With the increasing popularity among test takers and mounting acceptance from academic institutions, TOEFL iBT and IELTS are regarded and treated as equals due to similar purposes and goals. In depth, they distinguish each other in various aspects. By integrating Bachman’s framework of test method facet and Alderson’s variables of reading nature, this article formulates a comparison framework in an attempt to compare the reading parts of these two tests. The results show they share more similarities in test rubrics and input format and slightly differ from each other in score method and specification of procedures and tasks. However, substantial differences are identified in such areas as the nature of language and characteristics of tasks, which has a significant impact on test takers’ performance because TOEFL iBT reading test is more difficult in terms of readability, text types, topical features and question types, while IELTS more complex in text length and grammatical intricacy.
IELTS and TOEFL iBT are two of the most widely available and accepted, the most authentic, objective and researched language proficiency tests. They are originally and mainly designed to act as a proof of English proficiency as a foreign language for non-native English speakers with a plan to study in a foreign higher institution where they are required to communicate effectively in the classroom, on the campus and even in the culture. However, an increasing number of domestic universities in the countries of non-English speaking world begin to acknowledge the results of these two international standardized English tests when they are admitting Ph.D. or master candidates. Take China for example, Peking University, one of the top universities, requires its Ph.D. candidates to have a certificate of Academic IELTS (no less than Band 7) or TOEFL iBT (no less than 95). Otherwise, those candidates have to participate in the English test in accompany with other subject tests administered by the university itself. Some of the candidates choose to take either of these two tests because they have more chances to take the exam. Despite shared purpose and ambition, these two test batteries differ widely in such aspects as testing approach and criteria. Therefore, candidates are faced with one difficult choice: which test to take? When they turn to English teachers for advice, teachers may provide some suggestions based on their own experience; or when they search for the answer on the Internet; in most cases, the analysis given is simple and not evidence-based. One of the examples is that Ross [
Bachman’s [
The length of reading passages is an important variable affecting the nature of reading. Bachman [
Lexical features play a significant part in reading tests. According to Alderson [
In terms of frequency, Bachman [
Specialization means that some words are related to particular technical register. Bachman [
The Typo/Token Ration (TTR) refers to the ration of the number of types (different words) to the number of the tokens (the running words) in the text. It is a simple index of lexical diversity. However, Richards [
The proportion of content words to the total number of word in the text is termed as lexical density, which is a concept developed by introduced by Halliday [
Readability is defined as the easiness with which readers read and understand a particular text. It can be calculated by a readability formula, a method used to offer a numerical estimate and predicator of the text’s difficulty. Up to the present moment, various readability formulas (Gunning Fog, Automated Readability Index, Linsear Write Formula, Flesch Reading Ease score) have been developed by factoring in text-related features such as word difficulty and sentence length. However, this does not mean that they are flaw-free. Standal [
Grammatical features can also put obstacles on readers’ way to comprehend texts. Givón [
Topical knowledge, sometimes known as real-world knowledge or knowledge schema by Bachman and Palmer [
The question of texts related to which area is easier for readers to comprehend has been explored. Alderson [
The three text types of exposition, argumentation, historical/biographical narrative dominate the reading materials in the academic setting, especially for general English for academic purpose. Lengthy expository texts present readers with details about persons, objects, events, concepts, places and other information by various means of descriptions, explanations, contrasts, comparisons and elaborations. The major purpose of exposition is to keep readers informed, which is why it is the most prevalent text type in the college classroom. In argumentative or persuasive texts writers present their points of view in relation to a particular topic by providing supporting reasons and evidence and sometimes analyzing the opponents’ flaws in the reasoning. Historical or biographical narratives, also commonplace in the class, inform readers of significant outcomes or the significant influence on the prevailing individuals and the society of some true events by narrating the history of a particular discipline such as psychology, geology, sociology, botany. Due to their distinctive characteristics, different text types assign distinct tasks for readers to complete and pose disparate challenges to readers. According to Enrigh [
Reading comprehension is assessed through a wide range of techniques in the language proficiency testing.
Liu [
Alderson [
Gallagher [
From the perspectives of conceptual level, Van Dijk and Kintch [
From the scope of locating the information, Pearson and Johnson [
Based on the literature aforementioned in this part, the comparison framework in
In the framework, three areas are listed under the title of test rubric. They are test organization, time allocation and test instructions. Detailed comparison between the TOEFL iBT and the IELTS reading tests unfolds as follows.
