By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

After the Fair Trade Commission recently ordered the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), the test organizer for the TOSEL (Test of Skills in English Language) test, not to use the term ``state-licensed'' in reference to its tests, questions have been raised over the criteria for official recognition.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, a total of seven English ability tests have been recognized as such.

They include the Test of English Proficiency (TEPS) developed by Seoul National University, the Foreign Language Examination (FLEX), and the writing and speaking tests of the Multimedia Assisted Test of English (MATE). Both TOEFL and TOEIC are excluded.

Lee Kwang-tae, a ministry official dealing with test licenses, said that some 910 organizers of licensed tests, not just for English proficiency but also in other areas, have been registered, while only 80 organizations are licensed.

``We consider a variety of criteria, such as the test-managing period, number of applicants and creditability of test organizations,'' he said, as to the guidelines for selecting organizers.

Although many may think TOEIC and TOEFL are state-licensed tests, in fact, they are not. The Educational Testing Service (ETS), the organizer of these tests, is a foreign organization. The ministry licenses only domestic organizations.

However, TOEIC and TOEFL have often been referred to as such in recruitment notices by a number of companies requiring state-authorized English proficiency test scores.

The organizer of TOSEL, EBS, removed the term ``state-authorized'' from all its promotional slogans, but remains unhappy with the situation.

``We have developed the test with the aim of reducing the outflow of foreign currency caused by foreign English proficiency tests such as TOEIC and TOEFL and to bring control to the private English education market,'' EBS explained in its recent statement over the issue. ``We used the term to mean that our test is broadly recognized.''

Seo Dong-won, a communication official of EBS told The Korea Times that TOSEL is not behind TOEFL in terms of the number of test takers, and that many believe TOEFL is authorized.

Last year, some 210,000 applicants took TOSEL, while 125,655 applied to take TOEFL.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr