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EST holds an TOEFL iBT exhibition in Seattle.
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About 500 students across the Chinese mainland will appear for the firstInternet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL iBT) exam today.
The online exam, with a newly-added speaking section and first initiated in the United States last September, is to replace the written TOEFL test that was introduced to China 25 years ago.
The exam will initially be held at 15 centres in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chengdu, offering 500 seats.
By the year-end, 10,000 people will have a chance to take the test at 19 centres in the six cities, according to the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS).
"With the Internet-based delivery platform, both the number of test centres and the frequency of tests will increase significantly compared to five paper-based TOEFL tests offered annually," said Paul Ramsey, senior vice-president of ETS' international development department.
The 18 tests this year could increase to as many as 40 next year, he said.
ETS figures show that the Chinese now account for about 10 per cent of its global TOEFL examinees -- the most in the world -- and the number is growing.
Last year, about 90,000 Chinese students took the test, according to China's National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA), which helps ETS administer it in China.
Ramsey explained that the technology used in iBT permits test items to be delivered to ETS from sites worldwide, thus increasing the already-high security.
"It also ensures unbiased testing by recording responses in the speaking section electronically and sending them to a network of ETS human raters, who objectively score the responses for maximum reliability," he said.
So, how tough is the new test? Students believe it will be more challenging because of the new speaking section.
"Speaking is generally considered the Achilles' heel of Chinese students," said Li Ding, a TOEFL teacher with New Oriental School, China's biggest English-training institute.
He said many of his students rushed to take the last several written TOEFL exams to avoid the new one.
(China Daily)
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今天，中國(guó)大陸的近500名考生將參加首場(chǎng)托福網(wǎng)考。
托福網(wǎng)考于去年9月首次在美國(guó)開(kāi)始舉行，新考試加入了口語(yǔ)測(cè)試單元，在中國(guó)大陸實(shí)行了25年之久的紙筆形式的托?？荚囆娼Y(jié)束。
首場(chǎng)托福網(wǎng)考在北京、上海、廣州、天津、杭州和成都六個(gè)城市開(kāi)設(shè)了15個(gè)考點(diǎn)，共500個(gè)座位。
據(jù)美國(guó)教育考試服務(wù)中心介紹，到今年年底，這六個(gè)城市的考點(diǎn)將增加到19個(gè)，考生也將增加到1萬(wàn)個(gè)。
美國(guó)教育考試服務(wù)中心全球發(fā)展部高級(jí)副總裁保羅·拉姆西說(shuō)：“過(guò)去的托福紙筆考是每年五次，新一代托福考試主要以網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳輸為平臺(tái)，其考點(diǎn)數(shù)量和考試頻率將會(huì)大大增加?！?/p>
他說(shuō)：“今年將在中國(guó)大陸安排18次托福網(wǎng)考，明年可能會(huì)達(dá)到40場(chǎng)?！?/p>
據(jù)美國(guó)教育考試服務(wù)中心數(shù)據(jù)顯示，每年參加托福考試的中國(guó)考生數(shù)量占全球考生的10％，居全世界第一，而且這個(gè)數(shù)字還在不斷增加。
據(jù)美國(guó)教育考試服務(wù)中心合作伙伴中國(guó)教育部考試中心介紹，去年，近9萬(wàn)名中國(guó)學(xué)生參加了托?？荚嚒?/p>
拉姆西說(shuō)，新一代的托?？荚囈揽肯嚓P(guān)技術(shù)將世界各地考點(diǎn)的試卷傳輸?shù)浇逃荚嚪?wù)中心總部，所以考試的安全性也進(jìn)一步提高。
他說(shuō)：“口語(yǔ)考試單元主要采用電子錄音的方式將聲音錄下，再將其傳輸至ETS總部的人工評(píng)分網(wǎng)絡(luò)，最后由考官統(tǒng)一聽(tīng)取打分，這也保證了考試的公平公正性。”
那么，新托福考試有多難呢？考生們認(rèn)為口語(yǔ)測(cè)試的加入將會(huì)提高考試的難度。
中國(guó)最大的英語(yǔ)培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)新東方學(xué)校的托福老師李丁說(shuō)：“口語(yǔ)是中國(guó)學(xué)生的一個(gè)普遍弱點(diǎn)?！?/p>
他說(shuō)，為了避開(kāi)新托?？荚嚕芏鄬W(xué)生爭(zhēng)相參加最后幾場(chǎng)托福紙筆考。
(英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯)
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