Most language tests are composed of an assemblage of parts whose salience, sequence arrangement and relative importance are believed to impact testees’ performance. These two tests enjoy a high degree of similarity in salience of parts and sequence arrangement. They both contain three reading passages and there are no specific requirements for arranging them in order.
However, in terms of relative importance, they are divided. One thing that will not change is that TOEFL iBT reading parts have 45 points. However, the number of test items in each passage varies from test to test or from passage to passage. In the most frequent case, there are 14 question items for each passage. Each of the first 13 multiple choice questions is worth one point. When it comes to the last summary question, two points are given. Under this circumstance, 45
Characteristics of the test rubrics Test organization Salience of parts Sequence of parts Relative importance of parts Time allocation Instructions Language (native, target) Channel (aural, visual) Specification of procedures and tasks Explicitness of criteria for correctness Characteristics of input Format Channel of presentation Mode of presentation Form of presentation Language of presentation Identification of the problem Length Language of input Lexical features Readability Grammatical features Topical features Text types Characteristics of tasks Test techniques Question types |
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points are collected and will be converted at a scale of 30 scores in the end. However, not all the passages include one summary question at the end. Occasionally, other types of questions (related to classification or procedures) worth more than one point are also likely to occur in any of the passages. If such kinds of question items occur more than necessary times, their number may decline. This can explain why there are only 41 questions in TPO 54 (Test Practice Online 54). One thing is unique in TOEFL iBT. One extra reading passage in accompany with 13 or 14 questions will be randomly added in each time of real test and three reading passages with questions worth 45 points will be randomly selected to be marked for the final scores. For IELTS, each question item is equal, worth one point and there are always 40 questions for three reading passages. That means 40 points will be converted to the final score in terms of 9. In Cambridge IELTS Test 13, besides test 1, the remaining three tests share the same question item distribution with the first two passages having 13 questions and the last one 14 questions. Therefore, the difference in the number of questions stands for the disparity in the weight each passage carries for the whole reading test. Major information is summarized in
How much time is allocated for test tasks can also be a factor influencing examinees’ performance. Generally, test takers of the two exams are both assigned 60 minutes taken together for the completion of all the tasks if no extra reading passage is added to TOEFL iBT. Otherwise, the reading test time will be extended for another 20 minutes for the extra passage. Specifically, TOEFL iBT only states that test takers will have 60 minutes in the directions at the beginning of reading test. IELTS examiners announce that test takers will have 60 minutes all in all and they will be reminded to transfer all the answers onto the answer sheet when they have 10 minutes to go. But no extra time is allocated for transferring answers since it is clearly stated on the booklet that examinees should spend about 20 minutes on questions related to the according passages. Details also can be seen in
Test instructions come last under the heading of test rubric but can exert a crucial influence on testees’ performance. As it can be seen from
These two test batteries’ similarity exists in the language used for instructions.
Categories of test method facets | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test |
---|---|---|
1. FACETS OF TEST RUBRIC | ||
1.1. Test organization | ||
Salience of parts | Three or four passages | Three passages |
Sequence of parts | One following another | One following another |
Relative importance of parts | 45 points in total -Examinees can gain one point for each correct answer to general multiple choices -Two or three points are given when all the answers to special multiple choices are right 41 or 42 questions in total -Each passage has 12 - 14 questions If one extra reading passage is added, three out of four reading passages will randomly be chosen to be marked | 40 points in total -Examinees can gain one point for each correct 40 questions in total -Passage one and two: each has 13 questions -Passage three: has 14 questions answer |
Categories of test method facets | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test |
---|---|---|
1. FACETS OF TEST RUBRIC | ||
1.2. Time Allocation | Assesses are given 60 minutes in total to finish all the reading tasks An additional 20 minutes are given if one extra reading test is added | Assesses are given 60 minutes in total to finish all the reading tasks On the booklet, they are recommended to complete tasks related to each passage within 20 minutes They are reminded to transfer all the answers onto the answer sheet when there are only 10 minutes left but no extra time is given for answer transferring |
Categories of test method facets | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test |
---|---|---|
1. FACETS OF TEST RUBRIC | ||
1.3. Instructions | ||
Language | English | English |
Channel | Visual | Visual and Audial |
Specification of procedures and tasks | (1) Read long directions for the whole section (2) The passage is presented before the questions but initial look is compulsory (3) Answer the questions while reading (4) Check the answers (5) Move to next passage (6) Answer all the questions (7) Check all the answers (8) Move to listening section | (1) Directions for the whole section are read out by the examiner in the test room (2) Read short directions for each passage (3) The passage is presented before the questions but initial look is voluntary (3) Answer the questions while reading (4) Check the answers (5) Move to next passage (6) Answer all the questions (7) Check all the answers (8) Transfer all the answers on the answer sheet which is collected at the end of this section (9) Move to writing section |
Explicitness of criteria for correctness | Three types of ways to answer: -Click the circle in front of the right choice (one or two or three) -Click the square at the end of sentence in the passage -Drag the answer choices to the empty square columns | Four types of ways to answer: -Choose a limited number of words from the passage -Write correct words (true, false, not given or yes, no, not given) -Choose correct numbers (i - viii) -Choose correct letters (A - E) All has to be written on the answer sheet |
Partial credit is given | Partial credit is not given |
These two standardized tests both adopt the target language or native language, in this case, English.
