Oxford Review

Review of Oxford preparation course for the TOEIC test

Why this webpage?
This webpage is meant to be an extended version of a textbook review appearing in JALT's December 2003 issue of The Language Teacher. The textbook reviewed is the Oxford preparation course for the TOEIC test, by Oxford University Press, copyright 2002. Book reviews have a 700-word limit, and I realized in the process of writing that it was difficult to fully support some of my statements within that limit, so I made this page as a way to provide more examples. I also realize that what I wrote may be subject to debate among some users of the textbook, so by making this page, I can post the opinions of other people, making for a review that expresses a wider range of viewpoints than just my own. If any readers choose to comment or rebut, their messages will be posted at the bottom of this page.

Speed Links

Articles & commentary on TOEIC by Kevin Miller

What Oxford got right

Un-TOEIC-like examples from the practice tests

Mistakes in the Teacher's Book

What Oxford got wrong

List of strategies with commentary

Reader comments

Articles & commentary on TOEIC by Kevin Miller

The Pitfalls of Implementing TOEIC Preparation Courses
Article appearing in the March 2003 issue of the Yoshinogawa Review, the academic journal published by Shikoku University's Department of English Language & Culture.

Commentary on TOEIC Booster column of April 30, 2004
"A new-look TOEIC possible," from The Daily Yomiuri.

Commentary on TOEIC Booster column of Oct. 24, 2003
"Vocabulary Muscle Counts," from The Daily Yomiuri.

Original review of Oxford preparation course for the TOEIC Test as it appeared in The Language Teacher, December 2003, Volume 27, Number 12

What Oxford got right:

Layout and graphics are attractive.
Photographs are clear, high-quality, professional.
Paper and cover quality are excellent.
Grouping exercises by topic is good, as it contributes to word association within a topic area, which is useful for Listening Part III, Short Conversations.
The exercises that practice each "strategy" are serviceable. A student who diligently completes all of these will have effectively practiced many of the skills necessary for TOEIC.
Exercises are short and to the point, which makes for efficient time management.
Practice Test conversion table is a nice idea.
Teacher's Manual includes exhaustive explanations of all answer choices.
Grammar Glossary is a nice extra.
Practice Tests are reasonably TOEIC-like, with some exceptions listed below.*
Because the teacher's manual explains all answer choices, there is little chance for the answer key to be wrong, as sometimes happens on other TOEIC preparation materials. Nevertheless, some answers are wrong, and they are listed below.

* Writing TOEIC practice tests and having them appear TOEIC-like is no simple task. Having tried many TOEIC preparation materials, I commend the author of the Oxford text for basically getting it right, with a few exceptions. My biggest complaint with the TOEIC preparation materials on the market is that they don't follow the conventions of TOEIC perfectly. I once contacted one of the major TOEIC materials writers by e-mail and was fairly shocked when he wrote that he did not feel that TOEIC prep materials need to strictly conform to TOEIC conventions. He stated that improving the English ability of the students was his goal, not duplicating TOEIC test writing. Personally, I think teachers aiming to improve the general English ability of their students should stay as far as possible from TOEIC preparation materials. There are far more engaging materials on the market for that purpose. However, if teachers are placed in the position of having to prepare students for TOEIC, then they should spend a good deal of their time on practice tests and exercises that conform as much as possible to TOEIC conventions. Students who take the TOEIC test will base their test-taking strategies on what they've been exposed to in their preparation materials. The closer the exercises are to the real thing, the more likely they will be able to internalize the thought processes necessary for selecting the answers quickly and with greater accuracy.

Un-TOEIC-like examples from the Oxford text

Many TOEIC materials writers have trouble writing TOEIC-like test items. One reason is that they may not have access to actual previous TOEIC tests. Often these writers make assumptions about TOEIC items based on other published TOEIC preparation materials. Even writers with access to previous TOEIC tests don't necessarily imitate the TOEIC writing conventions exactly. Further complicating the matter is that TOEIC item writing conventions have evolved over the years, so items that would have appeared on TOEIC some years ago may not appear now.

