The TOEFL exam. The Beninese English learner's podcast 🇧🇯🇺🇲

Hi and welcome back. In America I am an EL teacher. EL is two letters that stand for English learners. It is an acronym that means English learner. But when I was teaching in Benin I was called a TEFL teacher. TEFL is a four letter acronym that means teaching English as a foreign language.

Many of my students in Benin asked me about studying English at an American university and I had to ask them a question. I am an English speaker who is learning to speak French fluently, and I would ask my students if Mr. Cody would go to a Beninese university to study and learn how to speak French. And they answered, “No.” No, universities are not for learning how to speak their host country languages. An American university will not teach you how to speak English, and so going to an American university to study English does not make sense. In fact, if you want to study at an American university you must prove, you must show that you can already speak English, and then you will apply for another subject area, like political science, or literature, or biology.

Today, I will tell you about an important exam called the TOEFL exam. This is the exam that will show an American university that you already know how to speak English. Ok, let’s get started.

TOEFL is another acronym that is made up of 5 letters, T-O-E-F-L, and it stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language. A test is another word for an exam and this exam will show your English competency in four language domains: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. There are two TOEFL tests. One is paper and written, and the other is called the TOEFL IBT, internet based test. In Benin you can only take the TOEFL IBT test so today I will talk about it and not the paper test. The TOEFL IBT test is scored from 0 to 120 points. So the maximum result is 120 and the minimum score that you can get is 0. 

The four sections of the test are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. In the reading section you will read 4 or 5 essays, paragraphs, or small stories. In the listening section of the test you will listen to conversations and university lectures and lessons. In the writing section of the test you will write a short essay. And in the speaking section of the test you will record your voice responding to several questions. Remember that the TOEFL IBT test is mainly used by universities so most of the conversations, most of the listening and reading, come from a university environment and they use university level vocabulary. And so, what I know about the exam is that vocabulary is usually the most difficult aspect of the test. So if you are wanting to take the TOEFL I suggest studying university level vocabulary.

You may be asking, “What is a good score on a TOEFL exam?” A score is a result or a total of points, so in sports we can ask, “What was the score of the Real Madrid Barcelona match?” “Oh, the score was 2 to 1.” The TOEFL exam has a maximum score of 120 but some universities accept scores as low as 70. 70 is the minimum accepted score, but if you want to go to one of the best universities in the US, you should get a score of 100 or even 110. 

Unfortunately in Benin you can only take the test in Cotonou, so if you live in the Collines or in Borgou, you will have to travel south to take the exam. Another unfortunate aspect of the TOEFL exam in Benin is the price. The test is paid in US dollars and 1 dollar is equal to about 650 FCFA. The test costs 180 US dollars, and that is the same as 120,000 FCFA.

Wow, that is really expensive in Benin, so that means you should really, really study your vocabulary before you take the test so that you can pass the TOEFL on your first try. When I say pass, this is a difficult word for French speakers learning English because in French it is used in a different context. In English to pass an exam means to succeed, to get the average, to have a good score. In French pass means to take the test, to do the exam. (Pardon, pas d'espace!)