TOEFL vs. TOEIC for bilingual teen?

11 comments

1. TOEFL or IELTS. The west doesn’t recognize Toeic.

2. TOEFL is often required for entrance into universities in the US. TOEIC is a bit more business centered and often required for entering companies in Japan. There’s also IELTs which is maybe more popular in Europe (I teach online on the side and my European students always talk about IELTS). My husband has taken both TOEIC and TOEFL (Japanese but fluent in English) and he has always said TOEFL is much harder. He took it before he could go study abroad in the US. He took TOEIC in high school so he could get accepted into the program he wanted in university.

   Honestly, either one is probably fine for her to take but maybe look at some test prep books for each test and see which one she thinks would be easier for her to do? TOEIC isn’t that difficult, especially if she’s got native level English. She’ll just need to use test taking strategies to finish if she’s a slow reader in English. But, if she’s interested in university abroad, because she has spent so much time here in Japan, they may want her to prove her English level with TOEFL.

3. Between TOEFL and TOEIC, definitely TOEFL.

   But if IELTS (Academic, not General) is an option, I’d go for that first tbh.

   If she’s around Eiken 2 level, TOEFL (and to some extent even IELTS) will murder her.

   Eiken is too focused on English vocabulary and grammar, and (like normal Japanese schools) doesn’t care as much about how you use and apply your English skills.

   Even if you consider her to be bilingual, IELTS and TOEFL aren’t a joke. I reckon most of my mates back home would score badly if they took them.

   For both tests, she would also need some sort of tutoring to help her understand the test structure and how to approach each section (for example, the ideal writing structures for IELTS writing tasks)

   Source: Homeroom Teacher at a High School focused on getting students into universities abroad, so have to teach and stress about these tests all the time

4. TOEFL is needed by most American graduate and undergrad programs. For my school it was US high school diploma or TOEFL score of X or higher as a minimum requirement for admissions.

   TOEIC is for Japanese companies. Most companies have a “you need a score of Y or higher to get promoted to middle management” type of requirement

5. Start with TOEIC because on the English side it will be the easier test for the kid. I don’t know though if taking it requires her to read and understand Japanese as well. TOEFL is short for test of English as a foreign language. If she is native then this seems a bit weird. Granted, the other test is also designed for non-natives but you’ll have more opportunities to take it compared to TOEFL.

6. It depends what she’ll need it for. If it’s just to comply with school choose the cheapest/easiest to book.

   If for later work, I think Toefl expires after 5 years while toiec is always valid and reisusuable (not sure, you might check)

   If it is for a testing oneself, Toefl is best, toiec is just too easy to max out.

7. My vote would be to do both TOEIC and TOEFL, and add IELTS, too, per the other suggestions here.

   Yes, TOEIC is biz oriented, and TOEFL is trying to show readiness for uni level academic study. IELTS is likely the ‘purest’ in being language/competency centered, and not tilted to the goals of the other two.

   Mix and match. Try TOEIC a couple times (the easiest), then a TOEFL and IELTS. They each test in different ways, favor different strategies, and learning how testing is done is almost a skill in itself.

8. TOFEL could be a bit too challenging for a middle schooler, even for a native speaker. The listening and reading parts are basically university lectures (tho the quality of content may not be up there), and the writing and speaking parts require you to articulate your statement in a very specific (even academic Id say) way, which most of the middle schoolers are not capable of, despite how well they speak the language. Overall, I believe TOEIC is a good option if she’s taking it for pure certification reason, otherwise, IELTS should be the direction you are looking for.

9. TOEFL

10. TOEFL is designed for students who have the goal of studying in the US and other countries that accept it, while TOEIC is for business people to show their English skills. The format is different, with TOEFL having reading listening writing and speaking sections. The main TOEIC section has reading and listening, but now they have expanded it to have the other optional sections.

    An example of the difference between the two would be in the reading section. For TOEFL the reading segments are based on academic topics such as history, science etc. things that a student would be expected to read in university, whereas for TOEIC, the reading consists of things like emails, business letters, advertisements and posters etc.

    For her age, I expect TOEFL to be more appropriate. EIKEN is a test made in Japan, and as you said it has lots of failings such as mistakes etc. however for a native speaker, this might be the easiest for her to take?

11. Thank you all very much for the insightful comments. I’ve read through them all and they’ve given me a lot to think about… Although I’m still not absolutely sure what the best course of action would be, haha. It seems like many of her friends are going to do the TOEFL From the get-go, so we might just dive into that and see how it goes for the time being. Anyway, thanks again for the help.