation Department Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University

The article deals with the actuality of the preparation for TOEFL exam as it is a step for a young language learner to become a part of the global education. So, studying abroad gives a chance for a high-quality professional studying and moreover broadens career prospects for a young generation. The chance of experiencing different styles of gaining knowledge abroad helps a student become a part of global education. By enrolling in a study abroad program a student completely immerses himself or herself in the education system of the host country and this is a great way to get a real experience and understand the people, their traditions and culture.

Different types of exams such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language); IELTS (International English Lan-guage Testing System) which evaluate English language proficiency and the ability of non-native speakers of English to use the language are outlined in the research. The article will deal with methodology of preparing and passing TOEFL as most educational institutions prefer to get TOEFL certificate rather than a document of a different test (as ETS research showed).

TOEFL structure is complex. Reading section is challenging as it is necessary to read, comprehend and work on a lot of material in a rather short time. Listening is the second of four sections on the exam and the exam taker just seems to pay attention to some short conversations and answer a few questions on them, but it is not easy because it is needed to remember a raw of facts and information and then answer questions on specific information mentioned in the audio tracks. Writing Section is the next. It includes the Integrated and Independent Writing tasks. The TOEFL Integrated Writing task involves your listening, reading, and writing skills. The last step of exam is Speaking Section and it helps the exam takers by practicing for this section in advance and evaluating the speaking skills during it to get ready for the real professional life. So, the general information on the exam, its structure and time limits are discussed in the papers and it also gives some practical recommendations on how to prepare properly.

Key words: globalization of education, international foreign language exams, professional development, exam structure, TOEFL.

ПІДГОТОВКА ДО МІЖНАРОДНОГО МОВНОГО ІСПИТУ ЯК СКЛАДОВА ГЛОБАЛІЗАЦІЇ В ОСВІТІ (ТОІФЛ, ЙОГО СТРУКТУРА ТА ПРАКТИЧНІ РЕКОМЕНДАЦІЇ)

У статті йдеться про актуальність підготовки до іспиту ТОІФЛ, оскільки це крок для того, щоб студент, який вивчає мову, став частиною глобалізації освіти. Отже, навчання за кордоном дає шанс отримати якісну професійну освіту і, крім того, розширює перспективи кар'єрного зростання молодого покоління. Можливість випробувати різні стилі отримання знань за кордоном допомагає студенту стати частиною глобальної освіти. Записавшись на програму навчання за кордоном, молода людина повністю занурюється в систему освіти країни перебування, і це чудовий спосіб отримати реальний досвід і зрозуміти людей, його традиції та культуру.

Різні види іспитів, наприклад ТОІФЛ (тест з англійської як іноземної мови); АЙІЛЗ (Міжнародна система тес-тування англійської мови), яка оцінює рівень володіння англійською мовою та здатність людей, які не є носіями англійської мови, використовувати її. У статті йдеться про методику підготовки та здачі ТОІФЛ, оскільки більшість навчальних закладів бажають отримати сертифікат ТОІФЛ, а не документ іншого зразка (як показало дослідження ІТС). Загальна інформація про іспит, його структура та часові рамки обговорюються в статтях, а також даються деякі практичні рекомендації щодо правильної підготовки.

Структура ТОІФЛ - складна. Розділ читання є непростим, оскільки необхідно прочитати, осмислити та опра-цювати багато матеріалу за досить короткий час. Слухання - це другий із чотирьох розділів іспиту, і здається, що той, хто здає іспит просто звертає увагу на деякі короткі розмови та відповідає на кілька запитань щодо них, але це досить важко, тому що потрібно запам'ятати необхідну кількість фактів та інформації, а потім відповідати на запитання щодо конкретної інформації, згаданої в аудіозаписах. Письмовий розділ є наступним. Він включає в себе інтегровані та самостійні завдання. Завдання ТОІФЛ інтегроване письмо включає навички аудіювання, читання та письма. Останнім етапом іспиту є розмовна секція, яка допомагає тим, хто здає іспит, заздалегідь потренувавшись до складання іспиту розвинути та оцінити мовленнєві навички, а це підготовка до справжнього професійного життя. Отже, загальна інформація про іспит, його структура та часові рамки розглянуті в статтях, а також даються практичні рекомендації щодо того, як правильно підготуватися.

Ключові слова: глобалізація освіти, міжнародні іспити з іноземної мови, підвищення кваліфікації, структура іспиту, ТОІФЛ.

