TOEFL ESSENTIALS

The TOEFL Essentials test is a quality test of English language proficiency from ETS, maker of
the TOEFL iBT test.

The TOEFL Essentials test measures foundational language and communication skills for
language learners across a wide range of abilities.

The test covers the four language skills of listening, reading, writing, and speaking, and
provides academic programs and other users with reliable information regarding the test takers
ability to understand and use English.

The TOEFL Essentials test includes a range of language knowledge activities and communicative
language tasks that are drawn from various academic and daily life contexts.

By design, TOEFL Essentials is a global test. Tasks include a variety of materials in English from
different parts of the world. And the test includes a variety of mild accents and test situations
from different English-speaking regions.

The TOEFL Essentials test was designed to have an optimal combination of quality and
convenience. The test is taken at home, with test security provided by live online human
proctors who monitor the entire testing session, assisted by best-in-class artificial intelligence
technology.

The test is shorter than many English proficiency tests, with a testing time of about 90 minutes.

The test follows a multistage adaptive design to help ensure the most accurate measure of the
test taker's language ability in an efficient way.

Based on this design, test taker performance on the first half of a section is used to select the
content for the second half of the session, so that the difficulty of the tasks matches the ability
level of the test takers. This way, testing time is reduced without compromising the accuracy of
the scores.

Unofficial scores for Listening and Reading are available at the end of the test session, with
official scores available in six days.

Overall, TOEFL Essentials is designed to provide valid and reliable information about someone's
ability to use English in a relatively brief test taking time and at an affordable price using a
format that is test-taker friendly and engaging.

ACTIVITIES AND TESTS

Here are a few examples of activities and tasks drawn from both academic and daily life
contexts: listening to academic talks, public announcements, and personal interactions; reading
passages from academic and daily life sources, such as articles, advertisements, and forms;
writing responses for common situations, such as emails and online discussions; and speaking
to a virtual interviewer, or fluently and intelligently retelling spoken or written input. All of
these provide test takers with brief but meaningful opportunities to demonstrate their English
language skills.
INTENDED SCORE USERS AND USE

The TOEFL Essentials test is designed to provide score users with valid and reliable information
about someone's ability to use English. The intended users of the test are academic programs,
language schools, and other official public and private institutions.

The TOEFL Essentials test can be used for the same purposes as the TOEFL iBT and other major
English language tests. The tests can be used to inform decisions about admissions into higher
education institutions and higher secondary schools; students placement in, progress through,
and exit from English language proficiency classes or English pathway programs; and any
decisions that require an overall indication of English language proficiency.

You may be wondering, which test takers should consider taking the TOEFL Essentials test? This
test is intended for any older adolescent or adult who needs to provide evidence of their
overall English language proficiency level.

The multistage adaptive design of the test helps ensure the most accurate and efficient
evaluation of the test taker's language ability by matching the difficulty of the test tasks with
the proficiency level of the test taker. TOEFL Essentials can assess the proficiency of language
learners at all proficiency levels described on the Common European Framework of Reference,
or CEFR, from levels A1 to C2.

TEST DESIGN PROCESS

Like all TOEFL tests, the TOEFL Essentials test design was influenced by the identified needs of
our score users and test takers around the world. The design of the test reflects the need to
combine convenience and efficiency with a trustworthy measurement of ability, across a broad
range of proficiency levels.

TOEFL Essentials was designed to balance these demands by employing an efficient test
administration model using multistage adaptive test methodology, as well as by combining task
types, addressing both foundational language abilities and communication skills.

To achieve this, the test design process was guided by several principles, including innovation,
efficiency, convenience, and of course, high-quality measurement. From the test design
principles came a list of requirements that influenced the design of the test tasks.

The test should measure and report scores from all four language skills: listening, reading,
speaking, and writing. The test should measure a wide range of abilities from beginners to fully
competent users of English. The test should measure language ability in the academic and daily
life contexts.

The time required to complete the full test should last no more than 90 minutes. And the test
should be designed so the test takers could complete it online, at home, from their own
computer.

Taking the requirements and best practices into account, the designers of the TOEFL Essentials
test first created prototype speaking and writing tasks. Substantial innovations were
incorporated in the task design. So prior to piloting, an initial study was conducted where the
new task types were administered to an international sample of English learners.
After the prototype tasks were administered and responses evaluated, task design and scoring
criteria were refined. A pilot test of the refined speaking and writing tasks and prototype
listening and reading tasks adapted for rapid assessment of language proficiency were piloted
with a larger population of English learners from diverse regions of the world. The final step in
test design is the field testing a pool of items on a population that is similar to the expected
real world test takers. Once all of this is complete, the test is ready for operational use.

MULTISTAGE ADAPTATIVE DESIGN

The Listening, Reading, and Writing sections of the TOEFL Essentials test are designed as
section-level multi-stage adaptive tests, or MSTs. MSTs use the test takers performance on the
first part, or stage, of a test section to determine the difficulty of the test questions delivered
in the rest of the section.

