| US to Introduce Significant Change in English Qualification Test |
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The United States will make a significant change to its English qualification test by introducing a comprehensive exam for hundreds and thousands of students who aspire to pursue study in America and other English speaking countries, a senior US official said Friday in New York. This change was disclosed by Dr. Theresa Chang-whei Jen, Associate Director of International Service of the US College Board that is America's leading educational organization. The exam, titled Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL), will be held for the first time across the world on May 10, 2002, said Jen in her office at the College Board headquarters in Manhattan, New York. Jen, an elegant and slim figure who loves oriental arts, said that APIEL is an international English language examination of high quality developed by an international committee of scholars and English professors. "It is designed for international students who wish to pursue university study in English speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia," said Jen, who is also Director of Chinese Studies at the Wharton International Business School of University of Pennsylvania. Asked why the College Board wants to introduce such a new exam, Jen said the College Board fields the new test because the TOEFL, which has been in practice for many years, can no longer reflect students' capabilities to use the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. It's learned from a number of sources working at international offices of some renowned American universities that a fairly big number of foreign students, who got high scores in the TOEFL exam, turned out to be mediocre learners in their performance after admission. Some could not give a passable presentation, some only spoke broken English sentences, and still some had difficulties in daily life communication, much less to say a good engagement in academic research, they complained. Compared with TOEFL, APIEL measures student's ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his/her skills in listening comprehension, reading comprehension, speaking with accuracy and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity and fluency, Jen explained. Therefore, the significant change of APIEL exam in comparison with TOEFL is the inclusion of speaking and writing tests, she said. APIEL includes five one-minute speaking tasks based on visual and verbal prompts, and two 40-minute essays on different academic topics. "The two essays allow students to demonstrate their ability to express and analyze ideas," Jen said, describing it as a better barometer of students' ability to command the English language. Asked if APIEL will replace TOEFL in future exams, Jen said the College Board and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) will not make such a stipulation. "Both of TOEFL and APIEL are our products, and they like two kids in one family," Jen said. "We cannot get rid of the elder when we get the younger." Jen said by introducing APIEL the College Board and ETS give two choices for the education market to select naturally. She stressed, however, that APIEL exam is meant to provide an opportunity for international applicants rather than placing an obstacle in their way to pursuing study overseas. Nevertheless, a number of American universities that take TOEFL as a prerequisite for international applicants, especially applicants for graduate schools in prestigious universities, has seen a decline. Instead, APIEL is on the rise. Jen, an American of Chinese origin who is also the first Asian holding a senior position of the College Board, also said that she will visit China on behalf of the College Board and ETS in the near future, so as to exchange views with officials from China's Ministry of Education and universities such as Qinghua, Beida, Nankai and Fudan. How to conduct APIEL exam in China is one of the topics to be dealt with, she stressed. The U.S. appears to be attaching greater importance to China as a partner for educational exchanges and source of students after the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. According to a series of U.S. media reports, a growing number of Middle Eastern students have vacated university campuses and left America for home over security concern since after the September 11 terrorist attacks, which triggered a rampant hatred of Arab-looking people among Americans. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has detained hundreds of people of more than 50 nationalities who are suspected of involvement in terrorist cells, but none of the detainees is Chinese. (People Daily)
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