Korea's homegrown English proficiency test losing steam
By Park Si-soo
Korea's homegrown English proficiency test TEPS reported a net loss last year ― its first in 20 years ― in the wake of a declining number of test takers, reduced usefulness and TOEIC-friendly practices.
The Language Education Institute at Seoul National University, which launched
in 1999 to challenge TOEIC's dominance, announced this on Thursday, but didn't provide detailed information, calling it a “business secret.”
At the peak of its popularity in 2010, nearly half a million people took TEPS and its profit reached 7 billion won ($6.2 million). But the number was cut in half by 2014 and fell to 120,000-130,000 last year, according to the institute.
TOEIC, developed in 1979 by American company ETS and introduced here in 1982, attracts 2 million test takers a year.
The TEPS organizer pointed to multiple issues for the downturn.
“While the number of test takers has declined continuously since 2010, we also made a big investment last year to launch a souped-up version of TEPS and for its marketing and promotion,” an official said.
From a broader perspective, the dwindling popularity could be blamed on population decline, but a bigger issue with immediate effect could be TEPS's reduced usefulness for job hunting and university admission, experts said.
As part of efforts to level the playing field, the government has banned the use of scores from private English proficiency tests in the university admissions process. Furthermore, amid an increasing influx of people fluent in foreign languages into the job market, companies put more weight on applicants' experience, attitude, creativity and other non-linguistic abilities, rather than English proficiency, when hiring new faces.
Another reason is the widespread perception that it is easier to score higher in TOEIC than TEPS. In addition, score-comparison charts used in public and private sectors put TEPS takers at a relative disadvantage.
“We are exploring various ways to boost demand for TEPS and at the same time trying to fix issues friendly to TOEIC,” an official said.