After attending a very informative ETS Global teleconference, I've added more details/updates to both part 1 and part 2 of my earlier posts regarding changes in United Kingdom English language visa requirements.

If you want to learn about the whole visa application process, the UK Border Agency this month launched a new Web site designed to be more readily navigable than their earlier version.

Along the same lines, we've also added a page to our own site that provides a nice table of the current TOEIC test minimums for particular visa classes and other summary information on TOEIC tests for UK visas.

A new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance (downloadable free), offers almost 500 pages of data comparing its 34 country members on almost every imaginable education-related statistic, from teacher pay (page 415) to student reading ability as correlated to their immigrant status (page 97).

Some of the results could be anticipated (for instance, that the previously soaring rates of study abroad slowed with the world's economic downturn, declining from an 8% increase to a 3.3% increase between 2007-8 and 2008-9). Others are more surprising. One that initially startled me and caught my attention was that field of study differs depending on where international students choose to go abroad.

It surprised me initially to learn that so many airlines use TOEIC tests. While it makes sense, given the tests' focus on everyday, workplace English that is international rather than specific to any given country, aviation-industry-specific tests do exist, including those created by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Two of several reasons why TOEIC tests are preferred are—

The latest TESOL Language Bulletin included a couple of interesting announcements this week:

An interesting discussion took place on the LinkedIn group ESL Teacher Professionals last month relating to a question asked by teacher Renee in New York regarding ways English language learners could improve their listening skills beyond such usual recommendations as films, radio, and YouTube. Comments from around the world focused on free Web sites. I've had a chance to go through those sites myself now and wanted to share the best with you:

Hello TOEIC4Success readers! I'm Cary Bohlin, AMIDEAST's new primary sales and support person for the TOEIC family of tests and English language learning products. (Lia and other staff here will also be available to provide other information and help to you.)

With over ten years of experience in English language instruction in the United States as well as in Japan, Europe, and other overseas locations, I can offer you solid and truly consultative support.

The article “English: the Inescapable Language,” which appears in the latest issue of The American, a journal published by the American Enterprise Institute, has a somewhat different focus than you would expect from its title.

The article indeed does discuss how English has becomes the world’s common language of the workplace, including some interesting “did you know?” material such as the following—

For those of you who like a quick answer—not necessarily. The reasons that ETS provides TOEIC Speaking tests by computer as well as the cost-intensive methods that they've chosen for scoring the test go beyond a business decision and are both fascinating and commonly misunderstood.

For a long time, there was no TOEIC Speaking test. While other agencies offered speaking tests via interviewer, ETS was concerned not only about the time- and labor-intensive nature of such testing for large groups, but also about interviewer subjectivity. No matter how well-trained interviewers are (and for many tests the training is minimal), they can still be influenced by unconscious biases related to test taker accent, appearance, or other factors unrelated to actual speaking skills. Or they may simply have a bad day (or good day) when they veer off course and become unusually harsh (or lenient) with the interviewees they encounter.