Interviews

There is definitely a lot of interest on the part of 一般の人たち about the upcoming changes in the TOEIC. It is not limited to TOEIC オタクlike me and my TOEIC writer friends. Many of my seminar particpants ask me what's going on. Of course, many blogs are full of information about the expected revisions. And, indeed, one of the biggest indicators is that two important Japanese magazines have asked to interview me for their upcoming editions.

I am as excited as everyone to see how the actual revisions are implemented.

Robert  

Actual changes from May, 2016

Good morning!

Looking out the hotel window at one of my favorite views. Today is perfectly clear, so we can even see individual ships on the distant horizon!

The main reason for today's post is that I realized many people may not be aware of the actual changes in the TOEIC set to appear in May of next year.

These changes can be seen on the following web page: http://www.toeic.or.jp/info/2015/i025/i025_01.html

Essentially, the changes can be summarized as follows:

In the Listening Section, the number of items in Parts 1, 2, and 3 will change. Part 1 will have only 6 photo items, Part 2 will have 25 items, and Part 3 will have 13 conversations, each with 3 Qs, for a total of 39 Qs. Part 4 will still have  10 3Q talks for the same total of 30 items. The Listening Section will still be administered in 45 minutes. Another change is that there will sometimes be visual prompts in Parts 3 and 4. These will likely be things like charts, tables, maps, etc. with the speaker(s) mentioning information that can only be seen by looking at the visual prompt. This is consistent with TOEIC's recent tendency to increasingly require the synthesis of information from different locations.

In the Reading Section, there will also be a shift in the allocation of items to each Part. Part 5 will still be in the same format, but will have only 30 items in the future. Part 6 will increase slightly by adding one item to each passage for a total of 16 Qs (4 passages, each with 4Qs). There will be one additional item in Part 7 Single Passages for a total of 29Qs. And Part 7 Double Passages will be called Multiple Passages in the future. One additional set will be added for a total of 25 Qs (5 sets of 5Qs). The reason for this is that some of the MP will have 3 passages, instead of the current 2. Exactly how many there will be is not yet open. Also, we're not sure if the number of questions requiring the synthesis of information from multiple locations will increase or not. These are currently called BPQ; we'll need to re-name this item type.

For those of you who were wondering what the specific changes would be, I hope this post helps. To be honest, we won't know for sure until the first test appears next May, however.

Robert  

 

After a long absence

Hello.

This time, uncharacteristically, I won't even try to apologize for my long radio silence. I'd like to think that I'm not just lazy, but actions speak louder than words.

Now I have a few days with my family in Awaji. This is one of our favorite places. We come here two or three times per year. It's not only good family time. It gives me a chance to think about the direction I want to go in the future.

Certainly, with the TOEIC undergoing another relatively substantial revision to be rolled out in May, 2016, there are many opportunities for TOEIC authors to revise their offerings to reflect the changes in the test. One of the big gambles, of course, is whether to produce materials before the actual test is unveiled next May. Naturally, any author that ventures to write a TOEIC book before experiencing the actual test has a big advantage, assuming he or she "gets it right." The problem, to be sure, is that ETS might make some last-minute changes in the test, based on their pilot testing, similar to the changes they made in 2006. One concrete example is that they announced that Part 6 would have 3 passages with 4Q each and the CDQ would comprise the bulk of the questions in Part 6. As we know, the actual test that came out in May, 2006 had 4 passages with 3Q each. Further, there were very few CDQ in the initial offering of the 新型 TOEIC at that time.

Anyway, I look forward to our annual TTT in February so that I can share ideas with other TOEIC specialists and determine the best path to take.

I'll keep you posted.

Robert   

Malcolm Gladwell

Are you familiar with the writings of Malcolm Gladwell? He's a kind of business guru these days. One of his books, Blink, talks about how peope make lasting first impressions in the blink of an eye. If people are given positive information about something, they will be predisposed to have a positive experience. The opposite also holds.

Today I had a wonderful experience working with a group of teachers who are part of the Chigasaki Method of English Study. The people in charge of the talk had already given a lot of positive background about me and my lecture style to the members of the group (around 50, I think). As a result, the participants were well-primed to receive my talk positively.

I never forget the time I had an opposite experience. Several years ago Gaz and I were doing a training session with a new client. The person in charge of the training decided not even to come to the session. Instead, he instructed one of the participants to make the introduction of the instructors on his behalf. The person seemed very nervous and, actually, put out that he had been asked to do this. So he said, "I really have no idea why we are here today, but my boss told me to come and make this introduction, so since we have to be here until 17:00, why don't we make the best of this situation?" 

