Michael Goodine's Blog, page 40

Language Testing Cartel?

I spotted a wonderful article by Graham Witcomb in Intelligent Investor a couple of weeks ago about IDP and the language testing industry in general. In it, Witcomb notes: “In theory, there’s still choice. In practice, language testing operates as a cartel with tremendous pricing power. For their own convenience, governments typically pick just a […]

Changes in the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition – The Tests

And, finally, here are changes to the practice tests in the new Official Guide to the TOEFL.   Note that all of the academic discussion questions are new.  They have not appeared elsewhere. You can read the whole blog series on changes at the following links: chapter one, chapter two, chapter three and four, chapter five, the […]

Changes to the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition – Chapter 5

Next up, a list of changes in Chapter 5 of the Official Guide to the TOEFL.  This chapter is wonderful. Again, note that I am focusing on changes other than the big test revisions that were implemented in July of last year. Page 192-193: The example question about teamwork (which was quite inaccurate) has been replaced […]

Changes in the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition – Chapters 3 and 4

Moving along, here’s a quick list of changes to Chapters 3 (Listening) and Chapters 4 (Reading) in the new Official Guide to the TOEFL.  Again, I’m focusing on stuff other than the major changes to the test that started back in July. Chapter 3 Pages 122-123: “Painters and Painting” is added as a potential lecture topic. […]

Duolingo 2024 Q1 Results

Duolingo just released its 2024 Q1 earnings report. Revenue from the Duolingo English Test was 12.8 million dollars in the quarter.  That’s a 28% increase from the same quarter last year.  Note that the test cost $10 less at that time. My math (revenue/$59 price tag) suggests that the test was probably taken about 217,000 […]

Changes in the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition – Chapter 2

Moving along, here are all of the major changes to Chapter 2 of the new Official Guide to the TOEFL.  This chapter covers the reading section of the TOEFL test. Throughout the chapter, the “how to recognize” stuff for each question type has been rephrased to emphasize that questions are based on single paragraphs instead […]

Changes in the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition – Chapter One

My copy of the Official Guide to the TOEFL (7th edition) finally arrived.  As with previous editions, I will spend the next week taking a quick look at every chapter so that I can note all of the changes.  I’ll start today with Chapter One, which introduces the test in a general way.  Note that […]

Changes in the Official Guide to the TOEFL, 7th Edition

My copy of the Official Guide to the TOEFL (7th edition) finally arrived.  As with previous editions, I will spend the next week taking a quick look at every chapter so that I can note all of the changes.  I’ll start today with Chapter One, which introduces the test in a general way.  Note that […]

DET Advisory Team, Australia

I saw this interesting article in The Koala yesterday. It mirrors what I’ve observed happening in Australia – since the beginning of 2024 I’ve noticed Duolingo’s Australian office bringing some really talented people into the fold. They are working hard to increase acceptance of DET scores. Says the article: “Reflecting on Duolingo’s entry into the […]

TOEFL Now Accepted for Australian Visas

Good news: The TOEFL iBT Test is once again accepted for Australian visas. Regular readers will know that acceptance of the TOEFL was suspended on July 26 of last year when the the test’s content was revised. Note that TOEFL tests taken between July 26, 2023 and May 4, 2024 will not be accepted. More […]