The Oxford author should be commended for basically getting it right. In particular, the Reading Part VI, Error Identification items appear to be fairly close to actual TOEIC items. The distractors in the Listening Part I, Photographs section, however, are good, but not 100% perfect. Additionally, some items, while closely following TOEIC conventions are simply not well-written, the most common problem being the absence of one indisputably correct answer choice.

Practice Test One, tapescript in Teacher's Book, p. 8.

Listening Part I, Photographs

1. (photo shows airplane flying over some buildings, shot from directly below)
"(A) The fly is flying over our heads."

The first part of this sentence - "The fly is flying" seems like an unlikely TOEIC prompt, but the real issue is the use of the first person pronoun "our". Pronouns in sentences on the photos section are always in the third person. The assumption should always be that an outside observer is describing some aspect of the photo, not that someone inside the photo is narrating events.

2. "(C) They're buying a new tie for the meeting."
3. "(A) He's writing an article for publication."

TOEIC distractors should be false only in relation to the photograph. Another way to put it is that they should be true for a hypothetical photograph. If a distractor cannot be logically pictured, it has no business being on the test. TOEIC will not ask test takers to guess what people are thinking or what their intent is. In question 2C above, a test taker may be cabable of determining whether someone is buying a tie or not, but he would be unable to know if the tie was "for the meeting." (Let's ignore for the moment the question of why several people would be buying a single tie for a meeting!) The same principle would apply with sentence 3A. TOEIC does push the limits of this principle, however. In sentence 8A "He's wiring his office," the test taker cannot know absolutely that it is his office, but TOEIC might require the test taker to make that assumption.

Practice Test One, p. 24 in text, p. 13 & 20 in Teacher's Book.

Listening Part IV, Short Talks

88. "(C) Television programming identifies the main purpose of the business." (p. 20)

In the short talk, one hears that by referring friends to a cable TV provider, a person can get free cable service. The question is asked, "What kind of business is being discussed?" (p. 24). "Television programming" is listed as the answer, but this is an imprecise equivalent for cable TV provider, the answer that should have appeared. This is a case of having no indisputably correct answer choice.

Practice Test One, p. 25 in text, p. 13 & 20 in Teacher's Book.

Listening Part IV, Short Talks

98. "(C) The purpose of the talk is to introduce the new president." (p. 20)

Most of the short talk is about the departure of the current president, with only a brief mention of the new president. Further, there is no evidence the new president is present at this announcement, which clouds the meaning of "introduce". "(C) To introduce the new president" is certainly the best available answer choice, but it's not the answer I would give if this were a short answer question. Another case of having no indisputably correct answer choice.

Practice Test Two, p. 196 in text, p. 106 in Teacher's Book.

Reading Part V, Incomplete Sentences

125. "(A) Around the last year, a number of upscale restaurants and shops have opened in the area. (A) Around (B) Approximately (C) Whereby (D) Almost"

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find answer A "Around" to be the best possible answer, though it may be the best available choice provided. The author should have gone with "During" or "In", neither of which are listed as answer choices. Yet another case of having no indisputably correct answer choice.

Mistakes in the Teacher's Book

Practice Test One, Part VII, p. 25

#177 - poorly written, erroneous explanation of distractor B; answer D not the most likely answer (also p. 37 of textbook)

The author seems to believe that "new bank customers" and "potential bank customers" are the same, whereas a "new bank customer" could be someone who has recently become a customer. Answer B, then, is at least as good an answer as D, the author's choice. Moreover, it's not clear from the reading that the "'First Bank' Automatic Bank Card" is supposed to be a credit card. It seems more like an ATM bank card, in which case D is clearly wrong.

#185 - no correct answer (also p. 39 of textbook)

The question is "To whom does this notice apply?" The answer key says B (vehicle owners who live in the state), but this can't be right, as the passage is a notice about a decision by a city council, which would have no jurisdiction beyond the borders of the city in question. The answer should read "vehicle owners who live in the city," but since no such answer is given, one has no adequate answer to choose from.

