That’s what Jodi’s reporting. And I say, good riddance. It’s not just that TOIEC doesn’t test real ability; it’s also that TOEIC sidetracks people from trying to learn to understand English, into memorizing ridiculous obscure grammar points and, worse, memorizing methodologies designed to maximize correct answers on TOEIC tests through absolutely inane grammatical analysis of the questions. Yes, really. Ask Lime if you don’t believe me. Or the people I work with, who can tell you horror stories about TOEIC preparation book questions that make absolutely no sense.
Me, I just wonder how anyone convinced so many people to accept such a ridiculous evaluation standard for so long, and so widely. I mean, really. It makes me want to design an outright bogus testing standard, too, just to see how many people could be hoodwinked into accepting it. But, nah, I have better things to do.
Thanks for the link. Once again I tried to trackback you, but it didn’t work. Must be something with your blog as I have no problems with other wordpress blogs.
Actually, I think there’s something tricky about the way my ISP handles trackbacks, since a friend using the same ISP is having the same problem.
Could you try the following manually, and let me know if it works?
http://www.gordsellar.com/2005/12/30/good-bye-toiec/trackback/
Thanks!
tried again and it didn’t work. Which company is hosting your site?
EFL Geek: ESL & EFL in Korea – TOEIC on the way out!
Though I highly doubt it will go away anytime soon (Can we all say VESTED INTEREST), I think the best way to describe how I felt as I read through these posts is…intrigued. EFL Geek: ESL & EFL in Korea – TOEIC on the way out!
“I have…
[…] I got a great comment from gordsellar around recent posts over the TOEIC. I really appreciated getting a local Korean perspective around this topic. He raises some really interesting points that I never thought of before, so I would like to repost most of his comment here. Heads up for all TOEIC prep teachers out there…this one is for you… – Thanks Gord. “Vested Interests in the teaching community, and a general stagnation of programming, will ensure that TOEIC testing and TOEIC test preparation continue in full force for the next long while. However, it may change faster than anyone expects: this happens in Korea sometimes. […]
EFL Geek: it’s ICDsoft.
I have just grateduaged in mu university and i am a econimic student. But I had an dream in my childhood. I really want to become an english teacher. but when i grow and i chose economic major to study in university. But i know I still always remember about my dream.
And I have just passed an TOEIC test in Viet My centrel in Viet Nam.
SO I just wanna to share something about my english skill and I need some advice for my teaching english career. ca you help me