In the introduction it should be said that in Globalization process with its development of internet technologies, social networks, mobility of people foreign language learning has become different with more opportunities such as large number of useful videos in English, virtual chatrooms which may help to connect people throughout the world and give the chance to get access to real native speakers easily in their cultural environment. So, a wide range of the English language learning possibilities keeps the vivid interest among the youth and moreover young people may understand that speaking international language, which English truly is, make them an integral part of the Globe and give them more possibilities for career self-realization.

Sometimes it is not enough for the young people to receive education at their domestic universities so they want to continue their education abroad to broaden their professional opportunities in future, so in this case they should learn the English language and try to become a participant of the global educational process.

Actuality of the research subject manifests itself in the current need of a high-quality preparation for the international exams as a way for a young person to adequately integrate to the Globe education. In the opinion R. Kravets the Ukrainian Higher Education system should pay attention to the problem of developing of the English language skills as it is the way for the young generation to develop academic and professional knowledge using professional sources in English. The Ukrainian scholar states that “the foreign language serves not only as a means of intercultural communication, enhancing cultural relations and increasing educational opportunities, but also as a means of forming the professional and multicultural competences” [1, p. 24]. He thinks that the Ukrainian professional educational curricular should also be performed in English: “The amount of English-language curricula at Ukrainian HEIs is still insignificant. As a rule, teaching the disciplines by the means of a foreign language is carried out as a part of dual degree programs. In this regard, Ukraine may gain useful experience in a number of European countries (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Germany, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden), where at the first (Bachelor's) level of higher education the disciplines are taught predominantly in the native language, while at the second (Master's) level of higher education and postgraduate studies - in English” [1, p. 24]. This recommendation of the researcher seems to be very relevant and useful, as such an approach can help a young professional using English to continue his career development abroad.

D. Lasagabaster, the Spanish linguist, describes the process of globalization and integration throughout the Europe by the successful learning of foreign language. He states that: “All European educational systems are attaching increasing importance to the learning of foreign languages, since there is a dire need to educate multilingual and multicultural citizens in a context where the linguistic consequences of globalization are more and more evident” [2, p.31]. He uses the term CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and introduces it to the coexistence other names “such as content-based language instruction, content-enhanced teaching, integration of content and language, theme-based language teaching, content infused language teaching, foreign language medium instruction, bilingual integration of language and disciplines, learning through an additional language, foreign languages across the curriculum, or learning with languages, to name but a few” [2, p.31]. In his article he also discusses the implementation of boosting of the language learning process in the various ways by the educational authorities in different countries as an efficient means.

American researchers A. Pavlenko, I. Piller consider the foreign language learning as a cross-cultural process where the second language helps the learners to integrate in the new society which is regarded as a part of the globalization process. These scholars study the issue taking into account gender approach which “on the one hand, engages students with cross- linguistic and cross-cultural differences in gender ideologies, constructions and performances and, on the other, allows students to analyze how dominant discourses of gender function to subordinate individuals [3, p.66]. In their article gender bias in foreign language learning is outlined using the examples of the different cultures such as Japanese, Chinese, Canadian French and others. In their research it is highlighted that women are most likely to study and are able to use the foreign language sooner and better than their male counterparts.

The aim and task of the article is to differentiate between of tests in English as a foreign language (TOEFL and IESTS); to encourage young generation to study foreign language; to help the youth interested in studying abroad for successful preparation for the exam where English is tested as a foreign language; to describe the peculiarities of the four parts of the exam; to give some useful hints; to outline some organizational moments.

The material presented in the passage helps to differentiate between the international exams. In this case they need to take some international exams such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language); IELTS (International English Language Testing System) which evaluate English language proficiency and the ability of non-native speakers of English to use the language and are the requirement for admission into colleges and universities where instruction is in English.

TOEFL represents the English knowledge of an exam taker in complex: in reading, listening, speaking and writing. In most cases American and Canadian colleges and Universities (also some European) will ask a foreign student to present TOEFL scores. IELTS is aimed at those seeking to study or work mostly in Australia and Great Britain. This exam is also composed of similar four parts as TOEFL but speaking (it will be in person only) can be taken before or after the main section consisting of three reading, listening and writing.

TOEFL structure is quite simple and consequent. The exam consists of four main parts: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking. The exam is four hours and a half long. Questions of some sections can be combined: for instance, you may need to read, listen and then give an answer in a written or oral form.