Practice Test One, Answer Sheet Practice Test 1, p. 28

#67 - should be D, not C

This appears to be a proofreading error, as they got the answer right in the Answer Key explanation (p. 18), but not on the Answer Sheet itself.

Chapter One, Part VII, Task A, p. 52 (also p. 60 of textbook)

#4 - D (Hong Kong) is arguably a correct answer

The task is to choose answers that are NOT countries. The answer key says that B (London) is the only correct answer, while Austria, Canada, and Hong Kong are incorrect because they are countries. Now I'm no expert on Hong Kong, and a quick Internet search provides some support for Oxford's answer - Hong Kong is listed under countries on some directories, it's got its own telephone (country) code, and it fields its own teams for international sports competitions. On the other hand, by agreement with China, it is designated as a "special administrative region" within China. It seems like Oxford could have come up with a less ambiguous answer choice, say Estonia or Belize.

What Oxford got wrong:

My biggest complaint is the so-called "strategies." In ESL today, the word strategies has several meanings. Recently, it is most often used in the sense of learning strategies. However, when dealing with TOEIC preparation textbooks, there are other more likely meanings, including test-taking strategies and test-preparation strategies. When I first examined the Oxford textbook, I made the erroneous assumption that strategies referred to test-taking strategies. I gradually came to understand that the author has no clear policy as to what strategies means. Sometimes they read like test-taking strategies, sometimes like test preparation strategies, and sometimes they read like directions for dealing with the exercises that follow them. At times they read like none of these. Had the author not labeled them all "strategies," I would have probably been more inclined to accept the concept of this textbook.

Use of the word "strategies" aside, I strongly object to the verbose writing style featured in this textbook. In ESL, there is a point of diminishing returns for explanations given. For my money, I want short, concise explanations followed by a range of examples that illustrate them. The examples are here, but you have to wade through too many lines of verbiage to get to them. I understand that some people may want extensive explanations. However, my experience tells me that those people will generally not be found among the students I teach.

There are TOEIC textbooks out there that offer legitimate test-taking strategies. At this time, I will refrain from recommending any of those, as the purpose of this webpage is to focus on the Oxford materials. For the record, I have not authored any TOEIC preparation materials myself, except for what I use in my own classes.

List of selected "strategies" from the Oxford preparation course for the TOEIC test with commentary.

Chapter One - Offices and Personnel

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Use the pictures to identify an event. Ask yourself what is taking place and where it is taking place," p. 44.

Instructions like these, of which there are many in this text, are not wrong, but they're overkill. Anyone who can understand metalanguage like "identify an event" and who can associate the word "event" with the ordinary things that happen in Part I of TOEIC can certainly label as true or false a prompt like "They are sitting around a table." This strategy just isn't helpful.

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"Listen for words that tell you something happens frequently," p.48.

It's curious that the author focuses only on things that happen frequently, rather than on the whole range of possibilities from infrequent to frequent. One might conclude that things that rarely happen or that happen occasionally are unlikely to appear in TOEIC items.

Reading Part V, Incomplete Sentences

"On the TOEIC test, the incomplete part of a sentence may follow a preposition. Check carefully if it is part of a prepositional phrase. If so, the missing word will be a noun-the object of the preposition," p. 53.

A generalization that doesn't hold up, and with potentially harmful consequences for the test taker. Many objects of prepositions have one or more modifiers, any of which may be the missing word on the TOEIC test.
Ex. The economy is in a period of incredibly _______ expansion.
a. rapid b. rapids c. rapidly d. rapidity

Reading Part V, Incomplete Sentences

"Read the answer choices quickly to find the correct word. If you see similar prefixes or suffixes, be careful to choose the word with the correct meaning," p. 54.

The author is trying to point out that answer choices sometimes look similar, so be prepared. Still, a test-taker has no choice but to try and choose the correct answer, so how is this advice helpful? Advice like this is overkill and a waste of time. Does a student really need to be told, "Choose the correct answer"?

Chapter Two - Entertainment and Dining Out

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Use the pictures to identify an action," etc., p. 63.

