Teaching for the TOEIC
Kimiko Murata, Kristen Sullivan
Murata wrote, "There is a shortcut to the TOEIC test" on the whiteboard and then illustrated how she successfully guides students through their preparation with that adage in mind. Motivate them by reminding them of the bragging rights that come with a high score, make them memorize as many words as possible—with correct pronunciation, help them get used to unexpected yet natural responses in a variety of English accents. Don't waste valuable exam time listening to predictable directions—just read as much as possible, remember the TOEIC is business orientated, to help guess answers when necessary and be sure to finish the test. Murata then completed her whiteboard advice with, "but there is no shortcut to learning English properly," which set up the final group discussion very well.
Sullivan has used genre analysis in a immigrant literacy program in Australia to familiarize students with the type of documents they encounter in their new society, and has adapted the methodology in Japan for the TOEIC preparation. She uses test questions as useful practice exercises for business English, then encourages analysis for a deeper understanding of the subject—and hence the test itself.
Post-presentation lively discussion honed in on the whiteboard theme, bemoaning the control over TEFL teaching that TOEIC wields, resulting in no correlation between actual communication ability and appropriate class placement, frustrating for many instructors—who can ascertain both within three minutes of casual chatting. We pointed out that such a test was actually pointless if crammed for and underscores an endemic fixation with exam taking—but conceded that it was generally useful for job placement, and speculated upon its future in the current economic climate.
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