The exam starts with Reading Section. The reading extracts are the university-level textbooks representing different topics and material for the Reading TOEFL section. Most likely these are introductory texts such as “Ancient History Introduction” or any other which are available in the libraries or on the Internet. When people train reading college classes text books (100-level college classes assigned students) as a result acquires critical reading skills. Training with the reading tasks samples helps the exam taker to prepare well for the exam and during the exam familiar types of tasks will be seen.

It is good to make a habit of reading some pages daily. “Where there is little reading there will be little language learning. ... the student who wants to learn English will have to read himself into a knowledge of it unless he can move into an English environment” [4, p.52]. After reading a few passages it is good to stop and think on what they were about, what main author's idea was rendered, what the supporting statements were. international language exam toefl

This is the first section of the exam and its duration is 60-80 minutes. Three or four passages for reading contain 700 and more words. Then 12-14 questions follow. There will be three types of questions to the passages in the TOEFL exam: “Standard Multiple Choice”, “Inserting a Sentence”, “Reading to Learn”.

The most common question type you'll find here is “Standard Multiple Choice”. For every question there are four answer choices, only one of which is correct. You'll have to choose the correct one. These types of questions are very common. These questions may ask the exam taker about the passage as a whole, specific sentences or phrases in the passage, or the meaning of a particular word in a sentence. If you find a seemingly right answer at once not reading all the list of options proposed it may be wrong in the choice. It is useful to read and analyze all the options for making sure the best answer has been chosen, because there will be some answers which sound quite all right, but in fact they are not.

“Inserting a Sentence” is another type of reading task. The new sentence forms the task should be put in the paragraph from the passage and four different places will be proposed and you need to choose the best one where the sentence should be fitted.

This type of the task is somewhat tricky so you need to try all the possible variants and reread the passage several times with the different variants of the inserted sentence and to decide what is the best one. So, considering each inserted sentence location thoroughly, you will increase the chance of answering correctly. Mind that the correct answer will preserve the meaning of the abstract so this may help in selecting the correct placement.

“Reading to Learn” task in TOEFL reading section is less common as compared to other tasks. Though it is rather important as unlikely to the tasks mentioned above which are worth one point, “Reading to Learn” task is worth two to three points. Your task will be to arrange the main parts of the passage in a chart or in a summary. There will be one of these questions for each passage. So, to avoid some confusion it is better to practice such type of task in advance while the learner is preparing for exam. It is necessary to double-check the answers to make sure it is logical and only after that move further and it is needed reread the passage again. It is better to keep the time if to spend equal spells of time on each passage. It is good to spend about five minutes reading each passage and one minute answering each question.

This section is the first and it is good to start the exam in a high level of performance so many exam takers regard TOEFL Reading section as very challenging as it is necessary to read, comprehend and work on a lot of material in a rather short time. But good preparation in advance should surely give its great help in carrying out the tasks.

After the first section Listening Section follows. For those who watch movies or listen to music in English it seems to be an easy to do Listening tasks. The exam taker just seems to pay attention to some short conversations and answer a few questions on them. But it is not an easy section because you need to remember a raw of facts and information from several-minute-long recordings and then answer questions on specific information mentioned in the audio tracks. Listening is rather a difficult part of TOEFL exam.

To listen to English regularly is undoubtedly the first piece of advice which is of a paramount importance. A very useful material is listening to some English with background noise, such as talks which may be held outside or in front of a large crowd. TOEFL Listening audio tracks deliberately include background noises, so it would be better to get used to that.

It is advisable to pay attention that TOEFL Listening audio tracks purposefully include the variety of English accent not only North American one but also the U.K., Australia, or New Zealand and other parts of the world accents. So, it will be useful to practice listening to different pronunciations from these countries to be able to hear more accents while studying. Even some native English speakers can feel hard to hear and comprehend different English accents.

So, to be a success the exam takers need to know exactly what types of questions they will be seeing and what the structure of the section will be. Listening is the second of four sections on the exam. This part of exam lasts from 60 to 90 minutes and includes four to six lectures and two to three conversations. These lectures' duration is about three to five minutes and each of them is followed by six questions, and every conversation lasts nearly three minutes and is followed by five questions.

The content of audio tracks is close to the moments of students' daily life. You may hear the conversation between a student and teacher, a discussion during the class, a lecture by a professor and so on. There will be hints on the computer screen about how many people will be speaking and what the setting will be. Some parts of the conversation or lecture will be replayed, but other you'll hear only once. This task reveals your ability to understand spoken English, then to analyze the obtained information and outline the most important facts.