Here's a case where the strategy is not wrong, but the sentences in the practice exercise are un-TOEIC-like. "The host is confirming the reservations for a party of twelve" is not a sentence that would ever appear in the photos section of the TOEIC test. The author's intent, apparently, is not to duplicate the TOEIC test format here, but wouldn't it have been better if the exercise sentences were more TOEIC-like? There's no reason why they couldn't have been.

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Be aware of similar sounds. The TOEIC test often uses similar sounding words to confuse you," p. 64.

While this advice is common in TOEIC preparation materials, it happens to not be true, at least in the Listening Part I section of TOEIC. It would be more accurate to say "TOEIC Listening Part I seldom uses similar sounds." The author, however, thinks it's such a key point that this strategy is repeated verbatim in Chap. 5, the only strategy to merit such treatment.

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"Listen for questions that ask about the relationships between people," p. 67.

The relevance of this advice is a complete mystery. It may have some relevance for Part III, Short Conversations, but not for Part II. A question is asked, the appropriate answer must be identified. The relationship of the speakers is more than likely irrelevant.

Listening Part III, Short Conversations

"Use the questions and answer choices to limit where the action is taking place. Pay attention to questions that begin with where. Cross out those answer choices that do NOT answer the question where," p. 69 (italics mine).

While this advice may be harmless, it also happens to be wrong. This simply does not happen on Part III of the TOEIC. All answers for a where question are going to be where answers. People's names, reasons, times, etc. will not be offered as distractors here. You cannot eliminate answers for any reason other than that they are factually wrong, i.e., the incorrect place. I can't help wondering if the author got confused here and had meant to use this advice for Listening Part II, Question-Response.

Reading Part VI, Error Identification

"When you see a comparative or superlative form of an adjective in a sentence, ask yourself how many nouns are involved. The comparative form is used when two nouns are being compared. The superlative form is used when more than two nouns, or an unspecified number of objects, are involved," p. 75.

It seems to me that if the test taker can identify a word as a comparative or superlative, then she already has the knowledge necessary to identify the correct answer. The advice appears to pre-suppose knowledge that makes itself irrelevant. And if the test taker cannot identify a comparative or superlative, how would she fare, after reading the explanation above, on sentences like "The pasta at Donello's is better than at Pasquale's or Luigi's," or "My dog is cuter than any of the dogs at the show"?

Reading Part VI, Error Identification

"Pay attention when a conjunction is one of the underlined choices," p. 76.

Yes, TOEIC often tests knowledge of conjunctions. But does a test taker really need to be told to "pay attention" to conjunctions? "Paying attention" is not going to contribute to anyone's understanding of how conjunctions work.

Reading Part VII, Reading Comprehension

"… Make sure that you look for the person who is asked about in the question," p. 80.

Yes, TOEIC will ask which of several people did such-and-such, and the key is to choose the right person, not the wrong one. So how does telling you to choose the correct person help you do that? This is not wrong, but it's not helpful either.

Chapter Three - General Business & Finance

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Look at the picture and ask yourself what you think is happening. Then read the answer choices and compare the correct answer with the other options. Ask yourself what part of the answers could be true," p. 83.

Confused? Since the photos section does not have written answer choices, one might wonder what this strategy is trying to say. These are actually directions to an exercise that follows, but since they appear in the "strategy" box, it's unclear at first how to apply this information.

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"Listen for questions that begin with how to identify a method of doing something," p. 86.

This generalization doesn't hold up. Questions like "How did the meeting go?" and "How soon will she arrive?" begin with "how" but do not identify a method.

Listening Part III, Short Conversations

"Listen for questions and answers that identify a performance level," p. 87.

More metalanguage overkill. If you can understand "identify a performance level," are you going to have a problem answering a question like "How did she do on the test?"

Reading Part VI, Error Identification

"Look out for incorrect determiners, which always precede nouns in a sentence," p. 96.

Does that mean determiners always precede nouns or incorrect determiners do? This is a problem of ambiguous reference.

