TOEICがなんぼのもんやねん

TOEIC対策について触れる前に、英語の資格試験について思っていることを書いてみました。長いのでGoogle翻訳にかけてくださいね～。

“What taking English tests brings us”

Recently I have been writing about my English study, and now the topic is reaching ‘TOEIC’ tests. Our business is to operate an English conversation café, so I believe it is necessary to put forward my qualifications and scores, which English learners are usually hoping to attain or which sound attractive. At the same time, however, I know that underlining scores has some downsides. Before the next entry where I will show my study method for TOEIC tests, I would like to focus on the dilemma and what learners can expect from taking English tests.

I tried classifying many pros of taking tests into five aspects: motivation, evaluation, confidence, knowledge and skills. Taking a test means setting a specific, time-bound goal and we make efforts for it, directly leading to a stronger motivation. This can also give us invigorating, quick tasks during the long period of learning. Psychologically, we try to retrieve the fees by achieving a high score or passing the test. Finally, we can make study buddies or rivals with other test takers around us. All these can contribute to a higher motivation. Next, taking a test and receiving a result will of course give us an evaluation of our English proficiency. We can identify where we are as well as the results are quite useful to show in resumes. The third advantage ‘confidence’ can be gained after we pass the test. Good results are what can give us a mental support, especially when we try newer English-related activities. The fourth one is ‘knowledge’. By this I mean we naturally commit ourselves to rather academic, historic and business articles used in tests which we would never closely read otherwise. The last effect I would like to mention is skills. Our purpose of learning is different but every learner’s wish is to improve their English skills. Learning new vocabulary and training with difficult passages will boost our English skills.

Here comes the next paragraph, where I will discuss negative elements of taking tests. When learners just focus on the test, they often lose what their real goals are. We cannot see the forests for the trees; we end up mixing goals and methods. Scores and grades do not show real English abilities, let alone how brilliant the person is. We do not want to fall in a small well, like a fat, blinded frog. The next con is that test materials, textbooks and CDs do not offer authentic English. They are not real, along with not being exciting. Taking tests and studying for them do not work as a communication tool. As I mentioned above, test materials include many different types of articles which will give us more knowledge, but this means we have to learn irrelevant topics, in other words. While I lived in Australia just before coming back to Japan, I tried TOEFL, an English test containing studies about American history and politics neither of which I needed to learn nor was I interested in at all. No one wants to spend time learning irrelevant and useless topics. As the last point, I would talk about the cost. Earlier I mentioned we try to retrieve the test fees, but we often pay for apps, textbooks and expensive courses to achieve the goal as well. The payment would discourage us further if we were not able to achieve our goals.

In my experience, taking tests usually supported me. My results look better than what I am. This makes me more confident and feel valued. Such feelings are what I am seeking from the tests. Besides, I am a person who loves ‘the preparation for an excursion’. The sequence of analysing my skills, making study programs for myself, consuming each task set for my goal, and achieving the results I aimed for gives me a rhythm in my life.

In conclusion, I believe advantages outweigh disadvantages in terms of taking English tests. What we should not forget about is that English is a communication tool leading us to broader perspectives and not a test subject we have to struggle with to languish in piles of paper.

2倍の長さになってしまいましたが、この5段落形式は、私がおすすめするIELTSのエッセイライティングと同じ形式です。もちろんクリスの訂正が入りまくっています！　aka tombo coffeeでは文章校正はなかなかできないですが、会話の中で自分が出した幼稚な表現とか繰り返したくないフレーズをどう言い換えたらいいのか、って質問すると、さすがはネイティブで光るフレーズを出してきますよね。それを今度は自分のものにして使っていきましょう！