Text 4. English Language Tests

Learners of English are often keen to get accreditation and a number of exams are known internationally:

• Trinity College London ESOL offers Integrated Skills in English (ISE), series of 5 exams, which assesses Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening accepted by academic institutions in the UK. They also offer Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE), series of 12 exams, which assesses Speaking and Listening and ESOL Skills for Life and ESOL for Work exams in the UK only.

• Cambridge ESOL General English exams, a suite of five including First Certificate in English (FCE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

• IELTS (International English Language Testing System), accepted by academic institutions in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and by many in the USA.

• City and Guilds International ESOL and International Spoken ESOL on demand examinations available at six levels: Preliminary, Access, Achiever, Communicator, Expert and Mastery

• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), an Educational Testing Service product, developed and used primarily for academic institutions in the USA, and now widely accepted in tertiary institutions in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. The current test is Internet based, and is known as the TOEFL iBT. Used as a proxy for English for Academic Purposes.

• TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), an Educational Testing Service product for Business English

• TSE - Test of Spoken English

• TWE - Test of Written English

Many countries also have their own exams. ESOL learners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland usually take the national Skills for Life qualifications, which are offered by several exam boards. EFL learners in China may take the College English Test. In Greece English students may take the PALSO (PanHellenic Association of Language School Owners) exams.

Unit 5. HIGHER EDUCATION

Text 1. Differences in the Organization of Education

In Britain and America

Differences in the organization of education in Britain and America lead to different terms. One crucial word, school, is used in overlapping but different ways. A place of education for young children is a school in both varieties. But a public school in Britain is in fact a "private" school; it is a fee-paying school not controlled by the local education authority. The free local authority school in America is a public school. The American grade school has a BE near-equivalent of elementary school. But whereas an American can say: "Stanford is a pretty good school", the word school in BE is never used to refer to a university or other college of higher education. An American high school student graduates; a British secondary school pupil (never student) leaves school. To graduate is possible only from university, polytechnic or college of education in British usage; graduating entails taking a degree. British universities have 3 terms; American universities have 2 semesters (or in some recent cases, 4 quarters). A British university student takes 3 years, in the typical case, to get his degree; these are known as the first, second and final years. The American university student typically takes 4 years, known as freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While he is studying, the American majors in a particular subject, but also takes electives; the British student usually takes the main subject and subsidiary subjects. The British term honours degree signifies that the student specializes in one main subject, perhaps with one subsidiary. The American student earns credits for successfully completing a number of self-contained courses of study, the credits eventually reaching the total needed for him to receive a degree. There is no counterpart to the credit system in British high education at present.

The British student who has already taken a first degree (usually a B.A. or B.Sc. except in Scottish universities) is a post-graduate; the American equivalent is a graduate. In American universities those who teach are known as the faculty; in Britain they are the staff, possibly dignified as the academic staff.

BE has no equivalent to AE co-ed a girl student, nor is there any BE equivalent of the American sorority or fraternity, i.e. nation-wide university clubs or associations with restricted membership.

(From “British and American English” by P. Stevens)