Differences literally outweigh similarities in other aspects. First, about the channel, assessees of TOEFL iBT are required to read the instructions screened on the computer while those of IELTS have to read them printed on the text booklet. In addition, the examiner in each IELTS test room is obliged to read instructions aloud to examinees before they start the clock for the reading test. Secondly, they contrast with each other considerably at the beginning and the end of procedures. A short passage of directions for the whole reading section, as long as 176 words, elaborates the notes concerning test time, number of test passages, scoring and instructions for technical operation. It comes to the sight of TOEFL iBT takers when they sit in front of the computer and begin the whole test. If they want to start the reading section, test takers have to click the button “continue”. The direction can be seen in
By contrast, such directions for IELTS are read by the examiner in the test room. Since it is not publicized, this article will not quote these remarks. Besides the instructions read out loud by the examiner, some instructions for each
passage are also provided to the testees as short as 18 words in print on the test booklet. The instructions including test time, number of test items based on which test passage are presented at the very beginning of each IELTS reading passage. The difference continues at the next step. TOEFL iBT takers are not directed to the questions at the start. On the contrary, they are strongly recommended to scan the passage first before answering the questions. To prove the passage has already been read once, they have to scroll the bar on the right of the column to the bottom and back to the top. Otherwise, they are not allowed to enter the page where questions are placed on the left along with the passage on the right. In this regard, IELTS takers are given the full freedom. They either choose to read the passage first and then answer the questions following the passage, or decide to take an initial look at the questions and read the passage with purposes. The last difference lies in the final procedure in which IELTS takers have to transfer their answers to the answer sheet before the examiner declares the reading section is over while TOEFL iBT takers can submit their answers at the click of one button.
As regards to the explicitness of criteria for correctness, similarity does exist since the two tests both adopt multiple-choice format and any answers written on the draft are not valid and acceptable. However, distinctions are rather revealing. First, because IELTS is paper-based while TOEFL is internet or computer based, all the answers written on the answer sheet are counted valid for IELTS and all the answers submitted to the system are valid for TOEFL scoring. Zoomed in, differences are more apparent. Then, due to different test methods, the ways to answer questions have specific features of their own. In IELTS reading section, most questions require examinees to choose the right answer not only from given letters but also from given numbers. Some questions require testees to write words down, in this case, first, the number of the words is limited and then these words have to come from the passage. Otherwise, it would not be counted as right even if the meaning is the same. The last thing that calls for attention is the variance between “YES” “NO” and “TRUE” “FALSE”. When the question is about the claims of writer in the passage, “YES” “NO” “Not Given” are utilized; when it is about the information given in the passage, “TRUE” “FALSE” “Not Given” are employed. It is a commonplace that examiners neglect this point in the test, which cause serious consequences in which they know the answer but they put down the wrong words and score nothing. As for TOEFL reading, besides choosing the letters of given options like in IELTS, test takers have to drag the chosen answers to the corresponding columns (
Last, another prominent difference lies in whether partial credit is given. In TOEFL, since some question items (prose summary question, classification question) are worth more than one point, partial credit is given to the examinees
when they can choose most of the right answers. For example, in a prose summary, examinees are required to choose three out of the five given options so that they can gain the full marks of two points. When the examinee can get two out of three right, this examiner can score one point. But if the examinee can only get one choice right, then (s)he gains nothing from his try. In IELTS, when one question requires examinees to choose two out of three, the examinee has to put down the letters of all the right choices. If only one of choices is right, the examiner will mark the answer wrong and the examinee obtains null scores.
