Maintaining access to a large-scale test of academic language proficiency during the pandemic: The launch of TOEFL iBT Home Edition

ABSTRACT

The TOEFL iBT test was introduced in 2005 to better reflect the language demands of real-life academic tasks than did previous versions of the test. The task-based design of the test was intended to support the interpretation of its scores as a trustworthy measure of international students’ ability to use English in an academic environment. Until recently, the TOEFL iBT test was exclusively administered online at secure test centers around the world. In response to the disruption caused by the pandemic in early 2020, the TOEFL iBT Home Edition was launched, which is identical to the version administered in test centers, but taken at home through the examinee’s computer, in a proctored environment. We present key features of content delivery and the security of the test. We then discuss preliminary findings related to the comparability of scores across modes of delivery, and important implications for the design and score interpretation of at-home language proficiency tests.

Acknowledgments

We thank the associate editor and the reviewers for their comments. We also thank our colleagues John Norris, Dan McCaffrey, and Brent Bridgeman for their careful review of an earlier version of the manuscript. The authors are responsible for any errors in this publication. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily of Educational Testing Service.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.