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TELL US YOUR STORY! Are you a nonnative speaker who has had an encounter where English speakers made you feel that your English didn't measure up? Or where an idiom or cliché threw you for a loop? Send an email to with your story, with "Speaking English" in the subject line. One, the test requires writing an argumentative essay - "a very specific genre," Repečkaitė explained, that requires knowledge of specific writing conventions and linking words like "moreover" that are rare in other contexts. How can a person fluent in English fail TOEFL? There are a few reasons, she says.
While volunteering at the African Refugee Development Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, she helped a Sudanese refugee prepare for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) - an English-proficiency standardized exam that stood between him and his dream to go to an Israeli university.Īccording to Repečkaitė, the student was fluent (English was his country's colonial language), but he didn't pass on his first attempt. "Proper" English can be used to shut people out of spaces and opportunities, Repečkaitė says. Despite her wide English-language experience - articles, talks, a radio show she co-hosted and more - she says, "There are countless jobs I didn't apply for because they required native English. It turns out that these definitions of "good" and "bad" English may be counterproductive if our goal is to communicate as effectively as possible.ĭreams dashed by the English proficiency testĭaiva Repečkaitė, a Lithuanian journalist based in Malta, started learning English in primary school and used it daily for a semester abroad in Sweden. Try Googling "how to get rid of my accent," and see how many ads pop up. Global communication specialist Heather Hansen tells us that's because the native speaker doesn't know how to do what nonnative speakers do naturally: speak in ways that are accessible to everyone, using simple words and phrases.Īnd yet, as Hansen points out, this more accessible way of speaking is often called "bad English." There are whole industries devoted to "correcting" English that doesn't sound like it came from a native British or American speaker.
And the conversation trickles to a halt.ĭecades of research show that when a native English speaker enters a conversation among nonnative speakers, understanding goes down. The American speaks quickly, using esoteric jargon ("let's take a holistic approach") and sports idioms ("you hit it out of the park!"). They're having a great time speaking to each other in English, and communication is smooth.Īnd then an American walks into the room. There are people from Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Nigeria and France. Picture this: A group of nonnative English speakers is in a room.
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