Welcome to

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The Enhanced
TOEFL iBT Test:
®
A Robust Assessment
to Meet Today’s Needs
Marcus G. Siconolfi Peter Westerhuis
ELT Coordinator ELT Coordinator
(Spain & Portugal) (EMEA)
Which day is Peter MOST
looking forward to this year?

a) December 25 th

b) December 31st
c) His birthday
d) July 26th
 Which day is Peter MOST
looking forward to this year?

d) JULY 26 !!
th
Our
flagship
test…

U.S.S.
TOEFL®
(c. 1964)
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 TOEFL Test
®

milestones
c. 2005
✓ Internet-based
Image source: https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/enterprise-d-replica.html
✓ Integrated tasks
c. 2019
✓ Better test experience
✓ MyBest™ Scores
 ENHANCED
®
TOEFL iBT Test

Coming to a
galaxy near you
on July 26th, 2023!
Image source: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701-E)
The TOEFL Commitment
®

• For nearly six decades, TOEFL has pioneered the English-

language assessment
• Since its launch in 2005, the TOEFL iBT test has been the
premier 4-skills test of English proficiency
• A reliable measure with an optimal experience
• All improvements are made without sacrificing test quality,
validity or security
For years, ongoing enhancements have continued
to improve the TOEFL iBT experience

• TOEFL iBT Home Edition and • Enhanced speaking scoring

Paper Edition • Increased capacity with
• Shorter test weekday and afternoon
testing
• Instant Reading and Listening
scores • Extended registration
deadline
• Faster official score reporting
• MyBest® scores • Reduced retest wait time
• TOEFL iBT Free Practice Test
 Image source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-history-of-laurel

Can you think of an idiom?

No “resting on our laurels” here!
We continue to give test takers the
TOEFL iBT ® experience they deserve

• In a post-covid world, needs

continue to change, and our
offerings will evolve with them
• These changes create efficiencies
for test takers while maintaining the
rigor institutions expect
ENHANCED
Test Taker Experience!

• Reduced test time

• Streamlined registration process
• Score sending transparency
• Free AI-scored mobile practice sets
• Improved ‘At Home’ experience
 Reduced Test Time

TOEFL iBT Structure

for administrations beginning July 26, 2023
No. of
Section Average Timing
Questions
Reading 20 questions 35 minutes
Listening 28 questions 36 minutes
Speaking 4 tasks 16 minutes
Writing 2 tasks 29 minutes
Total
1 hour 56 minutes
Time

NEW
TASK!
Test time reduced without sacrificing quality

• Removing unscored items

• Streamlining test instructions
• Removing one reading passage and associated
questions
• Replacing the ‘Independent Writing’ task with
‘Writing for an Academic Discussion’ task

Effective July 26, 2023, these enhancements put the TOEFL iBT
test time just under 2 hours while maintaining its reliability
Reading Section
• Currently: 3–4 reading passages (54-72 minutes)*
• Assesses how well you can read and understand the kind of
materials used in an academic environment:
• Approximately 700 words each
• 10 questions for each
• Excerpts from university-level textbooks that introduce a topic
• Topics vary, but prior knowledge of the topic is not needed
• Glossary feature available to define uncommon words

*From July 26th: 2 reading passages – 35 min!

Listening Section
• Currently: 3–4 lectures + 2–3 conversations (41-57 minutes)*
• Measures your ability to understand conversations and lectures in
English:
• listening for basic comprehension
• listening for pragmatic understanding (attitude/degree of certainty)
• connecting and synthesizing information
• conversations and lectures use campus-based language

*From July 26th: 3 lectures + 2 conversations

– 36 min!
Speaking Section
• Structure (17 minutes):*
• 1 independent task, 3 integrated tasks
• 15‒30 seconds preparation time
• 45‒60 seconds response time
• Test takers respond by speaking into a microphone on the computer
which are then sent to ETS for scoring
• Measures your ability to speak English effectively in academic settings,
based on academic topics and campus situations

*NO CHANGES (only streamlined – 16 min!)

Writing Section
• Current structure (50 minutes):*
• 1 integrated task, 20 minutes
- Listen to a short lecture and read a passage, then write
• Currently: 1 independent task, 30 minutes*
- Response based on personal experience or opinion

*From July 26th:

Writing for an Academic Discussion (10 min.)
- 29 min. total average Writing time!
A modern, high quality writing task:
Writing for an Academic Discussion
 Enabling confident preparation

• TOEFL iBT Free Practice Test, available NOW!

