IU offers online English-language test course

The IU School of Continuing Studies is offering its first online course to help international students prepare for the Test of English as a Foreign Language.\nNon-native speakers of English are required to take TOEFL to gain admission into a major college or university in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia. The computer-based TOEFL test, administered by the Educational Testing Service, consists of four sections: listening, structure, reading and writing. \nThe 10-week non-credit course offered by SCS will prepare students primarily for the TOEFL essay topics in the writing section of the test. The course content was developed by Bruce Leeds, adjunct assistant professor with the IU Center for English Language Training. Leeds has 20 years of experience in preparing international students for the TOEFL and was formerly an official reader for the writing section of the test.\nLeeds said the course was a logical extension of what he had been doing in the classroom for 20 years. He has recently become a champion of the idea of online test preparation.\n"In my 20 years' experience, I have observed that it is much more difficult for students to understand and retain changes in their essays when I communicate orally with them," he said. "I have been focusing on the Internet more and more to communicate with my students these days."\nLeeds said he had also talked about offering other kinds of skills training.\nDharmasari Haroun, a recent IU graduate and resident of Singapore, said she finds it more comforting to sit next to an instructor while he edits her text and explains each step.\nSenior Amy Oh, a native of South Korea, said this course could do well even though there are many institutes offering personalized coaching in South Korea.\n"You could get personal coaching for $500," she said. "And many international students who are very good are coming to teach in Korea."\nJudy Wertheim, interim dean of SCS, said the course was geared primarily toward students who lived far away from test prep institutes or found the timing inconvenient.\n"Online courses are convenient and, of course, eco-friendly ... They save paper as well," Haroun said. "But $500 is slightly steep for an online course."\nOh said the biggest problem with TOEFL has been the 30-minute time limit for the essay since it became computerized.\nLeeds said the instruction will be tailored to the needs of each student to address individual problems. \n"For example, with one student whose linguistic skills are high, I may focus on such global concerns as the organization or development of her ideas, while with another student I may focus on more local problems, such as word choice or grammar issues," Leeds said.\n"The main point is that the beauty of this kind of course allows the instructor to respond to each student's individual needs and in a fashion that allows students to see the instructor's comments and suggestions typed out clearly in the right-hand margin of their essays," he added.\nOh said 40 essays was an unreasonable number for 10 weeks.\n"I think 10-15 essays is more like what I would actually be able to do," she said.\nHaroun also addressed the issue of equipment that might pose a barrier to the easy access of such a course.\n"At IU, we are lucky to have such fast servers, but many students do not have access to the equipment required for this course," she said.\nWertheim said word-of-mouth reports about the course have been positive. \n"We have high hopes of its success," she said.\n-- Contact staff writer Sheeba Madan at smadan@indiana.edu.