In a nutshell, the test rubric of TOEFL iBT and the IELTS reading tests have a lot of differences but also share several similarities. Relative importance of parts and explicitness of criteria for correctness are the most prominent differences, which might reflect the underlying difference regarding to reading construct.
Two major components are included in this area: format and nature of language.
These two tests are largely similar to each other in terms of the test format except for two things: identification of problems and length. In IELTS reading test, problems are not identified for testees in the reading passages so they do not know which paragraph the correct response to each question item come from. In contrast, when testees are working on most of questions, a diamond sign is marked in front of the corresponding paragraph (Figures 2-4) from to draw the testees’ attention to the particular part of the reading materials to be processed and evaluated. For questions that require examiners to insert the sentence in the correct position in the reading passage, four black squares are put in different places in the paragraph. Furthermore, two types of question items are specifically identified in exact sentence.
For questions related to vocabulary meaning identification, that particular word is highlighted both in the corresponding text and in the question stems.
For questions about simplifying complex sentences, the targeted sentences are shaded in the context (
As for the text length, the high-stake standardized examination like IELTS utilize longer texts rather than short excerpts of texts. Even TOEFL iBT evolved into this practice.
From
To compare TOEFL and IELTS reading across tests, the sample size is enlarged. As it shows in
Based on the results in
Text | N | Mean | Standard Deviation | Standard Error of Mean | Sig. (2-tailed) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOEFL iBT | 3 | 703.3 | 15.95 | 9.21 | 0.003 |
IELTS | 3 | 890.3 | 47.61 | 27.49 | |
TOEFL iBT | 12 | 705.08 | 23.25 | 6.71 | 0.000 |
IELTS | 12 | 882 | 49.76 | 49.76 |
Note: These passages are from the most recent preparation materials containing authentic tests in the past for Chinese mainland test-takers. Three IELTS texts are from Test one in Cambridge English IELTS 13 newly published by Cambridge ESOL and three TOEFL texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 recently released by ETS. Twelve texts are from four tests in Cambridge English IELTS 13 and twelve texts are from four tests in TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54, 53, 52, 51.
Categories of test method facets | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test |
---|---|---|
2. FACETS OF TEST INPUT | ||
2.1. Format | ||
Channel of presentation | Visual | Visual |
Mode of presentation | Receptive | Receptive |
Form of presentation | Both language and non-language | Both language and non-language |
Language of presentation | Target (English) | Target (English) |
Identification of the problem | Specific and general | General |
Text length | Shorter | Longer |
Lexical Features
The current study employs General Service List comprising the 2000 most frequent word families and Academic Word List derived from a large corpus.
From
Readability
From
Grammatical Intricacy
The grammatical intricacy is calculated in accordance with Halliday’s formula. Take the first paragraph of IELTS reading passage (Cambridge English IELTS 13 test one passage one) for example, there are three simple sentences, two compound sentences and one complex sentence. From the scope of SFL, there are three clause complexes and eight ranking clauses.
New Zealand is a small country of four million inhabitants, a long-haul flight from all the major tourist-generating markets of the world. ||| Tourism currently makes up 9% of the country’s gross domestic product, || and is the country’s largest export sector. ||| ||| Unlike other export sectors, || which make products and then sell them overseas, tourism brings its customers to New Zealand. ||| The product is the country itself―the people, the places and the experiences. ||| In 1999, Tourism New Zealand launched a campaign || to communicate a new brand position to the world. ||| ||| The campaign focused on New Zealand’s scenic beauty, exhilarating outdoor activities and authentic Maori culture ||, and it made New Zealand one of the strongest national brands in the world |||.
Text | N | Mean | Standard Deviation | Standard Error of Mean | Sig. (2-tailed) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
K1 word/Token Ratio | TOEFL iBT | 3 | 0.74 | 0.017 | 0.01 | 0.260 |
IELTS | 3 | 0.76 | 0.019 | 0.011 | ||
K2 word/Token Ratio | TOEFL iBT | 3 | 0.054 | 0.031 | 0.018 | 0.731 |
IELTS | 3 | 0.047 | 0.009 | 0.005 | ||
AWL/Token Ratio | TOEFL iBT | 3 | 0.075 | 0.027 | 0.015 | 0.970 |
IELTS | 3 | 0.076 | 0.015 | 0.009 | ||
Lexical Diversity | TOEFL iBT | 3 | 0.46 | 0.053 | 0.031 | 1.000 |
IELTS | 3 | 0.46 | 0.017 | 0.01 | ||
Lexical Density | TOEFL iBT | 3 | 0.527 | 0.021 | 0.012 | 0.440 |
IELTS | 3 | 0.507 | 0.035 | 0.02 |
Note: Three texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and three texts are from Cambridge English IELTS 13 Test one.