• TOEFL iBT Practice Sets, available NOW!
• Test Prep Online, available NOW!
• 10 Practice Questions for the new Writing task,
available NOW!
• Free AI scored practice sets on mobile, coming
July 2023!
• Additional materials to be added soon!
www.ets.org/toefl/ibt-enhancements/prep.html
Even more improvements…
 Streamlined Registration

Beginning July 2023:

• Register in less time
• Clearer scheduling experience
• Intuitive navigation
• Enhanced usability
• Mobile responsive design

Coming soon: Additional local payment options!

Check with your local representative for details.
 Enhanced Score Transparency

• Instant unofficial reading and listening

scores
• Official score availability date communicated
on test day
• Real-time notification of score status change
• More specific and ongoing communication
with test takers
Home Edition Enhancements

• Improved technical preparation and support

• Streamlined communication with testers

Enhanced security while increasing test taker

confidence in the validity of their scores
Same Trusted Score Scale

There are no changes to

the score scale:
• Same reliability of scores
• Same score requirements
can be kept
 For more information:

www.ets.org/toefl/ibt-enhancements.html
Thank you for listening!

Questions?

toeflteacherresources@etsglobal.org
Fostering Creativity and Critical Thinking
for Written Academic Interaction

Prof. Dr. Esim Gürsoy

Bursa Uludağ University
Outline

• Creative classroom
• Tips for creativity in the classroom
• Creativity vs. Critical thinking
• Techniques to develop critical thinking
• Possible directions for EAP writing

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Creative Classroom

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In Creative Classrooms Students:

• regulate their own learning

• ask questions (limit t-directed questioning)
• generate ideas
• involve in self and peer assessment
• conduct critical research
• work collaboratively
• do reflection
• revise work

https://www.dyknow.com/blog/how-to-build-a-creative-classroom/
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-characteristics-innovative-classroom/

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To what extent do we implement these tools of creativity in our classes?

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Creative classrooms build long term success for life in the areas of

• expression,
• problem solving,
• innovation,
• as well as faster and more effective learning.

Once a skill is acquired it is transferrable to other areas!

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• «Creativity involves cognitive processes that
transform one’s understanding of, or relationship
to, the world.»

Liane Gabora

(https://theconversation.com/what-creativity-really-is-and-why-schools-need-it-81889)
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How Can We Cultivate Creativity in the
Classroom?

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1. Focus less on the reproduction of information and more on critical thinking and
problem solving. (project work; writing a different ending to a story; comparing and
contrasting events, objects, people; re-writing a story by changing the characteristics of
the characters or plot; giving the result of a situation and ask to identify possible
reasons causing it etc.)

2. Curate activities that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries (such as asking ss

to show understanding via acting out, preparing a poster, helping a friend etc.)

3. Pose questions and challenges and follow up with opportunities for solitude and
reflection. (This provides time and space to foster the forging of new connections that
is so vital to creativity.)
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Tips For Creativity in the Classroom

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1. Make room for reflection

2. Keep your classroom layout flexible (for different type of activities)

3. Use unconventional learning materials (anything but the textbook)

4. Incorporate hands-on learning

5. Encourage collaboration

6. Give assignments in a variety of formats (video recordings,

interviews, observations, posters, presentations etc.)

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7. Use design thinking

The design thinking

process is a set of
structured
strategies that
identify challenges,
gather information,
generate potential
solutions, refine
ideas, and test
solutions.

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8. Incorporate problem finding as well as problem solving (e.g., What is
different in this picture? What seems odd in this conversation? And how
can you fix it?)

9. Create a risk-taking environment (Ask questions that doesn’t have one

answer! E.g.: Guessing Acts)

10. Embrace alternative assessments (self, peer etc.)

11. Encourage autonomy

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Creativity vs. Critical Thinking

In what ways they are different?

rb.gy/mn9we

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«Creative thinking involves searching for meaningful new connections by
generating many unusual, original, and varied possibilities, as well as
details that expand or enrich possibilities.

Critical thinking, on the other hand, involves examining possibilities

carefully, fairly, and constructively, focusing your thoughts and actions
by organizing and analyzing possibilities, refining and developing the
most promising possibilities, ranking or prioritizing options, and
choosing certain options.»

Donald J. Treffinger

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Which Skills and Sub-skills Require Critical
Thinking?

