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Drawing on the author’s 1984–1987 ETS Test Development experience and a 1986 case study, the work analyzes test rigor, item-level statistical review, and assumptions about authenticity, background knowledge, and validity. It also frames the standardized reading test as a genre shaped by unequal power relations between test makers and takers, concluding with calls to address washback 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is the main purpose of the paper?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"To demystify the TOEFL reading test at both a descriptive and theoretical level by examining how it is developed and what it assumes about reading, authenticity, and validity.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does the author illustrate test development in practice?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The author uses her 1986 case study reading test to show the technical rigor of development and explains how passage assembly, pretesting, and item statistics support the process.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What theoretical lens does the paper use to interpret the TOEFL reading test?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"It uses genre theory to argue that the standardized reading test is a specific genre formed by an unequal relationship between test makers and test takers within broader social structures.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},449960,1791067482,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146,"preview_page_count":4},1374404730887,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","# Demystifying the TOEFL⁸Reading Test\n\nBONNY NORTON PEIRCE  \nOntario Institute for Studies in Education  \nDespite the growing international influence of the TOEFL(Test ofEnglish as a Foreign Language),no articles have been published onhow the test is actually developed by the Educational Testing Service(ETS).In this article,the author,who worked in the Test Develop-ment department at ETS from 1984 to 1987,seeks to demystify theTOEFL reading test at both a descriptive and theoretical level.First,the author draws on data from a case study of a reading test shedeveloped in 1986 to illustrate the technical rigor with which the testis developed,and to raise questions about its theoretical adequacy.Second,the author draws on the theory of genre proposed by Kress(1989,1991)to(a)illustrate how the unequalrelationshipbetween testmakers and test takers predisposes TOEFL candidates to a particularreading of TOEFL texts;and(b)locate the TOEFL reading testwithin the larger social context of the TOEFLinternationally,wherecompetence in English means access to power.The author concludesthat the TOEFL-2000 test development team at ETS,who are cur-rently reviewing the test,needs to address the washback effect of thetest in consultation with both ESOL teachers and TOEFL candidatesinternationally.  \nhe global influence of the TOEFL(Test of English as a ForeignILanguage)is increasing at a rapid rate.In the 1988-1989 adminis-tration year,566,000 candidates registered to take the TOEFL;in1989-1990 this figure jumped to 675,000,climbing again in 1990-1991 to 741,000(Educational Testing Service [ETS],1990,1991a,1992).To date,however,there are no published articles on the waythe TOEFL is actually created by test developers at the EducationalTesting Service(ETS)in Princeton,New Jersey,U.S.A.Current publi-cations on the TOEFL describe its history (Spolsky,1990);compare itto other major ESOL tests(Bachman,Vanniarajan,&Lynch,1988);or present the results of a wide variety of research questions on,among  \nothers,the context bias of the TOEFL(Angoff,1989),the TOEFLfroma communicative point of view(Duran,Canale,Penfield,Stansfield,&Liskin-Gasparro,1985),and TOEFLexaminee characteristics(Wilson,1982).However,as Raimes(1992)has suggested,research of this na-ture has not succeeded in demystifying the TOEFL for many TOEFLcandidates and TESOL professionals,nor has it addressed more basicassumptions about what the TOEFLactually tests,why,and how.Giventhe fact that the TOEFL is currently undergoing review as part of theTOEFL-2000 project(Chyn,DeVincenzi,Ross,&Webster,1992;ETS,1991),a close examination of TOEFL test development procedures istimely.  \nIn this paper,I wish to demystify the TOEFL reading test at adescriptive and theoretical level by drawing on my practical experiencein the Test Development department at ETS from 1984 to 1987 and bydrawing on theoretical insights from recent research in genre analysis.Iwill begin the paper with a brief description of the TOEFLas a whole,introduce some basic terminology used in psychometric testing,anddescribe the procedures I followed in the development of the TOEFLreading test.Thereafter,I will use a passage I assembled,reviewed,and pretested for a particular TOEFL reading test to illustrate howthese test development procedures are put into practice and how thestatistical analysis of individual items is used in the test developmentprocess.Thereafter,I will critically examine some of the assumptionsI brought to the test development of the reading test,focusing onnotions of authenticity,background knowledge,and test validity.I willthen present the argument that a standardized reading test is bestunderstood as a specific genre which presupposes an unequal relation-ship between test makers and test takers within the context of largerand frequently inequitable social structures.In this view,such a rela-tionship has a significant impact on the social meaning of texts consti-tuted within this genre.I will use these insights fro","cbCaioobxB8w8VCF","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioobxB8w8VCF","pdf",2847457,27,"English","# Demystifying the TOEFL Reading Test\n## Despite Growing International Influence\n## Purpose and Structure of the Paper\n## The TOEFL","[{\"question\":\"What is the main purpose of the paper?\",\"answer\":\"To demystify the TOEFL reading test at both a descriptive and theoretical level by examining how it is developed and what it assumes about reading, authenticity, and validity.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author illustrate test development in practice?\",\"answer\":\"The author uses her 1986 case study reading test to show the technical rigor of development and explains how passage assembly, pretesting, and item statistics support the process.\"},{\"question\":\"What theoretical lens does the paper use to interpret the TOEFL reading test?\",\"answer\":\"It uses genre theory to argue that the standardized reading test is a specific genre formed by an unequal relationship between test makers and test takers within broader social structures.\"}]","Demystifying the TOEFL-Reading Test | PDF",1790731630,68]