You will come across three types of questions completing the listening section of the test: “Standard Multiple Choice”, “Multiple-Answer Questions”, and “Replay” Questions”.

The most common question types the exam taker can find here is “Standard Multiple Choice”. For every question there are four answer choices, only one of which is correct. It is necessary to choose the correct one. These types of questions are very common not only in listening but also reading so you most probably have a lot of experience in doing them. If a seemingly right answer is found at once not reading all the list of options proposed it may be a wrong choice. It is good to read and analyze all the options for making sure the best answer has been chosen, because there will be some answers which sound quite all right, but in fact they are not.

Another type of question is “Multiple-Answer Questions” and it looks like a “Standard Multiple Choice”, except it may include more than one correct answer; it is mentioned how many correct answers there should be. It is necessary to find all the correct answers to get credit for this task.

The next type is “Replay” Questions” and this task allows the listen to the short parts of the track again and the question will be on this specific moment of the track. The questions after it are in common multiple-choice type. Replayed part is usually opposed to the speech in the rest of the recording and the answers should be based primarily on the clip replayed, so you may pay less attention to the content of the rest of audio track.

This section may be rather stressful because you need to switch from listening to audio tracks and answering questions on them all the time. After a number of listening, you may feel tired and the level of your concentration will lower. So, this may lead to the loss of some important information, so to avoid this it is necessary to have much listening practice beforehand. It is useful to get used to the length of the whole listening section which includes four lectures and two conversations with no breaks and no disturbances to create the atmosphere of real exam.

Another practical advice is to take notes because listening tracks take some time and contain much information which may be very important for the exam taker while answering. It is easy to forget some issues and it will be difficult then answering question in a correct way, so even if a person has good English skills and usually remember all what was heard, it is still better to take some notes. The bulk of TOEFL Listening questions will be concentrated on major points not on minor details.

The next comes Writing Section which is three in order. The writing part includes the Integrated and Independent Writing tasks. The TOEFL Writing section lasts 50 minutes and it is the final section of the TOEFL. It is held on the computer. It is well-known fact that “good language preparation is reached in the complex usage of effective informational technologies” [5, p.122]. So, it is necessary to have thorough understanding of the types of essay topics you may have on the exam. It is better to use 20 minutes to think over and write the Integrated Writing Task and 30 minutes to concentrate on and then to write the Independent Writing Tasks. The TOEFL Integrated Writing task involves your listening, reading, and writing skills. First you will have three minutes to read a text, and then you will listen to a short (approximately two-minute long) audio track of a speaker discussing the same topic the written passage covers. You don't need to discuss your own opinion.

During the writing time, there will be the chance to look through the written passage again but there would be no possibility to hear again the audio track. So, try to make some notes while listening is playing. To get the score you want you should give your response in 150-220 words and it should render the main issues of the audio track and the written text and their interrelation. Thus, you'll be graded on the quality of your writing and your Integrated Writing task should reveal your understanding of the information from both the written text and audio listening. Main ideas have to be rendered in the other words than they were used in the tasks to show the exam taker's skills.

It is necessary to discuss only what the audio track and written texts are saying. There shouldn't be any individual opinion. It is not needed in this task and the opportunity to express personal opinion will be given on the Independent Writing Task.

For the Independent Writing task, you'll get a question on a particular topic. This task should be fulfilled in 30 minutes. The exam taker should get organized, think over the topic, write on it and explain his or her opinion supported by giving reasons. The size of the writing is recommended to be at least 300 words and the grade will be based on how well you develop your ideas how well it is organized, how skillfully you use English to express your thoughts.

The writing should bring clearly expressed thoughts for the reader. Even if the exam-taker is not interested in the topic he or she should create a strong argument for the opinion presented. With the minimum recommended length in 300 words a person still may get a top score if it is written well. If the arguments need more words so keep writing but don't forget that longer isn't always better.

The last step of exam is Speaking Section. Speaking skills have very practical meaning in career life of a modern person. Without them people won't be able to succeed in the working world and in life. Great communication abilities help to form connections between partners, influence the process of decision making. “Speaking is a productive aural/ oral skill and it consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning [6, p.48].” So, no wonder that Speaking is an important section in TOEFL exam. As it helps the exam holders by taking them through the process of developing abilities and practicing for this section in advance and evaluating the speaking skills during it to get ready for real professional life.

