The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native speakers. It is intentionally designed to measure the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment. The TOEIC program is the global standard for assessing English-language communication skills needed in the workplace and everyday life.
There are different forms of the exam:
- The TOEIC Listening & Reading Test consists of two equally graded tests of comprehension assessment activities totaling a possible 990 score.
- The TOEIC Speaking and Writing Tests assess pronunciation, intonation and stress, vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, relevance of content, and completeness of content². Both the Speaking and Writing assessments use a score scale of 0–200.
The TOEIC test is recognized by more than 14,000 organizations in over 160 countries worldwide. These organizations include international companies as well as universities, colleges, government agencies, and immigration authorities.
The TOEIC test was conceived by Yasuo Kitaoka, a retired Time magazine staff member who noticed a lack of English communication ability among the Japanese population. The first TOEIC test was launched in 1979.