HUMAN INTEREST
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TOEFL: Is it the Best Option?
By Sarah Mendoza Professor, QLU Panama
It is the fate of non-native English speakers who want to study abroad to provide proof of their proficiency in English. For most prospective students, this means having to take a standardized English language test. In Panama, the automatic choice seems to be the Test of English as a Foreign Language( TOEFL). It is naturally given that the TOEFL is an American test and that most things related to English in Panama are also related to the United States( US). But it has also been my experience that few Panamanians are aware that there is an alternative: IELTS. It " has long been the dominant test for students … seeking to enroll in Englishspeaking [ universities in the ] nations of the British Commonwealth "( Jaschik). This article aims to provide a broad introduction to IELTS and to explain why some people believe it to be a superior test of a student ' s English language skills than the TOEFL.
IELTS stands for ' International Language Testing System '. The exam is jointly administered by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council, IDP Education Australia and IELTS Australia. On paper, it looks almost identical to the TOEFL, as both tests consist of four papers, each one related to one of the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. There are a number of subtle differences between them; however, many believe it makes all the difference.
The first clue to IELTS ' s superiority can be found in its name: it is truly a test of international English
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