Text | N | Mean | Standard Deviation | Standard Error of Mean | Sig. (2-tailed) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOEFL iBT | 3 | 44.83 | 8.47 | 4.89 | 0.520 |
IELTS | 3 | 49.50 | 7.73 | 4.47 |
Note: Three texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and three texts are from Cambridge English IELTS 13 Test one.
Text | N | Mean | Standard Deviation | Standard Error of Mean | Sig. (2-tailed) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOEFL iBT | 3 | 2.120 | 0.708 | 0.409 | 0.102 |
IELTS | 3 | 3.030 | 0.246 | 0.142 |
Note: Three texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and three texts are from Cambridge English IELTS 13 Test one.
The means of grammatical intricacy of TOEFL iBT and IELTS reading tests are calculated. The data shows that the average score of TOEFL iBT (2.12) is lower than that of IELTS (3.03). This means that IELTS reading texts are more difficult than TOEFL iBT reading texts when grammatical intricacy is referred to as a measure. Further, no significant difference is displayed from the data (p = 0.102 > 0.05).
Other features are also counted to triangulate this result. As far as the complex sentences are concerned, the ration of complex sentences to sentences in the whole text is shown in
Topical Features
The data utilized in
Grammatical Features Number of | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Text-1 | Text-2 | Text-3 | Text-1 | Text-2 | Text-3 | |
Ranking Clauses | 39 | 52 | 47 | 81 | 115 | 112 |
Clause Complex | 26 | 18 | 24 | 27 | 35 | 40 |
Grammatical Intricacy | 1.5 | 2.89 | 1.96 | 3 | 3.29 | 2.8 |
Compound Sentence | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
10.80% | 7.10% | 7.10% | 2.70% | 2.30% | 3.80% | |
Complex Sentence | 9 | 11 | 18 | 16 | 29 | 26 |
24.30% | 39.30% | 64.30% | 43.20% | 67.40% | 49.00% | |
Sentences with >2 Ranking Clauses (Finite) | 2 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 15 |
5.40% | 21.40% | 25% | 18.90% | 39.50% | 28.30% | |
Passive Voice | 6 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 10 |
16.20% | 25% | 32.10% | 16.20% | 14.00% | 18.90% | |
Sentences | 37 | 28 | 28 | 37 | 43 | 53 |
Note: Three texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and three texts are from Cambridge English IELTS 13 Test one.
Categories of text topics | TOEFL iBT reading test | IELTS reading test | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Natural Science | 21 | 12 | ||
Biology Geology Astronomy | 15 5 1 | Biology Geology Physics | 8 2 2 | |
2. Social Science and Humanities | 30 | 48 | ||
Sociology History Agriculture Business Culture Arts Geography Archaeology Industry Economics | 3 2 9 2 1 2 2 4 4 1 | Sociology History Agriculture Business Culture Arts Geography Technology Health Psychology Law Language Education | 4 2 2 2 2 10 2 4 2 10 1 4 3 |
Note: Reading tests are the recall versions of the real tests of TOEFL iBT and IELTS by test-takers of mainland China from January to May.
are written in Chinese. The collected date start from the beginning of January and have been updated till the end of May when the final draft of this article was done. There were 20 times IELTS tests and 15 times TOEFL iBT tests, from which 60 pieces of IELTS reading tests and 51 TOEFL iBT are analyzed.
From
Text Type
From
From
Besides multiple choices, IELTS reading part utilizes other means of testing. Multiple matching, an objective technique, requires test takers to match two sets of stimuli against each other, such as matching the beginning part of one
Exposition | Argumentation | Narrative | |
---|---|---|---|
TOEFL iBT | 41 | 10 | 0 |
IELTS | 37 | 20 | 3 |
Note: Reading tests are the recall versions of the real tests of TOEFL iBT and IELTS by test-takers of mainland China from January to May.
