Generation shock

It will no longer be enough to know a lot about English. You are going to have to prove you can use it as well. Grammar is out. In its place will be speaking and writing activities where you need to demonstrate your control of English grammatical structures and, more importantly, you will need to be able to use them to communicate.

The language you read and hear will be different as well. For the past several years, the researchers at the Educational Testing Service have been visiting North American colleges and universities trying to find out exactly what kind language you need to survive there.

They’ve scoured textbooks and analysed student essays and assignments. They’ve taken their tape recorders into classrooms and lecture halls and they’ve sat in during student/professor conferences. They’ve even parked themselves by bookstore checkout counters to listen in on the language exchanges there.

As a result, the language you will encounter on the text will be as authentic as the test writers can make it. In the listening section, for example, you won’t hear a straightforward lecture. Instead, you’ll likely hear the lecturer begin to develop an idea and then shift gears in response to a student question — just like in the real world.

The language tasks, too, will be integrated, meaning you will be called upon to mix skills. For example, you may be asked to read a passage and respond to it orally. More challenging yet, the task may begin with a short general reading that is followed by a short lecture dealing with one specific aspect of that reading. Then you may be asked to give a short written or oral explanation of what you read and heard.

During the session I attended recently with ETS assessment specialist Emilie Pooler, the sample reading gave a brief introduction to the subject of the domestication of animals. Then a lecturer discussed the social characteristics of horses and antelopes to illustrate why horses were easier to domesticate than antelopes. Our task was then to orally explain how the behaviour of each species was related to their suitability for domestication. Fortunately, we didn’t actually have to carry out that task. But you will!

Actually, it’s not quite as difficult as it sounds. For the first time ever in a TOEFL exam, you will be allowed to take notes and to use them to answer questions.

The test itself will be Internet-based with each participant seated at a computer. You will speak to the computer through a microphone and all writing will be done from the keyboard. Computers half the world away will grade the exam. Because they are so speedy you should have your results within 15 business days.

Obviously, teachers preparing students for the NGT are going to have to dramatically change their approaches. They’ll need to focus more on communication using all four skills. They’ll need to incorporate integrated tasks into their curriculum and they will also have to teach higher level skills like paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising.

For many teachers this will be a welcome change. All of sudden TOEFL lessons will become English lessons.