English Language
Institute
2005 Newsletter
From the director's desk .
  ELI wins record grant to expand teacher training in 2006  
  Faculty search fills full-time positions  
  Katharine Schneider retires  
  CAP students admitted to the University of Delaware  
  Third group of Algerian educators train at ELI, prepare for international conference  
  MA TESL graduates find job success  
  Conditional admissions for qualified PreMBA students  
  ALLEI continues to train lawyers and law students  
  Special Programs  
  Conference held for Chilean schoolteachers  
  Boy Scout project serves Chilean schoolchildren  
  Christina School District English Language Learners  
  Classroom notes  
  In memoriam: Ruth Jackson  
  Administrator Profile: Deb Detzel  
  Tutoring Center news  
  Evening classes offered to the community  
  ELI prepared for new internet-based TOEFL  
  ELI alum continues UD collaboration  
  Campus links  
  This old house  
  Evening of art  
  Personnel notes  
  Professional activities of faculty and staff  
  Homestay/host family programs: Bigger than ever  
  Cecily Sawyer-Harmon, homestay mom, instinctively  
  A sampler of 2005 graduates  
  Alumni news  
  Former ELI student thanks Newark community  
  Greetings to our alumni  

ELI prepared for new internet-based TOEFL

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) has morphed. Its newest form, launched in September 2005, should be good news to students enrolled in ELI classes.

That was the opinion expressed by ELI instructor Walt Babich, who traveled in May to Alexandria, VA, to attend an all-day program on “The Next Generation TOEFL Approach” conducted by the Educational Testing Service. The latest version of the proficiency exam, required for entrance into U.S. universities, more closely mirrors the types of academic tasks typically required of undergraduates than its predecessor did.

“The most significant change is the inclusion of integrated skills,” said Babich. “For example, a test-taker must use both reading and speaking skills or both listening and writing skills in order to complete a task.”

Other changes are the elimination of the separate grammar section and the inclusion of a speaking section. The new Internet-based format, which was launched in the United States and Europe in the fall of 2005, will become available in other parts of the world in 2006.

“ELI is committed to helping students prepare for the new test,” said Babich, who regularly teaches a TOEFL preparation class. “More importantly, our English for Academic Purposes classes prepare them for the challenges they will face after they pass the TOEFL.”