TOEFL iBT Reading Test | IELTS Reading Test |
---|---|
Multiple choice | Multiple choice |
Matching (sentence endings, features, headings, information) | |
Dichotomous items with a third option (writer’s views/claims, information) | |
Short-answer questions | |
Sentence completion | |
Summary completion | |
Information transfer (diagram, note, table, flow-chart completion) |
sentence to its ending, the opinions to their believers, the name of objects to their features, headings of paragraphs to their according paragraphs, part of information to the responding paragraph. They are easy to mark but difficult to construct. Then, dichotomous items present students with some statements related to the text and require them to judge whether they are true or false. They are applauded for the ease of construction. But students stand a high chance of guessing it right. To counteract this effect, a third option is offered such as ‘‘not given’’. Unlike the aforementioned techniques, short-answer methods are subjective or semi-objective. They provide the justification that test takers can be assessed whether they understand the text by checking their written responses. But they have to be constructed in a way that all the potential answers have to be taken into consideration and other variables such as learners’ written ability are involved. To avoid the interference of other issue, sentence completion is designed in which testees only need to write down individual words or phrases instead of grammatically correct whole sentences. Finally, the gapped summary is a summary of the target text with some important words removed. To fill the gap, readers have to read the whole passage and figure out the main idea. Sometimes, a word bank is provided but in most cases they are not taken originally from the text. For this test method, students do not have the chance of guessing the answers since they are constructed on the condition that it is impossible to have the words without reading the right text. Information transfer technique expects test takers to locate relevant information from the text and then transfer it to some forms such as table, graph.
From the literature concerning test techniques above, it can be concluded that TOEFL iBT reading is easier.
The data analyzed are thirty-six IELTS reading tests from Cambridge IELTS 4-12 and fifty-five TOEFL reading tests from Test Practice Online 1 - 50 and 5 tests from Official Guide. From
Seen from
At the following three levels (proposition, local coherence), the two batteries of tests share some common features in containing same types of questions but also distinguish from each other in the proportion of these questions. Both tests allocate the heaviest weighing to restatement questions, which focus on the comprehension of facts and details in the text. However, the weight in IELTS (80.7%) is about 2.6 times heavier than that in TOEFL iBT (30.7%). Inference questions in TOEFL iBT (7%) were ten times those in IELTS (0.7%). Author’s attitude questions are not existent in TOEFL iBT while negative question does not exist in IELTS. In terms of local coherence, despite the small percentage, referent questions are considerably more frequent in TOEFL iBT (1.3%) than IELTS (0.07%). As a matter of fact, it has only appeared once in the IELTS reading test.
At the level of macrostructure, these two tests display opposite trend in employing questions. IELTS reading test employ main idea question (15.1%) more frequently while the opposite holds true for TOEFL iBT reading (0.8%). On the contrary, 16.5% questions are about organization in TOEFL iBT reading while this figure is 0.9% in IELTS. Both tests do not adopt previous or following questions. At the top level, they have one thing in common that superstructure is not tested in both tests.
When the location of information needed for the correct response to each question is concerned, questions following texts from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and 3 texts from Cambridge English IELTS 13 are analyzed.
According to
Categories of question types | TOEFL iBT reading test TPO1 - 50 + OG | IELTS reading test Cambridge IELTS 4 - 12 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vocabulary | 633 | 27.80% | 0 | 0 | |
Restatement | 700 | 30.70% | 1162 | 80.70% | |
Inference | 160 | 7% | 10 | 0.70% | |
Negative question | 195 | 8.50% | 0 | 0 | |
Referent | 30 | 1.30% | 1 | 0.07% | |
Organization | 377 | 16.50% | 13 | 0.90% | |
Support | 165 | 7.20% | 32 | 2.20% | |
Main idea | 20 | 0.80% | 217 | 15.10% | |
Author’s attitude etc. | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.30% | |
Possible topic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Whole number | 2280 | 100% | 1440 | 100% |
Note: TOEFL texts are from 50 tests in TOEFL Practice Online and 5 tests in TOEFL Official Guide and IETLS texts are from Cambridge IELTS Test 4 to 12.
Categories of Question Types | TOEFL iBT TPO54 | IELTS Cam-13 Test-1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Textually explicit (one sentence) | 5 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 7 |
Textually implicit (across sentences) | 8 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
Global (the whole text) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: Three texts are from TOEFL iBT Practice Online 54 and three texts are from Cambridge English IELTS 13 Test one.
words in context, while the ration (24/40) is much higher in IELTS since a majority of questions are related to the literal understanding of fact or details in the text. These questions might take the form of sentence completion, summary gap filling, short answer questions, matching, dichotomous items with a third option, information transfer and part of multiple choices.
