TOEIC Preparation

Level Three

Class Meetings: 1:20-2:30 p.m.

Course Overview and Policy

The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is the world's most recognized English language test; more than 1.7 million people took the test last year. It is used by corporations and government agencies to assess the English ability of their employees. Language schools and universities use the TOEIC test for placement in English classes, to measure progress and to provide their students with an internationally recognized Certificate of Achievement. Individuals take theTOEIC test to track their progress in English Language improvement and demonstrate to employers their ability to use English at work. A high score on the TOEIC can be an important factor in being hired, promoted, or selected to travel and work in international business settings.

The purpose of this class is:

1). Be familiar with the directions and test-taking strategies for all sections of the TOEIC test.

2). To solve listening, sentence completion, error indentification, and short readings for the easy to moderate in difficulty TOEIC test questions.

3). To apply your existing English abilities, TOEIC knowledge, and test-taking strategies to two TOEIC practice tests.

4). Help you become accustomed to TOEIC test-taking conditions by working on timing and concentration while taking the practice tests.

5). To prepare you with a general knowledge of English.

6). To help you to apply the above five skills to an official TOEIC test.

You will take two practice tests during this class. The practice tests will serve as a diagnostic to measure your progress from the third week of the quarter until the tenth week of the quarter. Work hard to improve your TOEIC test scores.

You must be present to take these tests. After taking the practice tests, we will have a review in which we will discuss the incorrect answers as well as the correct answers. Please submit the answer sheet to me so that I may calculate your practice test score.

We will also discuss how we are using the TOEIC test strategies to determine correct and incorrect answers. Because of time constraints, we will not discuss all the incorrect answers on the test. It is your responsibility to review the entire test at home focusing on the areas of the test that are the most difficult. Concentrate on the TOEIC exercises covering your weaknesses as indicated by the diagnostic and practice tests.

After we discuss TOEIC listening, sentence completion, eror indentification, and short reading skill building and test-taking strategies in class, I will assign homework so that you can reinforce and build your skills sufficiently to answer TOEIC test questions competently. After you finish your homework assignments, use the answer key to check your answers.

It is probably not necessary for you to complete all of the homework exercises outlined in my syllabus. Moreover, you do not need to complete every exercise in this book in preparation for the TOEIC. Concentrate on the exercises covering your weaknesses as indicated by the practice tests that we will take in this class. In addition, you may find that an exercise is too easy for you. If that is the case, go on to an exercise that will be more challenging.

You will be able to benefit from a thorough review of the practice tests. For that reason, I have set aside class time after each test for a review. In order to have effective review sessions, keep in mind the following points:

1. As we review each practice test, we will discuss the most frequent TOEIC listening, sentence completion, error indentification, and short reading language errors that the class had difficulty with. We will talk about how you can determine if an answer is correct or incorrect.

2. As we review the practice tests, it is important to understand how TOEIC test strategies could have been used to determine correct and incorrect answers.

3. When we review the listening exercises, we will refer to the tapescript to discuss each question. Be sure to bring your tape scripts/answer key to class.

Reading is a critical skill needed by second language students not only for TOEIC but also for success in the workplace. Extensive reading (reading large amounts of English only texts) provides ESL students the means for developing the background knowledge necessary for more speculative thinking. In a survey obtained by Ostler, ESL/EFL students considered reading the most important skill for future success (Ellis, 1985).

Reading is not a skill that you just get or understand. You must do large amounts of extensive reading both from a text and from a computer screen in order to develop and learn the skill. Timing and concentration are extremely important skills for the reading section of the TOEIC. As you work in class on the TOEIC reading pasages, I want you to be aware of the following "bad habits" that you may have as a non native reader of English which may prevent you from learning to read the same way we do as native readers. Some of these "bad habits" are:

Many of you have been reading for 10 years or more and you have your own reading habits. Habits are very difficult to change. Ten weeks is a short time to learn new reading habits. But you will begin to learn how to read more quickly and easily during this term. Read, read and read some more! That’s how you get better.

A student who is studying in the CSUSB MBA program gives some advice on how to improve overall English language skills:

Students must familiarize themselves to TOEIC test by doing any TOEIC test preparation exercises. Then, students can improve their English by reading, writing, listening, and talking to others. Reading newspaper is one way to improve their English because it provides students with a lot of new vocabularies and many different sentence structures. This may improve their sentence completion, error indentification, and short reading sections of the TOEIC. Another way is to listen to television or radio that provides good English speaking programs. This should improve their listening section. Finally, the best way to improve conversational skills is to speak to native speakers (Pepe Malik, Indonesia)

An understanding of the TOEIC strategies and skills presented in this text can improve your TOEIC score. However, skills and strategies alone will not make you successful; a good basic knowledge of the English Language is also necessary. Therefore do not forget the general study of the English language as you work to prepare for the TOEIC test.

