Uses of the TOEIC Test in Thailand

The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC®) is a test of listening and reading proficiency, first developed by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, in 1979. Today the TOEIC test is the most widely used English language proficiency test, with more than 5 million tests administered worldwide annually.

The TOEIC test was first administered in Thailand in 1988. The first client, The Regent of Bangkok (now The Four Seasons Bangkok), remains a TOEIC client today. As a broad range test of English language, the TOEIC test is used by different organizations for different purposes. Some of these purposes are described below.

TOEIC and Language Standards

Virtually every organization in Thailand uses a variety of different standards to select and measure staff. Some are technical standards ... for example, the technical qualifications required to perform a specific job, function or task; some are educational standards ... the required educational background and degree; some are experiential standards ... the necessary practical experience in a specific position, or in performing a specific job; some are physical standards ... such as being the appropriate height, weight, and/or age for a specific position.

Prior to Thailand's expansion into the international marketplace one standard that had previously been ignored, or assumed, was the ability of an individual to perform their tasks or functions while using a second language, in most cases English.

Over the past decade it has become increasingly apparent to the senior management of many corporations within Thailand that there must be a standard for measuring English language proficiency for the various positions within corporations. It became obvious that the level of English used among the different positions was not necessarily the same. After all, would not a division manager who needed to be in daily contact with the English-speaking expatriate management require a higher level of English language proficiency than the floor supervisor, whose exposure to the language was limited to brief written standard directives and memos generated by the corporate offices?

The problem became one of first identifying what those differences are and then finding a way to measure them.

The solution most frequently selected by organizations looking for a standardized international tool was the TOEIC test. As a broad range test of English language proficiency, the TOEIC test could be used to quantify the language descriptions developed to identify the levels of language needed on a position-by-position basis.

TOEIC Test and Language Standards and Recruitment

Once an organization has identified and set the language standards it needs for English-essential positions, the TOEIC test can then be used as an integrated component of the corporate recruitment process.

Today's Human Resources departments need as much information about each potential candidate as possible, to make the best hiring decision they can. In the current economic environment organizations need to be sure that they are hiring staff with the best combination of skills and knowledge, to minimize the need for company sponsored training to bring them up to required standards.

The TOEIC test has successfully been incorporated into many corporations recruitment procedures in a variety of ways.

TOEIC and Language Standards in Recruitment

Having already determined which positions within the organization are English-essential and having established measurable language standards as identified by a minimum TOEIC score range, one of the most cost effective methods of making use of TOEIC test results is including this information as part of the recruitment advertising.

This is most often done in two ways. In one, the recruitment advertisement simply indicates that the job applicant must submit a TOEIC Score Report along with their other application documents. By not indicating the precise TOEIC score required for a position an organization can allow itself the flexibility of selecting ANY candidate depending on overall qualifications, even if that candidate's English does NOT meet the required standards. They may then determine what, if any, language training, they will invest in to bring the applicant up to standard, or perhaps offer the candidate a different position with a different language standard.

In another, the recruitment advertisement indicates a specific minimum TOEIC score acceptable for a particular position, along with other requirements, such as specific academic, physical, or experiential requirements.

This narrows the overall applicant pool to only those individuals who meet the identified requirements of a position and allows the recruitment staff to focus their time and energy on the most qualified applicants, working in effect as a first cut in the recruitment process.

These two methods have the advantage of providing the recruitment staff with as much reliable information about an applicant's language ability at the beginning of the recruitment process, without burdening the organization with additional recruitment expenses.

TOEIC Testing of Short-Listed Candidates

Some companies want to be able to see ALL of the potential applicants for a position, regardless of their qualifications. These organizations may have already developed reliable screening techniques of their own that are best suited to the needs of their organization.

However, these organizations still have specific language requirements that applicants must meet. Organizations in this situation arrange TOEIC test administrations for their short-listed candidates as one of the last steps in the recruitment process.

This often has the advantage of allowing the organization to choose from a set of candidates having the best overall qualifications, those with the best English language proficiency. This does, however, usually add to the cost of recruiting candidates, as the testing charges are most often absorbed by the organization.

TOEIC and Language Standards for Staff Promotion or Interdepartmental Transfer Plans

In this age of corporate down-sizing, or right-sizing, it is more important than ever to be able to promote from within an organization to fill vacancies, rather than to recruit from the outside. Promotions and interdepartmental transfers provide the organization with an already motivated and trained staff, and help to encourage corporate loyalty.

Once language standards have been established, many organizations find that it is appropriate to include these standards as part of the other requirements for promotions, or interdepartmental transfers. This allows the organization to ensure that individuals meet all of the requirements for each English-essential position within the corporation.

TOEIC and Staff Development

In addition to recruiting new staff, organizations often want to identify how well existing staff meet those standards, and make decisions about how to develop staff who do not meet those standards.

Many organizations, having identified the positions that are English-essential, and having established language standards for those positions, arrange language testing to determine where existing staff fit along those scales. This language testing can be accomplished in a variety of ways, for example, by organizing TOEIC test administrations at the corporate site, organizing mass test administrations off-site (at local hotels, or at the Center for Professional Assessment (Thailand) itself, or allowing staff to make their own arrangements for test-taking.