As you can guess, the participants began with a very negative attitude towards the day's training and it took us much longer than usual to bring them on board. We finally could do that, but in Gaz's words, "We fought with the marlin." (A Hemmingway reference from Old Man and the Sea.)

Today was anything but a marlin. I don't know how many people came up to take a photo with me before and after the 90-minute session!! But I was so happy that I could deliver some content to some eager people who were positively predisposed to listen to my message.

Thank you, Kazue and Roy. You made my job much easier today. One of the best sessions I have ever had in my career. Seriously. It was a pleasure.

Robert  

T860

This past weekend, we had the 21st T860 (ALC) seminar in Kanda Urbanet. 46 participants. It was one of the most enjoyable TOEIC seminars I have ever conducted.

There were several people that I had met before in previous seminars. All of them came up to me and announced that they had increased their TOEIC scores significantly. One young man had gone from the low 600's to the middle 800's. His next target is 900. I am sure that he will do what he needs to do to achieve that mark.

We covered a lot of ground in the seminar. The order of presentation was different than the usual presentation I make for a T730 seminar. We started with Parts 3 and 4, because those are usually the two parts which present the biggest challenge for high-level English learners.

We also spent quite a bit of time talking about vocabulary acquisition, particulary learning synonyms for the words the participants already know.

I hope that all of the members of the 21st T860 seminar enjoyed the two days as much as I did.

Robert   

Interface

Yesterday I had a chance to deliver a seminar about Intercultural Communication under the auspices of ALC Press. We had 24 participants, a very good number for a seminar of this type. One of the things we did was to talk about what was needed to be successful in navigating a global, diverse business environment.

Essentially, we think there are three major pillars: English ability, job skills, and intercultural awareness. Of course, English is necessary, even if the vast majority of Japanese business people in our data base are either neutral of openly negative about English. People don't really like English, as a rule. But they know they need it. And that gap also causes big stress for many people.

However, even if a person has a TOEIC score over 900, if they don't have business skills, they cannot truly contribute their full ability in a global, diverse business environment.

But the base is having the requisite intercultural awareness to be able to read to other people and decide objectively the best way to work with each individual.

What we did in the seminar yesterday (Sat 8/29) was to focus on the overlap between English ability and intercultural skill. The participants were very active and we had many good discussions. I have confidence that the participants left the seminar with a practical toolkit that they can access when they are using English to communicate with people from different backgrounds and nationalities.

 

Robert  

President (again) !!

There will be an article in the 9/14 edition of President magazine. I had a chance to share some of my thoughts about developing an "English Mindset," particularly for learner who are now in the 300-450 range. The following advertisement appeared a couple of days ago.

 

Interview with President

Last week I had another interview with Watanabe-san, an editor at the business magazine President. A few months ago they ran a series of articles on TOEIC. Each TOEIC expert they interviewed had two pages or so in their magazine. I was one of the people they wrote about. Apparently, that series was well-received by their readers, so Watanabe-san contacted me and asked to have another interview so that he could write a second article. I think it will appear next month.

I really enjoy working with Watanabe-san. This time there was no photographer, so it was just the two of us having a conversation. He is very knowledgeable about language learning, so the discussion was very stimulating for me, personally. I look forward to reading the first draft of the article. And I am honored that such a prestigious magazine as President has decided to run another article so that I can share my views on TOEIC and language learning, in general.

Robert  

記事のタイトルを入力してください（必須）

Hello, Everyone!

It's been a long time since I posted.

The big news in my personal life is that my son was born on July 1. Even though there have  been many other things happening, I must admit that helping out with the new baby has been the number one priority!

But there have been several other, very interesting events, too.

Just one example. Yesterday I worked with a big insurance company. I realized (again) that motivating people to resume their English study is just as important as providing them with useful TOEIC strategies. Once people have decided to "buy in," then they are much more likely to devote the necessary effort they need to 1) acquire the strategies we teach and 2) to faithfully practice these skills in order to achieve their English study goals.

One of the real keys to that motivation is to help them remove their fear of making mistakes. Once they realize that English is simply a "tool" to help them navigate a diverse, global world, i.e., that they don't need to be perfect everytime when they speak in English, they are much more willing to utilize their natural intelligence and abilities to use English as a (sometimes imperfect) tool to communicate. That's a huge breakthrough for many people. We we can help them to do this, it is professionally very gratifying.

Robert  

Chinese New Year Resolution

Since I already missed the chance to make a Western calendar year resolution, I'm using the Chinese New Year as a chance to do so now. 

I have been remiss in maintaining my blog for the past year or so. I hearby swear on a stack of San Diego Charger season tickets (my version of the Bible) to write at least three or four comments every week. 

Let's see if I can avoid being 三日坊主. Check me in a couple of days to see if I am living up to my promise.

Robert