Secondly, almost half of questions (21/41) in TOEFL iBT need readers to locate and integrate the relevant information across sentences. The figure for IELTS is smaller (16/40).
Last, in TOEFL iBT reading, questions of support, organization require readers to have a good understanding of the whole passage and locate the information across paragraphs. In
In conclusion, IELTS reading tests have no vocabulary-related questions at the bottom conceptual level while there are three to five questions for each TOELF iBT reading passage. Moreover, IELTS reading tests have more textually explicit questions. TOELF iBT does not only have more textually implicit questions but also has global questions involving understanding the whole passage while IELTS does not have.
From the above comprehensive comparison, it can be seen that TOEFL iBT and IELTS reading parts have more differences than common grounds. Most of similarity between them are about test rubrics and input format. They are slightly different in the areas of score method and specification of procedures and tasks. Major differences lie in characteristics of input (identification of the problem, length, lexical and grammatical features), tasks (test techniques, question types) and testing environment (test delivery medium).
With regards to characteristics of input, in TOEFL iBT, test takers are clearly instructed which paragraph the information needed for the correct response of each question item is, and which enables them to devote more time in comprehending the text instead of locating the information. In addition, the statistics reveal that the texts in TOEFL iBT are significantly shorter than those in IELTS. Moreover, despite no significant differences in terms of lexical features and grammatical features, averagely, TOEFL iBT reading texts contain a higher proportion of words in General Service List and have a lower level of grammatical intricacy, a smaller number of complex sentences with more than two ranking clauses. On top of that, compared with IELTS reading texts, a larger portion of TOEFL iBT reading passages are expositions, which are generally less difficult to comprehend. However, IELTS reading texts have a higher average readability score, which means they are less difficult in this sense. Besides, an overwhelming majority of IELTS reading texts elaborate topics in the field of social science and humanities which are easier for readers to process thanks to the advantage of background knowledge.
In terms of characteristics of tasks, TOEFL iBT loses its edge. Although TOEFL iBT reading is dominated by multiple choices, for which test candidates have more chances of guessing, and readers have to read more words for question items in comparison with IELTS question items. Besides, a larger number of questions need readers to integrate information across sentences in the paragraph and even across paragraphs.
One factor worth mentioning but not elaborated above is test delivery medium. TOEFL is computer or internet based while IELTS is paper and pencil based. As computer based testing is relatively more authentic given the situation in which students are required to read research articles, papers or books on the screen, some readers still think screen reading slows them down. Considering the results of research related to test delivery medium effect are mixed, readers need think for themselves.
The last major difference is that one extra reading passage along with 13 or 14 questions may or may not be added in the real test. The random addition could be a bless for those who are better at reading than listening, but a curse for who have difficulties in reading.
These differences have profound implications. According to the reports on the IELTS and TOEFL official websites, Chinese students are more likely to achieve higher scores in reading part in comparison with other sessions. In 2017, average reading scores of TOEFL (21) were higher than listening (19), speaking (19) and writing (20) (https://www.ets.org/toefl/). The same is true for IELTS with 6.1, 5.9, 5.3, 5.4 for reading, listening, writing and speaking respectively (https://www.ielts.org/). Therefore, if learners can make informed decisions and take the tests most suitable for them, they will be able to achieve their potential and maximize their advantages in the test so as to meet the requirement. For students aiming to further their education abroad, they can save a large portion of tuition fees, because if they fail to reach the required standard, they have to pay for the language programme ranging from half a year or a whole year before they are admitted to the college of their choice. For learners applying to universities that recognize IELTS and TOEFL iBT scores, they have more opportunities to take the test. By contrast, learners can only have one chance to take the entrance English examination. If they fail the test, they will be denied no matter how high their scores are in their major subjects. Therefore, it is important that these differences should be taken into consideration when English learners take a test, especially when the test results could make a difference to their academic and professional prospects. For teachers, they could provide students with proper instructions on the basis of test features so as to help them achieve their goals. At last, for test designers, they can investigate more to refine tests and ensure the validity of tests.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Li, Y. (2018) A Comparison of TOEFL iBT and IELTS Reading Tests. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 283-309. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.68023