TOEIC and Corporate Organized Language Training Programs

Many companies spend large portions of their training budgets to provide corporate organized and/or supported language training programs for their employees. These programs often range from courses in general English, to specialized courses to develop or improve Presentation skills, Writing skills, or Pronunciation ability.

TOEIC test results are used by these corporations to determine not only the need for a particular course, but also the eligibility for a course (it benefits neither the individual, nor the corporation, for staff to participate in courses for which no real need exists). These organizations use the TOEIC test to determine if participants have the basic proficiency skills needed for particular courses, or if they would be better served by participating in courses providing instruction at a more basic level.

Corporations and other organizations are often interested in organizing courses that will improve the ability of the participants to use English on a day-to-day basis. This indicates the need to identify the proficiency level of the participants, and not merely the knowledge level. The TOEIC test is the tool of choice to accomplish this.

Once armed with TOEIC test scores, individual participants can be grouped together into classes of participants who are at similar levels of proficiency. This allows the instructor to work on the proficiency needs of that particular group, rather than attempting to meet the range of needs of a group of students who are at varying levels of proficiency. Because TOEIC test scores can be related to specific levels of English language proficiency, the human resources departments of corporations are better able to work with their language instruction providers to develop short-term high-impact courses for specific needs. Improvement in these types of programs can be clearly observed in the day-to-day use of the language in the participant's work environment.

TOEIC and Language Standards in Corporate Sponsored Language Training Programs

Many corporations are discovering that it is neither cost-effective nor practical to provide corporate organized language programs at the very basic levels. These programs tend to be very long-term and low-impact, while corporate training budgets are becoming more limited and need to be more effectively utilized.

A more effective approach is one in which individual participants are encouraged to obtain the basic level of proficiency on their own, leaving the corporation to utilize its budget for more specialized courses.

In this case, individual participants are expected to arrange their own language training programs, and are permitted to participate in corporate organized programs only after a specific TOEIC test score has been attained.

In such cases, different organizations make various arrangements for reimbursing the individual's language training costs. Some organizations have the individual staff member sign a contract with the organization, in which the staff member agrees to pursue language learning until a specific target, measured by a TOEIC test score, is reached within a specified period of time. Once that score is reached, the corporation then agrees to reimburse the employee for all or a percentage of the costs  

Other organizations agree to pay for a portion of the language training costs up-front, allowing the employees a set period of time in which to demonstrate, again through a TOEIC test score, that they have reached the specified target.

Whatever the method, the purpose is to provide the employee with an opportunity to improve his or her language ability within a specified period of time and with a definite target in mind.

TOEIC and the Selection of Candidates for English Delivered Training Programs

Many corporations are investing in staff development through involving them in skills development training programs that are delivered in English. In some cases these programs are conducted locally, while in others that involve overseas training, the organization also incurs transportation and accommodation costs for each participant. In either situation these training programs are often more expensive than in-house, or locally provided programs.

When selecting participants for training in which English is the language of instruction, one of the first concerns should be that the participant has an appropriate level of English proficiency to function in the program. In some cases, these programs are primarily technology transfer programs in which the participant is expected to attend, learn and then transfer that knowledge to others at their home location, and require participants to have high levels of listening proficiency.

In other programs, the participants are expected to be completely interactive, for example through participation in discussion groups, brainstorming sessions, question and answer sessions, or making presentations themselves, requiring greater levels of language proficiency.

Each type of program requires different levels of language proficiency that can be measured using the TOEIC score results. By including the TOEIC test as part of the selection process to choose training participants for relevant courses, the organization should have participants who are language qualified to participate at the highest level of competence for the particular program. Maximum information transfer can be expected only if the participant is language qualified.

TOEIC and Language Standards in Corporate Language Incentive Plans

Many corporations have begun to explore the potential of paying monthly language incentives to employees who can demonstrate and maintain a specific level of language proficiency.

Language incentive plans currently in practice normally identify at least four different levels of language ability and offer different stipends for each level. To be eligible for the plan, employees are most often expected to hold language-essential positions, and must demonstrate (by providing up-to-date TOEIC test scores) that they have reached that level within a certain period of time. Many of these plans allow employees to submit their test scores once or twice a year and require that once a level has been attained it be maintained. This normally requires that test scores be up-dated annually, or semiannually. Employees can move up and down the incentive level scale, by submitting their scores on a scheduled basis.

In such plans the responsibility for arranging and supporting language training rests with the individual. The corporation merely agrees to pay a monthly stipend to the employee for each level of ability they reach. Such stipends are normally reviewed annually, and should not be allowed to continue beyond a period of more than two years.

The two-year limit is recommended because language research has conclusively demonstrated that individuals who do nothing to maintain their level of ability in a language skill can potentially lose some or all of that ability within that period of time.

The benefits of incentive plans for corporations include the fact that such plans often eliminate the need for a training budget, or for the monitoring of training programs and service providers. This allows the training staff to focus their efforts on other required skill areas. Also, the incentive plan approach helps organizations to identify the more motivated staff members, as these are the individuals who will find ways in which to improve and maintain their language ability.