The Speaking section of the TOEFL Essentials test is linear, like many of the existing language
tests being administered today. This means all test takers respond to the same tasks. The
Speaking tasks are designed to be accessible across a range of proficiency levels with many
opportunities for the test taker to speak. This innovative design helps to reduce the amount of
testing time needed to measure a student's proficiency level.

Let's look at how the multistage adaptive design works in the TOEFL Essentials test. The
Listening, Reading, and Writing sections are each delivered in two stages. In the first stage, test
takers are delivered a common set of questions, called a router, that are of average difficulty.
The difficulty level of the second stage of each section depends on the test taker's performance
on the router in the first stage.

For example, if the student does very well in stage 1 of the Listening section, the second stage
of the Listening section will be at a higher level of difficulty. For Listening and Reading, stage 2
h as three difficulty levels-- easy, medium, and difficult. For the Writing measure, stage 2 has
two difficulty levels-- easy and medium-to-difficult. The scoring for the Listening, Reading, and
Writing sections takes into consideration the total number of questions answered correctly
across the two stages, as well as the difficulty level of each stage.

SECURITY FEATURES

The TOEFL Essentials test is taken at home and proctored (to watch people taking an exam in
order to check that they do not cheat) remotely. To make sure that the scores are highly valid,
several best-in-class security measures are in place to ensure that a test taker's score accurately
reflects their proficiency level. TOEFL Essentials uses the same security protocols that are used
for the TOEFL iBT Home Edition. Let's review some of the security features in place.

First, the test content is delivered using secure transmission protocols. Different versions of the
test, known as forms, are assigned through centrally controlled algorithms which consider the
location of the examinees and their time zone.

Second, prior to the test, examinees are required to download a secure browser on the
computer they will use to take the test. Test takers are also required to run a system check and
fix any issues before the test date.
Prior to starting the test, examinees are required to show a photo ID to their proctor and
demonstrate their workspace meets several requirements. The proctor reviews the exam rules
and requests access to the computer screen for monitoring purposes. Examinees are also asked
to use either a handheld mirror or a cell phone to show the proctor their computer screen. The
proctor then instructs the examinee to launch the secure browser and provides the ID and
password to access the test.

During the test, test security is safeguarded throughout the session by use of online human
proctors and artificial intelligence measures. Throughout the test, the proctor monitors the
computer screen and observes the examinee via the computer camera. In addition, artificial
intelligence technology monitors activity and settings on the examinee's computer.

Alerts are sent to proctors about unusual behavior or room conditions. For example, outside
noises, communicating with someone other than the proctor, looking away from the screen,
and moving away from the screen.

COMPARING TOEFL ESSENTIALS AND TOEFL IBT TESTS

The TOEFL Essentials test is an efficient measure of English proficiency for admissions,
placement, and other important decisions. So you may be wondering, how does the TOEFL
Essentials test compare with the TOEFL iBT test? Let's go over some of the differences and
similarities between the two tests.

In terms of what the two tests measure, TOEFL Essentials measures foundational elements of
English language proficiency that indicate how test takers would function in both academic and
non-academic contexts.

TOEFL iBT provides comprehensive direct measurement of communicative language ability in

an academic context. Students looking for a test that blends quality and convenience with an
engaging format may take TOEFL Essentials, while aspiring students looking to stand out by
demonstrating their exceptional skills may take TOEFL iBT.

The language domain is the language and contexts used in the test. TOEFL Essentials has about
half academic and half general English contexts. By contrast, TOEFL iBT has 100% academic
English contexts. TOEFL Essentials emphasizes breadth (wide range or extent) of proficiency
with shorter, faster-pace tasks, while TOEFL iBT emphasizes depth of proficiency with longer
integrated tasks. TOEFL Essentials is much shorter, around 90 minutes in length, compared to
the TOEFL iBT test which takes around three hours to complete.

In terms of skills sections included, both tests have four sections-- Listening, Reading, Writing,
and Speaking. TOEFL Essentials also includes the Personal Video Statement, where test takers
record a video talking about themselves and their opinions in English. The Personal Video
Statement is not a scored part of the test.

In terms of the design approach and principles, there are key differences between the two
tests. TOEFL Essentials is designed to be a highly efficient test that measures the full spectrum
of English proficiency accurately from CEFR level A1 to C2. This means a highly valid score with
fewer test items and less testing time.
TOEFL iBT, on the other hand, has been designed to be the most comprehensive assessment of
communicative language ability in academic contexts with a range corresponding to CEFR
levels B1 and above.

For the test content, in the TOEFL Essentials test, tasks are designed to efficiently measure
proficiency, tailored to the test takers ability level using multistage adaptive methodology. For
TOEFL iBT, the content includes carefully selected tasks that represent what students must do
in an academic environment, requiring integration of all language skills and comprehension of
extended input.

And last, TOEFL Essentials is delivered at home, and TOEFL iBT can be taken either at a test
center or at home. Both TOEFL Essentials and the TOEFL iBT Home Edition use the same
platform, technology, and security protocols for at home testing.