This part of the exam aims at showing fluent speaking skills in academic environment. The exam taker should speak clearly and coherently using proper grammar patterns and rich vocabulary. It is a wrong strategy to think that the exam taker doesn't need to study for this section even if English speaking skills are of a high level. However, preparation is of a paramount importance for most people in this section. It is good to practice every day, if it is impossible then to do speaking for at least 2-3 hours a week. A person may have conversations on chats with friends. It is also very important to answer TOEFL Speaking questions as it helps to better understand the types of questions you'll be asked, how long you have to prepare, and how long your responses need to be. It only seems that speaking for 60 seconds is not long but it can feel longer than you'd expect.

This speaking section includes different aspects such as some reading, listening, writing down some notes. It lasts for 20 minutes and you need to understand what to do otherwise you may feel confused. There are six tasks. You are not going to speak to a real examiner. Instead of this the recorded conversations will be listened to and you need to respond into a microphone. Your responses will be evaluated by TOEFL examiners. From 0-4 is given for each question. Then they are added together and overall score is from 0-30 for the speaking section which makes up 25% of the total TOEFL score out of 120.

There are three different types of TOEFL Speaking questions, two tasks for each type. The first two tasks are independent speaking tasks that an exam holder should express own ideas, opinion and experiences when responding. For every question 15 seconds will be given to concentrate on and then there will be 45 seconds to speak. As time for preparation is very short so it is good to think quickly. The exam holder won't be able to think of all the details, so it is good just to concentrate on the topic and express the details and arguments naturally. If time is left and the speaker runs out of what to talk about then it is time to switch to imagination. There is no rule to keep up to only real facts; the exam holder may use imaginary situations or details while being able to continue speaking.

The remaining four tasks are integrated tasks. Students must use more than one skill in Tasks 3 and 4 as it requires ability to read, listen, then to speak. It is given 45 seconds to read a short passage, then to listen to a short lecture (about a minute in length). After that, there will be 30 seconds to prepare, and then it is needed to speak for 60 seconds. This is a very tricky task. The best advice is to take notes while reading and listening so after that there will be summarized information when the preparation time starts. So having some notes can help to avoid the waste of time on going back to the text.

The differences between the information in written passage and the information in the audio clip is important in answering the questions. In the response the speaker should back up the statements with evidence from the audio clip or written passage to show the ability to include information which was heard and read to create a powerful argument.

The final two TOEFL speaking tasks 5 and 6 require the exam taker to listen and then to speak. For these two tasks, it is necessary first to listen to a short audio clip, and then to have 20 seconds to prepare, and afterwards to speak for 60 seconds. So again, it's important to be able to quickly summarize the main points of the clip in a few notes so to be ready to speak when the timer starts. Throughout your response, you should mention specific parts of the audio clip to strengthen your statements.

Frequent switch between listening, reading, taking notes, and speaking can be easy for a person to get distracted and let your mind wander. However, it's very important to stay focused during this section. TOEFL scores are important for admission to foreign Universities but their score requirements for each major department or University differ to some extent. To prepare effectively for the TOEFL, it is useful to understand the TOEFL exam structure: what kinds of questions will be asked, and how the understanding of test essence and knowledge of English may be ultimately used to get a high score on test day.

Thus, the exam helps the exam taker to develop the speaking skills themselves in the process of preparation and taking it, effective speaking of a young person in future professional life should include the following: the message of an utterance must be wisely built-in mind as coherent passage with the appropriate conjunction words and correct grammar and also clearly pronounced and then heard. A person who is naturally talking either quietly or loudly should try to use neutral tone of speech. The choice of words is also involved in rendering the meaning of the speaking. So, both factors are important: what is said and how it is said.

So, to make some conclusions it is necessary to mention that a non-native English speaker who wishes to study abroad for achieving the aim should pass the international English exam and ETS (English Testing System) conducted a special research to determine whether a candidate have to take the TOEFL or another exam. TOEFL represents the English knowledge of an exam taker in complex and most American and Canadian colleges and Universities will ask for TOEFL scores. IELTS is aimed at those seeking to study mostly in Australia and Great Britain. The results showed that 4 out of 5 institutions prefer to get TOEFL certificate rather than a document of a different test. Representatives of these institutions indicated that TOEFL provides the most accurate information about the knowledge of English.

In the terms of globalization young specialists of different spheres should overcome linguistic barriers and move into multi-language direction where international language is regarded as the means for the world unification. Modern progress and social-political development change limits of many countries wiping out boundaries and demanding communication on the higher than national level. Thus, being fluent in a foreign language gives a good opportunity for employment, cooperation with world companies, enhancing human wellbeing.

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