TOEFL vs IELTS Tests

English Corner would like to wish all the readers of this column a Happy 2010 with lots of happiness and success for your family and friends.

This month's question was sent in by Lia who wants to know the difference between the TOEFL and IELTS tests.

TOEFL and IELTS are international English tests for people who don't use English as their first language. Usually they are used as a requirement to enter a foreign university or by companies to check the English ability of potential employees.

IELTS which stands for "International English Language Testing System" is an Australian based exam that focuses on Reading Comprehension, Listening, Writing and Speaking and was in the past used mainly for Australian universities but now is used around the world.

TOEFL which is stands for “Test of English as a Foreign Language” is a North American based test that used to focus on Reading Comprehension, Grammar and Listening. Only these areas were done in the past because so many people were taking the test around the world and to process and mark the test took a lot of time. The test was changed recently because a lot of teachers and professionals complained over the years that many students who passed TOEFL couldn't speak English. The test has been recently upgraded to the "Next Generation IBT which includes speaking and writing. The test is now done on computers, although in some countries (Indonesia included) there is still a paper based written test. IELTS in the past was considered the better test because of its speaking part and the other parts of the test focus on more real life situations, although a lot of these were more Australian ones. Today TOEFL is still the number 1 test and in its new form does test a person's English ability a lot better than before. IELTS has also gone to a more international test with many of the questions from around the world. Also in their listening part they use international English speakers.

So which test is better? In my opinion as a Canadian teacher with 11 years teaching experience in Indonesia, I would say that the IELTS test is better and a lot easier for those students who have a good ability in speaking English. This part is done with a "one on one" interview with a native speaker which is much more challenging than speaking to a computer...! Please keep sending your questions...! See you next month...