[lg policy] Pearson Offers Competing Test in English as SecondLanguage

[Francis Hult]

There was a vigorous debate about PTE- Aacademic on the Language Testing List a few months ago:
http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=LTEST-L
 
(log-in needed to view archives)
 
FMH
 
--
Francis M. Hult, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies
University of Texas at San Antonio
 
Web: http://faculty.coehd.utsa.edu/fhult/

________________________________

From: lgpolicy-list-bounces+francis.hult=utsa.edu at groups.sas.upenn.edu on behalf of Harold Schiffman
Sent: Tue 9/8/2009 9:02 AM
To: lp
Subject: [lg policy] Pearson Offers Competing Test in English as SecondLanguage



September 8, 2009
Pearson Offers Competing Test in English as Second Language

By ERIC PFANNER

Pearson, the British publishing company, has developed a test for
English as a second language, seeking to compete with two nonprofit
groups that currently dominate that fast-growing market.  The company
plans to announce Tuesday that it will start selling the Pearson Test
of English Academic in October.  It will compete with the Test of
English as a Foreign Language, or Toefl, which is managed by an
American organization, the Educational Testing Service, and with the
International English Language Testing System, or Ielts, run by a
British-Australian group. Pearson estimates that about two million
such tests are taken annually, mostly by business-school applicants
and job seekers. With demand surging in places like India and China,
the number of tests taken has doubled over the last four years,
Pearson says.

Pearson said prices of its test would range from $150 to $210,
depending on the country, roughly in line with its competitors. That
means such tests, over all, generate several hundred million dollars
in annual revenue. "You can see why it's a significant operation for
the existing nonprofit operators and why it's so attractive to us,"
said Mark Anderson, president of Pearson Language Tests. "It's a
fairly commercial, competitive market already. We're going to make it
more so."  Pearson says it has commitments to recognize its test
results, or is in the process of getting them, from 770 educational
programs. Ielts says its test is recognized by nearly 6,000
organizations. Pearson said it would use computers rather than humans
to grade its test, reducing the waiting time for results.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/business/global/08pearson.html?_r=1&ref=business

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