By NORIKO AKIYAMA,AERA
The venerable TOEIC is undergoing a face-lift.
Long a measure of English ability whose test scores could make or break the career aspirations of Japan's corporate warriors, the Test of English for International Communication as of May will be structured differently, decisively oriented toward practical rather than merely theoretical command of the language.
And many prospective test-takers are worried. What impact will the new format have on their test scores and their hopes for promotion?
"Toshio," 24, is an engineer with a leading appliance maker. His mornings begin with the CNN news broadcast. He listens for half an hour while getting ready to leave for work. If a new word catches his attention, he looks it up in a dictionary. He repeats idiomatic phrases to himself over and over.
At his office, the TOEIC test of business English has become the standard yardstick by which eligibility for promotion is gauged. Anybody who wants to get anywhere in the company must take the test twice a year--and do well in it.
Before long, ambitious young corporate employees like Toshio may have to broaden their preparations to include broadcasts from Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Until now, the listening section of TOEIC tests has almost exclusively featured American accents.
That will change in May, when examinees will confront accents from everywhere in the English-speaking world.
That's not all. Questions dealing with the listening part of the test will be asked orally, not in writing, and the reading sections will emphasize comprehension rather than correction by the student of intentional errors in the questions.
Further changes, assessing speaking and writing ability, are under consideration for the fall.
The revisions are in response to a frequent criticism leveled at TOEIC: that even examinees who achieve very high scores cannot necessarily speak English.
The new format is designed to measure how well an examinee would likely do in actual situations demanding use of the language.
The implications go far beyond test scores.
Since TOEIC first became available in Japan in 1979, no fewer than 13 million people have taken the test, which has been adopted by roughly 2,500 businesses and schools.
Many companies, like Toshio's employer, rely on TOEIC results in deciding whether an employee is ready for promotion, or worthy of being posted overseas.
It's not too much to say that for some, a high TOEIC score is a matter of corporate life and death.
At IBM Japan, every director or manager has a TOEIC score of at least 730, indicating an ability “to handle everyday life overseas and conduct business within a limited range” in English.
The minimum requirement for an overseas assignment lasting up to 60 days is a score of 600. Longer foreign postings require a minimum 730 points.
Nissan Motor Co. has arranged for work groups to be tested together in specially designed collective exams. Among 13,000 employees, as many as 5,000 are tested annually. All new employees, including those hired from other companies, must take a TOEIC test. TOEIC has been introduced at Renault, Nissan's French affiliate, as well.
Five hundred points is the necessary minimum score for an overseas posting. Promotion is not strictly conditional on any fixed TOEIC score.
“There is the feeling here that English, like computer skills, is basically a tool,” says Nissan personnel development group manager Hisayoshi Ishikawa. For some positions, though, an ability to communicate in English is indispensable, he adds.
“You often see people on trains, people in their late 40s, sweating over Harry Potter in English,” says one company official. “You just know they're getting ready for their first overseas assignment.”
At company orientation sessions for prospective employees, he adds, anxious questions about TOEIC inevitably crop up: “What TOEIC score would I have to have to be hired?” and so on.
“For us,” Ishikawa says, “the new TOEIC is good because it stresses practical communication ability.”
IBM Japan's public relations spokesman agrees. “The tests up to now have mostly concentrated on written material," he says. "Now, more of the test is about conversation, and should give us a better idea of how much English the examinee can actually use.”
Prospective examinees, however, seem less enthusiastic than their bosses about the new format.
“All that studying, and now the whole method's changed," laments one. “It's too bad. There's no way of knowing what the new test will be like until you actually take it.”
Fearing the worst, many are rushing to take the old test before the new version debuts in May.
The upcoming changes have also affected English schools.
The Essence English School in Tokyo's Minami-Ikebukuro specializes in preparing students for TOEIC tests. Ninety percent of its students are company employees, many of them seeking promotions or hoping to give their careers a boost.
“They're all very, very eager,” says administrative chief Kenichi Matsumura. “Their whole futures are at stake.”
Inquiries have been coming in thick and fast since last summer, when reports of the pending revision first surfaced.
Classes began in January for the final old-style TOEIC exam set for March. At one class, full to capacity with about 50 students, the eagerness of those in attendance was palpable. These were people aiming at a score of 900 points. Between 60 and 70 percent of them were women who looked to be in their 20s and 30s. Also present were a significant number of men apparently over 50.
“We've had more applicants than usual lately--people who have studied under the old system, taken the old test any number of times and want to get the highest score they can before the system changes,” says Matsumura.
Yumi was one of them. She's 28 and works for a foreign firm. With her marriage coming up, she's considering changing jobs.
Not having taken a TOEIC test since her student days, she had lately been thinking it was time she did take one, when a friend happened to mention TOEIC was about to adopt a new format--one that would feature non-American English voices.
“That will be difficult,” she thought to herself--and made up her mind to take it before the change went into effect.
Besides attending the school on weekends, Yumi spent her time on the train--an hour to and from work--reading English newspapers. At home, she studied half an hour every other day, practicing speed reading with a stopwatch in one hand. At work, she went out of her way to talk to foreign staffers.
“At the school, there were lots of men in their 30s and 40s recording the lessons with digital recorders," she says. "Everybody was really into it, which I found stimulating.”
The effort paid off. After over a month of studying, Yumi nailed the test, clearing 900 points.
Eri, 29, was another Essence English School student. A software marketer, Eri, too, was taking the test in preparation for a job change. Like Yumi, she was in a hurry, having heard from the school about the revised TOEIC format.
“Who knows what the new test will be like?” she says. “Rather than plunge into the unknown, I decided it would be easier to take the test I'm used to.”
Two months of intensive study brought her score up more than 200 points, beyond her initial target of 600. She's still studying and plans to take the test again in March.
(IHT/Asahi: February 25,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200602250180.html
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