• Making inferences and drawing conclusions

• Determining the author’s purpose

• Guessing meaning from context

• Summarizing

• Making predictions

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Techniques to Develop Critical Thinking

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• Ask open-ended questions

• Support autonomy

• Encourage creativity

• Use analogies

• Promote interaction among students

• Allow reflection time

• Use real-life problems

• Allow for thinking practice

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Critical thinking is:

• Carefully considering an idea and evaluating the evidence supporting it

to see if it is convincing.
• Explaining why the evidence is convincing or unconvincing. Building
an argument.
• Being thoughtful or skeptical, asking questions, and not taking what
you read/hear/see for granted.
• Identifying patterns, trends and relationships.
• Looking for bias.
• Noticing flaws in the logic of an argument.
• Making an objective evidence-based judgement, while paying attention
to context.
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• Writing is an exercise in critical thinking. Every writing assignment
demands that students think ahead, consider their audience, and
rethink their wording or organization to ensure that their composition
meets a specific goal: to persuade, to inform or explain, to
communicate ideas, or to tell a story.

https://www.learninga-z.com/site/resources/breakroom-blog/writingaz-critical-thinking

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What are some academic writing skills
necessary for effective writing?
1. Paraphrasing (using other people’s ideas to support your own) Change the
words, keep the meaning

2. Cohesion (make sure the parts of the text are connected to each other)
• repeated words/ideas
• reference words
• transition signals
• substitution
• ellipsis (leaving out one or more words, because the meaning is clear
from the context)

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What are some academic writing skills
necessary for effective writing?
3. Hedging (cautious language, expressing thoughts in a softer tone)
4. Describing data
5. Using complex grammar
6. Writing objectively
7. Writing critically

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Creative Thinking and Academic Writing

Creative
Academic Writing
Writing

Creative Academic Writing

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Can academic writing be creative?

• Academic writing is considered usually as dull, boring, stringent and

meticulous

• It is all about rules — structure, thesis statements, supporting

arguments, topic sentences, grammar etc.

• Academic writing is persuasive and analytical, which means writers

engage readers through convincing arguments and explanations that
support the overall focus of the work.
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Can academic writing be creative?

Is there room for creativity in AW?

Or should there be creativity in AW?

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 Prof. Dr. Esim Gürsoy
Bursa Uludağ University
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Times are changing...

...and so is the
academic environment

Sena Elibal İçuz

ELT Coordinator
ETS Global
 Reduced Test Time

TOEFL iBT No. Of Tasks Timing

Current Version 2 Tasks ~ 50 minutes

As of July 26 2 tasks ~ 29 minutes

A Fully Successful Response
Annotation
 A Sample Response

Level 3 Response
Annotation
 How to Prepare for the
‘’Writing for an Academic Discussion’’ Task

The task requires a test taker to:

• Clearly articulate one’s own position or opinion and give
supporting evidence from personal experience or
knowledge, taking into consideration opinions expressed
by others
• Organize information and express it coherently
• Use transition words and phrases to create a smooth flow
of ideas
• Vary sentence structure and vocabulary and use each
accurately and appropriately
• Follow the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and layout
and organize information
Some Questions about the
‘’Writing for an Academic Discussion’’ Task
Question 1

Is this task scored by both

a human rater and AI?
Question 2

What is the rationale for including this

type of a task?
Question 3

Will the new writing task make up half

of the score for the Writing section?
Question 4

Does the score depend on including both the

professor's question and the students'
opinions? Or will the test taker be penalized
for only considering the professor's question?
Question 5

Where can I find

sample items
to practice in
class?
TOEFL iBT remains the test
that you know and trust
Panel Discussion:
Resilient Teaching and Assessment
post-Covid Pandemic
Panelists:
Catherine AYGEN
Dr. Sonya FAN
Özge ONAL
Celestina CARDOZ MAURY (chair)
Marta ZANINELLI (chair)
Today’s topics

Panel Final
2. Assessment
Introduction Considerations

1. Classroom 3. Emotional
Management Well-being
10 minutes 5 minutes 7 minutes

5 minutes 7 minutes
Interview:
TOEFL Steps: A Research-Backed
Learning Path for Students
Arum Perwitasari, PhD
Ishraq Al Zu’bi
Spiros Papageorgiou, PhD

5/24/2023
Why did we conduct the research study

• Stakeholders in the TOEFL Family ecosystem should be provided with a

learning path from lower to higher levels of proficiency that is
transparent and grounded in research.
• What is the relationship among the different score scales?
• When are students ready to take a higher-level test?

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Focus proficiency levels in the TOEFL Family
of Assessments

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Linking the reading and listening sections of
the different TOEFL tests

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Building the vertical scale: Linking items

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• Test administrations between January 2019 and February 2020

• 17 test forms
• 163,209 test takers
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Thank you for being with us today!

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