[ti:An English Test, and a Warning]
[ar:Bob Doughty]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:02.96]Education Report.
[00:05.06]This week on our program, 
[00:07.52]we answer a question from Japan. 
[00:10.91]A listener named Maki 
[00:13.20]would like to know 
[00:14.47]if the test known 
[00:15.76]as the TOEIC is popular 
[00:18.05]in the United States. 
[00:19.76]TOEIC is the Test of English 
[00:22.95]for International Communication. 
[00:25.75]It measures the ability 
[00:27.99]of people to communicate 
[00:29.93]in the workplace using 
[00:31.77]everyday English.
[00:34.45]The Educational Testing Service 
[00:36.76]in Princeton, New Jersey, 
[00:39.07]develops and 
[00:40.68]administers the TOEIC. 
[00:42.24]It says more than 
[00:44.74]nine thousand organizations 
[00:46.94]use the test in more 
[00:49.42]than ninety countries.
[00:51.36]Each year the TOEIC is taken 
[00:54.05]in the United States 
[00:55.79]about twenty thousand times. 
[00:58.72]So how popular does that make it? 
[01:02.42]Well, consider that last year 
[01:05.26]the test was given more than 
[01:07.70]five million times worldwide.
[01:10.98]Non-native English speakers 
[01:13.82]take the test to demonstrate 
[01:17.40]their English skills 
[01:18.61]when seeking a new job 
[01:20.28]or a promotion. 
[01:21.98]Some organizations use the 
[01:25.12]TOEIC to measure progress 
[01:27.19]in English training programs 
[01:29.08]and as a placement test. 
[01:31.86]The cost of the test is 
[01:34.40]set locally in each country.
[01:36.84]The TOEIC is really two tests. 
[01:40.33]People can take 
[01:42.40]one or both of them. 
[01:44.33]One is a paper-and-pencil test. 
[01:47.76]It measures listening 
[01:49.37]and reading skills. 
[01:50.82]The other test is given 
[01:53.56]on a computer. 
[01:55.05]It measures speaking 
[01:57.24]and writing skills.
[01:59.04]Eleven questions 
[02:01.13]on the computer 
[02:02.00]test require speaking. 
[02:03.94]For example, 
[02:05.16]the test taker is asked to 
[02:07.79]read out loud 
[02:09.58]or describe a picture. 
[02:11.63]Eight other questions 
[02:13.73]require written answers, 
[02:15.88]including an opinion essay.
[02:18.42]We visited the ETS Web site 
[02:21.77]for more information 
[02:23.37]about the TOEIC. 
[02:24.76]But one of the first things 
[02:27.39]we saw was a warning 
[02:29.48]about a "phishing scam."
[02:32.02] A phishing scam is a kind 
[02:34.82]of crime that uses e-mail 
[02:37.12]to trick people into providing 
[02:39.85]financial or other 
[02:41.83]personal information. 
[02:43.89]In this case the e-mails 
[02:46.43]claim to be from the
[02:48.38] Educational Testing Service.
[02:50.72]Spokeswoman Christine Betaneli 
[02:54.18]advises people taking the TOEIC 
[02:56.66]to be suspicious of any 
[02:59.12]e-mails claiming to be from ETS. 
[03:02.74]They should be especially 
[03:05.23]suspicious of messages that 
[03:07.91]ask for information that 
[03:10.11]they have already provided 
[03:12.10]for the test.
[03:13.05]The spokeswoman says 
[03:14.99]if you get an e-mail 
[03:16.78]you are not sure about, 
[03:18.87]forward it or send a separate message 
[03:24.68]to ContactETS@ets.org.
[03:29.96]And that's the VOA Special English 
[03:33.64]Education Report, 
[03:35.48]written by Nancy Steinbach. 
[03:37.57]You can learn more 
[03:39.39]about English language tests 
[03:41.38]from our Foreign Student Series 
[03:44.13]at 51voa.com. 
[03:47.81]You can also find transcripts, 
[03:50.55]podcasts and captioned videos 
[03:53.75]of our reports, 
[03:54.84]and post comments and questions. 
[03:57.13]I'm Bob Doughty.