A Study on EFL/ESL Learners' Perceptions of the Test of English as a Foreign Language

The study aims at examining EFL/ESL learners' perceptions of the TOEFL. EFL/ESL students at a mid-sized university in the United States participated in the focus group discussion. The findings of the study revealed that most participants had negative experiences in taking the TOEFL. The major factors influencing their negative experience of the test involved the nature of the test as high stakes testing, the high noise level in testing sites, and the malfunction of test equipment. Results of the study also showed that the topics on the TOEFL are biased toward American culture and include toe broad areas of the study. The short time allocation in the speaking and writing sections negatively impacted the test takers' test score. Thus, the participants perceived that the TOEFL score does not necessarily reflect the test takers' English proficiency. Finally, suggestions on how the TOEFL can be improve were discussed on the basis of Shohamy's (2001a) model of critical language testing.