By Park Yoon-bae
Editorial Writer

Young Koreans have been thrown into further confusion over the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as its agency is doing a poor job of administering the tests to applicants.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS), a U.S.-based English proficiency test service firm, has come under criticism for taking stopgap measures to fix the continuing inconvenience Korean students are suffering in the process of taking TOEFL tests.

The row over the tests started in September 2006 when ETS began to introduce the Internet-based TOEFL (iBT) in South Korea, one year after it applied the new type of tests in other countries to evaluate applicants’ English speaking abilities.

However, ETS has difficulties in conducting the iBT tests here apparently because of a lack of preparation. Test experts as well as students are accusing ETS of failing to predict the rapidly surging number of applicants.

On Tuesday, many students lodged strong protest against ETS as the agency abruptly opened its online application outlets for the July iBT test, simultaneously with the launch of the registration for the June paper-based TOEFL (PBT).

The opening contradicted ETS’ announcement on April 15 that it is scheduling a one-time special administration of the PBT test in Korea on June 3 because it cannot conduct iBT tests.

Students became angry over the opening as ETS has continued to post the announcement on its Web site that applicants will be banned from taking the iBT test in South Korea in July.

The incident marked the third time that ETS has opened the online application outlets for the iBT test without any prior notice, following the same cases on April 13 and April 16.

In particular, students, who have been preparing for the iBT test, have plunged deeper into confusion over whether to take the June PBT test or not. In this situation, the sudden opening of the online registration for the iBT exam added fuel to the protest against ETS’ poor management of exams.

In the April 15 announcement, ETS said that it is taking additional steps to improve access to iBT testing, adding that these include increasing capacity at current university centers, expanding operations into other educational settings as well as offering the test through non-educational commercial sites that can offer high-quality, secure administration of the exam.

However, students still raise doubts whether the ETS steps will really help them have easy access to iBT tests here in Korea. Many of them slammed ETS for paying lip service only to appease angry applicants.

First of all, ETS will have to sincerely take more radical measures to prevent the repetition of such an incident as it is entirely responsible for the inconvenience and confusion it caused Korean students.

However, some professors, teachers and parents believe that the problem lies not in ETS’ poor management but in the excess demand for TOEFL tests in Korea.

The annual number of Korean students taking TOEFL tests accounts for 20 percent of a total 550,000 test takers throughout the world. About half of the Korean applicants are presumed to be students attending primary, middle and high schools.

Even, some elementary students in third or fourth grade rush to take the world-recognized English proficiency test to make early preparation for entrance examinations for high schools specializing in foreign language education which could help them get admission to prestigious universities at home and abroad.

In addition, many college graduates preparing for company recruitment exams are taking TOEFL tests to get better job opportunities. And salaried workers are trying to get high scores from the test that could bring them promotion and pay raises.

It is regrettable that young Korean students as well as company employees are all preoccupied with the TOEFL test although it is designed to measure the English ability of college students who want to study in the United States or Canada.

Some professors and policymakers have suggested that the country should foster a government-accredited English proficiency test in a desperate move to reduce the excessive dependence on TOEFL.

But, it is a pity that we still don’t have any revolutionary measures to replace TOEFL unless South Korea’s obsessive zeal for the test dies down.

byb@koreatimes.co.kr