TOEIC and Speaking
Myth: A person with a high TOEIC score, especially when it's over 900, is a very good English speaker.
Reality: There are people whose TOEIC scores are really high but can't speak English fluently.
Conclusion: Just because a person has a high TOEIC score doesn't mean that he can speak English well. A high TOEIC score, therefore, is not the ultimate barometer of a person's English skills.
Question: So, why is it that here at ACERS, we train students to achieve a satisfactory TOEIC score?
Answer: This is because in Japan and in Korea, one's English ability is based on his TOEIC score. As I mentioned above, however, this is a myth and it isn't what happens in reality.
One Korean student told me long time ago that in their country, a person whose TOEIC score is lower than 900 should not even think about applying for a job. This is because small and big Korean companies alike entertain only those whose scores are 900 and above. I'm sure that the same is true in Japan. This is because most job interviewers and company owners don't know English either. And because they can't speak English, how in the world are they supposed to know who is good in English and who is not? It is therefore necessary to quantify an applicant's ability by referring to his or her TOEIC score, and this is how TOEIC came to be so popular in Korea and Japan.
Okay. Because a high TOEIC score is what a student wants, a high TOEIC score is what we train them to achieve. But, do we stop there? Of course, not.
This is one of the most amazing things that any student can experience here at ACERS School. We make students achieve a high TOEIC score AND we make them speak English quite fluently. A high TOEIC score plus English proficiency is every English student's dream, I know. It's not good if a student has a high TOEIC score but doesn't have good English communication skills.
Our aim is to produce graduates who excel both in written and spoken English. And, based on the quality of graduates that ACERS has produced, it is clear that ACERS School has carved its trademark.
In our next blog, I will write about the NUMBER ONE HURDLE faced by students of English: PRONUNCIATION.