TOEIC® Test Preparation Online

Q: How did Hamburg-English and OnlineEnglish come together?

OnlineEnglish was originally an online training platform that I used for students wishing to improve their English language skills. I used the platform mainly to support my own in-class training, but later opened it to all students as an online training platform. Upon obtaining status as official TOEIC test centre, OnlineEnglish was further developed with new ideas and knowledge to become one of the most respected TOEIC test preparation courses in the internet. As the TOEIC test was based upon business English, I saw an ideal opportunity to use OnlineEnglish to support our in-class English courses and also, to promote our activity as an official TOEIC test centre.

Q: When did OnlineEnglish become an online TOEIC preparation course?

OnlineEnglish started to provide specific training for the TOEIC test back in 2005 and became openly available on the internet in 2006. I felt there were very few online training platforms for students that wished to prepare for the TOEIC test, finding rather that most preparation courses were in the form of books. I believed that an online TOEIC preparation course could give students many more benefits. I had to make a major change when ETS changed the format of the TOEIC test, but since then the website has been developed further and further based on student feedback.

Q: What is the main principle of OnlineEnglish?

The main principle of OnlineEnglish is that there is a difference between learning and preparation, therefore I wanted to ensure that students would not only had the ability to prepare themselves correctly for the TOEIC test, but also improve their English grammar and vocabulary. This is why today OnlineEnglish offers not only TOEIC test preparation and practice, but also English language grammar and vocabulary exercises.

Q: You claim to have produced the very first online mock/practice test is this true?

OnlineEnglish has a test module I called the Entry Test since it was first changed to TOEIC preparation in 2006. This was a 45 minute test that included simulated questions for every TOEIC question type in one test sitting. In 2006 I then enhanced the practice element of the website and created a full 2 hour mock test, with simulated test book and answer sheet, which I then integrated into OnlineEnglish. This 2 hour test simulated what it really could be like to sit a TOEIC test and included 200 listening questions and 200 reading questions as well as giving feedback at the end of the test on questions correctly and incorrectly answered.  In late 2008 I changed the Entry Test to “randomly” generate a near unlimited number of different practice tests from the question databank, and followed this in 2010 by also modifying the 2 hour full test to be able to do the same.

Q: OnlineEnglish offers students the ability to practice sitting a TOEIC test. What else?

Although I supplied the the Entry Test and 2 hour mock test as independent training modules to some organizations, they were within OnlineEnglish only practice test modules of a complete TOEIC test preparation training platform. Within OnlineEnglish a student can also find specific exercises to focus their training on each TOEIC question type, tips and advice for improvement in planning, response timing, strategy, practice exercises to practice the methods used in the TOEIC questions such as missing words and implication; these are core-skills.  Also, the student will find English grammar and vocabulary improvement exercises to support their preparation.

Q: Why did you include specific exercises for the TOEIC question types?

This is because OnlineEnglish includes an analysis engine. The analysis engine assesses each student’s skills and progress. It then presents to them a breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses per question type. A student will instantly see in which question types they are the weakest and then using the specific exercises, they can focus their training and improve upon their weaknesses.

Q: How do you introduce the classroom element into OnlineEnglish?

Firstly there is a function called Email-your-Trainer. With this a student can ask questions, get further advice, and if wished, generally improve their English through email communications.  Actually the trainers that support OnlineEnglish get well aquainted with students and this offers many hidden benefits to students on their way to learning and improving their use of English. Secondly there is the Training Coach; an automatic teacher.

Q: Can you tell me more about the Training Coach?

