Michael Goodine's Blog, page 43
March 25, 2024
British Council’s 2022-23 Annual Report Now Available
British Council’s 2022-23 annual report is now available. I believe it covers the twelve months ending March 2023. British Council delivered 1.8 million IELTS tests in this period, a 12 percent increase from the year ending March 2022. Compare that to IDP’s most recent annual report, which mentioned just a 1% increase in the volume […]
English Tests: Who Accepts What?
Now in preprint from Daniel Isbell and Nicholas Coney is an article examining how English Language Proficiency tests are used at 146 research-intensive universities in the USA. It examines which tests are used for admissions, what cut scores are used (and they compare across tests), and how subscores are used in admissions decisions. The authors […]
March 23, 2024
Taking English Tests Blind?
How closely should an English Test result reflect a test taker’s ability if they go into the test mostly blind? If we know that the test taker is at a C1 level, is it proper to expect them to get an equivalent test score (95 on the TOEFL iBT, 7-8 on the IELTS, 76-84 on […]
March 21, 2024
On Marketing the IELTS
The folks behind the IELTS recently published a head-to-head comparison of the IELTS General and the new PTE Core, encouraging individuals on the journey to residence in Canada to opt for the former product. The comparison is a very eloquent defense of their product, but it highlights some of the challenges that the so-called “legacy” […]
Digital Chosun Discount Codes
Some discount codes for readers in Korea. Use them on Digital Chosun. First come, first served!
March 17, 2024
On “Jagged Profiles”
The Duolingo English Test blog has a new feature on “jagged profiles” in language assessment. This refers to a language user who is quite strong at one or more aspects of the language and quite weak at some other aspect(s). I was quite happy to read the following: “Are jagged profiles common? In a word, […]
“We’re Not Trying to Test Their Patience”
Like most of you, I’m a big fan of the “Tried and Tested Podcast” from PSI services. In an episode from October, PSI president Janet Garcia said: “The only thing we’re trying to test is knowledge and competence. We’re not trying to test their digital literacy skills. We’re not trying to test their patience.” I […]
March 15, 2024
Official TOEFL Books Delayed ’till April 24
Some may be interested to know that publication of the three official TOEFL books has been pushed back again. Per Amazon, they will be published on April 24. The bundles still have an April 22 street date, but I suppose that will be changed. In other book news: The 18th edition of Barron’s TOEFL will […]
March 10, 2024
New Testing Option: Password Skills Plus
Password English Language Testing‘s at-home “Password Skills Plus” test is now available around the world. This comes after a long pilot project in the UK and Cyprus. The test is intended to be used for university admissions. I haven’t paid much attention to this one, but it looks pretty solid. I hope to take it […]
Pearson PTE Webinars
Next week, Pearson kicks off its “PTE Academic Teachers: Around the World with PTE 2024” webinar series. I think it could be useful for people who want to help students prepare for this popular test. It looks like the Pearson team put some thought into the selection of webinar topics – they go far beyond […]