Use English as much as you can. You can’t learn all the English you’ll need to do well on TOEIC from this guide or in a TOEIC preparation class. Other classes will be useful, as will any opportunities to speak, read, write or listen to English. Some people who are preparing for TOEIC think that conversation classes and practice are a waste of time because speaking skills are not directly tested on the exam. In fact, one of the best ways to get ready for the exam is to speak English whenever you can. Not only will you improve your ability to listen to everyday English, but you will learn to think in English.

The listening section of the TOEIC focuses on a particular way to help you understand what you have heard, even when you did not understand every word. To improve your ability to pay attention to certain details, you will gain skill in general listening comprehension. And to help you improve your general listening comprehension and at the same time sharpen your test-taking abilities, I have ten suggestions which have benefitted many international students.

1. Talk to a native speaker five times a week for a period of 15 minutes each time.

2. Listen to news and informational broadcasts on a talk radio station for at least 15 minutes a day five days a week (i.e. KFI AM 640). Practice answering what, where, when, and how questions about the speakers.

3. Listen to news and informational broadcasts on television for at least 15 minutes a day three days a week (i.e. CNN, Discovery, CBS-60 minutes). Practice answering what, where, when, and how questions about the speakers.

4. Listen to American music and try to understand the main ideas of the songs.

5. Attend the language lab during the open hours and listen to conversational English. Practice taking notes on what you hear. Afterwards compare your notes to the tapescript.

6. Join a club (i.e. ISS, ASI) on campus or attend open forums, university discussions, or debates so that you can hear spoken English. Attend 1 or 2 meetings a week. Be an active participant by asking the speaker/participant questions.

7. Join the quarterly ESL conversation group to talk and make friends (UH387).

8. Join an intramural sports team so you can have contact with native speakers of English.

9. Attend all Stays Classes. Learn to anticipate questions about the lectures so that you can improve you note-taking abilities. Don’t miss any classes. The more English you can hear, the better your listening will become.

10. Don’t spend all your time talking with people from your own country. Use the above list of ideas to help you break out of your comfort zone by finding more and more opportunities to speak and listen to English.

Keep in mind the following ten points about TOEIC study:

The below chart shows the similarities and differences of TOEFL and TOEIC tests. Use it as a quick reference.

Consider the following advice ETS gives to students who access the TOEIC Web Site:

No single school, textbook , or teaching method is best to help prepare someone for the TOEIC, because the test is not based on specific courses of study. Listening and reading proficiency can only be achieved after a relatively long period of study and practice. An attempt to study English for the first time shortly before taking the test will not be helpful.

Many students have not realized the potential benefits of using the Internet for overall and TOEIC language solving problems. It is important to take advantage of the vast amounts of TOEIC and English language information available via the Internet. I will include some web sites for you to "explore" as you work on learning the TOEIC listening and reading skills that are available via the Internet. Keep in mind that web sites are constantly changing, and some are better than others. As you "surf the web", you will find the web sites that you like.

A. Listening Web Sites

B.  Grammar Web Sites: 

Dave’s ESL Web Guide grammar links: http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Grammar/ : a listing of 58 grammar links to help you with the sentence completion and error recognition parts of the TOEIC test.

C.   TOEIC Web Sites: http://www.eslcafe.com/search/TOEIC/  - A       listing of TOEIC Web Sites

Though the TOEIC success journal is not an assignment, it is an individual exercise in which you consciously think about your TOEIC language solving progress. In order to help you mark your progress, I recommend that you keep a personal TOEIC Success Journal. By keeping a personal journal, you will encourage yourself to think about your learning. And hopefully, you will make your thoughts become actions as you do specific things that will help you increase your TOEIC score.

You should write the journal based on your experiences with the TOEIC test taking strategies/ exercises that you read and study in my class. Include in the journal how you are doing on the TOEIC practice tests as well as what kinds of "out of class" preparations you are doing to help build your listening and reading language skills. Which of the test taking strategies are/or are not working for you? Ask yourself the following questions about TOEIC :

The weekly journal will give you a complete record of your language and TOEIC preparation progress.

Late Work

Practice tests submitted after the due date will not be accepted. In other words, you will receive no points. I will only allow you to make up missed work if you have a written documented excuse from someone stating the urgency of the situation (e.g. Doctor’s note, CHP accident report, etc.).

Your attendance is required at all class meetings. Only written documented excuses for an absence may result in your making up an assignment or graded daily work. Absences endanger your grade simply because you are missing out in the learning process. Come to class on time. Three tardies will be counted as an absence. If you arrive fifteen minutes late or more, you will be counted absent for that class period. If you do come late to class, please enter quietly so as not to distract the other students. Do not explain to me why you are late. Please note the following calculations:

0 absences = 40% of attendance grade

Extra credit on final grade calculations

1 absence = 30% of attendance grade

2 absences = 20% of attendance grade

3 absences = 10% of attendance grade

4 absences = Failure in class

The number letter grading scale is set as follows:

A 80-100

B 70-79

Scoring Grade

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Attendance and Participation 40%

Practice Test One 30%

Practice Test Two 30%

Total 100%

Beta Group One: 2000