The training coach is an analysis and delivery module. Basically the Training Coach is an extension of over 35 years teaching. The idea behind the Training Coach came from experience. Many students actually need to be guided when they learn. Another factor is that many students find it very hard to navigate through a training course. I wanted to create a module that could analyse a student’s levels and learning characteristics and from this deliver to a student a training plan together with comments, exercises, advise and information, just like a teacher in the classroom. The Training Coach does just that. Every training plan that the Training Coach produces is specific for that student and the plan changes as the student progresses and improves. The Training Coach analyses not only levels and progress, but also speed and timing. It delivers not only the exercises the student should do, but also the advice they should read and the knowledge they need. The whole principle is based upon focused learning, but just as important; the student is professionally guided through their training, deciding what to do, and the need to navigate through the training platform is practically eliminated. A new feature of the training coach that I should also mention is its ability to supply the student and ongoing training report. This report commences towards the last days of the course. The report is an automatically created summary of the training the student has completed; including comments on their strategy and timing, as well as information on their weaknesses and further training needs.

Q: I see you estimate a student’s level?

ETS hold the key to scoring a student, however, by analysing a student’s skills, levels, progress and training response over a period of time, it is possible after a certain amount of training has been completed, to make a very good estimate of what a student could score in the TOEIC test. But this estimate is totally unofficial and is only for guidance. There is only one official TOEIC score and that can only be given by ETS. When a student has a idea of their level, they can decide whether they may have reached a suitable point to achieve the TOEIC score they need.  As said, guidance!

Q: How does being a TOEIC test center help OnlineEnglish?

The relationship on this point should in fact be looked at the other way around. As a TOEIC test centre, I must maintain an independence between testing and my training and preparation activities. The connection between Hamburg-English and OnlineEnglish is therefore only that Hamburg-English can promote its TOEIC testing capabilities to students through OnlineEnglish. As an ETS EPV, Hamburg-English can offer OnlineEnglish students the benefits of other ETS products.

Q: How successful has OnlineEnglish been?

Success depends on what you mean. If you mean the success of a student in the TOEIC test after doing the OnlineEnglish preparation course, then I would say very successful. My experience in operating OnlineEnglish shows that the success rate is in the area of currently 90%.

Q: What other type of success is there?

The other success is in the marketplace. The fact is that online learning is still young. People must be able to use a computer; and have one! Also, there is nowadays a lot of competition not only from respected suppliers of preparation products, but also from free service providers. It is a maze of choice.

Q: I see that OnlineEnglish can be used by schools?

This is correct. OnlineEnglish is available to schools and other organizations for independent use, to supplement in-class courses, for homework assignments and for blended learning. This is possible because since 2005, OnlineEnglish has contained a secure training monitoring and reporting administration area. From this area a teacher or school can monitor their student’s levels, progress and training reports created by the Training Coach, can communicate by email with their students, can adjust the training platform variables, and can manage memberships. Other organizations are also welcome to promote OnlineEnglish through partnerships; if requested and available, under area/country franchises. I call these organizations partners and every partner has the option to have the front end of OnlineEnglish branded to their own organization, which I do for free depending on just a few basic things.

Q: How do you view the recent moves towards Pay what you Want?

Pay what you want is an interesting scheme, but also it is a risk for any company to adopt. OnlineEnglish already offers prices geared not only to be competitive, but also taking into account a country’s economy and what students in that country could possibly afford. Flexible pricing is not a problem, however I feel that “pay what you want” is too high a risk. The support and training we offer students, as well as the work behind keeping OnlineEnglish up to date for the benefit of our students is very important to us and to the students that decide to use the OnlineEnglish TOEIC test preparation course.

Q: Finally I would like to ask about competition. I mean how can other schools work with you without fearing a competitive element?

This was a question that I first tried to answer many years ago. I then decided that only track record and recommendations would help. The recommendations and track record I enjoy today have been built over many years. Schools can use OnlineEnglish confidently and apart from maybe some technical support now and then, schools will find that they can operate the platform independently themselves; including support of their students; even the teacher support can be given directly by the school instead of by OnlineEnglish. As mentioned, the front-end of OnlineEnglish can be in the colors of the school to give a school’s students the correct feel, login, registration and all the other activities can be on the school’s own website or platform, integration is possible to existing school networks. Competition is not really an issue.