Chapter Four - Housing & Property

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Use the pictures to identify physical relationships. Look at the pictures carefully and ask yourself where an object is in relation to another object or person," p. 101.

Still more metalanguage overkill. If you can understand "identify physical relationships," are you going to have a problem determining the truth or falsehood of a statement like "The sign is next to the sidewalk"?

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Be aware of answer choices that are irrelevant," p. 102.

Any false answer, of which there will be 3, is arguably irrelevant, but here the author means answers that obviously have no connection to the picture. So the strategy is to "be aware" of the distractors that are the easiest to eliminate. Not helpful.

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"Listen for questions that ask what to identify things," p. 104.

This generalization doesn't hold up. Questions that ask "what" do not always identify things: What are you doing tonight? What did she say? What time will he arrive?

Reading Part V, Incomplete Sentences

"Identify the verbs in the sentence and mark S if they are stative or NS if they are non-stative. Stative verbs usually do not take the progressive (-ing) form," p. 111.

Once again, this strategy has become the directions to the exercise that follows, which muddies the meaning of "strategy" as it's used throughout this text. That aside, show of hands on how many teachers out there can distinguish between stative and non-stative verbs? (OK, so I'm the only one who can't.) This advice might help someone, but I doubt it.

Reading Part VII, Reading Comprehension

"Use the questions and answers to focus on the target audience. Read the questions and answer choices before you read the passage. Practice asking yourself "Who is reading this?" p. 116.

The part about reading the questions and answer choices before you read the passage is excellent advice. It can be argued, however, that there is little need to ask "Who is reading this?" if the question is not explicitly asked on the test.

Chapter Five - Travel

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Use the pictures to identify a situation. Ask yourself who is doing what, where," p. 120.

Talk of "situations," "actions," "events," "physical relationships" etc., makes a simple task more difficult than it needs to be. These distinctions are not necessary.

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Be aware of similar sounds. The TOEIC test often uses similar sounding words to confuse you," p. 121.

Two words: redundant; false

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"Listen for time markers in yes/no questions," p. 124.

This is a highly questionable association between yes/no questions and time markers.

Reading, Part VII, Reading Comprehension

"Learn to look for what is NOT stated," p. 135.

Yes, TOEIC sometimes asks for the item that does not appear in the passage, which entails scanning for the three items that do appear and choosing the remaining item that does not by default. Explicitly stating this does not make it a "strategy," however, nor does it make the task any easier.

Chapter Six - Technical Areas

Listening Part II, Question-Response

"To identify opinion questions, add "What do you think?" Then listen for answer choices that show what the speaker thinks," p. 143.

This is certainly an original strategy, though it's unclear how one should apply this unless it's already understood that the question is likely an opinion question.

Reading Part VI, Error Identification

"When you see sentences that begin with or contain the word if, ask yourself if they are conditional statements. Identify if the conditional sentence is a real or hypothetical situation. Then, check to see that the correct form of the verb is used," p. 151.

Anyone capable of applying this strategy has no business taking the TOEIC test.

Chapter Seven - Health and Everyday English

Listening Part I, Photographs

"Identify possible reasons by asking yourself why. The answer to the question why will help you focus on listening for the correct answer choice and eliminate those choices which are not possible," p. 159.

This is misguided advice on what kind of distractors to expect on the Photos section. Distractors are almost never "not possible." They are "false" only in relation to the photograph, so you can't eliminate distractors in the way this strategy indicates. Furthermore, most of the examples given are highly un-TOEIC-like, so this entire page serves no useful purpose for TOEIC, and probably does more harm than good.

Reader Comments
Comments, if any, will be posted as they arrive, generally within one week. Please state your name and affiliation (or explain why you don't want to). Comments and rebuttals may be sent to: kmiller@shikoku-u.ac.jp

As of March 17, 2005, there are still no reader comments, but interestingly, a person who reviewed the Oxford text for TESL-EJ chose to link to this page. Ms. Voelz appears to endorse the Oxford text, which I do not, but in the spirit of friendly logrolling, I will link back to her review.

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