英语能力在当今全世界工作环境内的重要性，使得越来越多的大学和高等教育机构特别是工程和商业系，要求他们的考生在毕业之前参加TOEIC考试，这些机构认识到并看到TOEIC考试已经成为帮助毕业生溶入职业世界的重要工具。
 

TOEIC由美国教育考试服务处（ETS）在1979开发，即国际交流英语测评。它是针对在国际工作环境中使用英语交流的人们的英语能力的测评。每年在60多个国家有超过3百多万人次参加TOEIC考试，5000多家国际化的公司或机构承认并使用TOEIC考试成绩。因为TOEIC考试能对人们使用英语进行交流的能力做出公正客观的测量，所以它成为当今世界上顶级的职业英语能力测评。

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week on our program, we answer a question from Japan. A listener named Maki would like to know if the test known as the TOEIC is popular in the United States. TOEIC is the Test of English for International Communication. It measures the ability of people to communicate in the workplace using everyday English.

The Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, develops and administers the TOEIC. It says more than nine thousand organizations use the test in more than ninety countries.

Each year the TOEIC is taken in the United States about twenty thousand times. So how popular does that make it? Well, consider that last year the test was given more than five million times worldwide.

Non-native English speakers take the test to demonstrate their English skills when seeking a new job or a promotion. Some organizations use the TOEIC to measure progress in English training programs and as a placement test. The cost of the test is set locally in each country.

The TOEIC is really two tests. People can take one or both of them. One is a paper-and-pencil test. It measures listening and reading skills. The other test is given on a computer. It measures speaking and writing skills.

Eleven questions on the computer test require speaking. For example, the test taker is asked to read out loud or describe a picture. Eight other questions require written answers, including an opinion essay.

We visited the ETS Web site for more information about the TOEIC. But one of the first things we saw was a warning about a "phishing scam." A phishing scam is a kind of crime that uses e-mail to trick people into providing financial or other personal information. In this case the e-mails claim to be from the Educational Testing Service.

Spokeswoman Christine Betaneli advises people taking the TOEIC to be suspicious of any e-mails claiming to be from ETS. They should be especially suspicious of messages that ask for information that they have already provided for the test.

The spokeswoman says if you get an e-mail you are not sure about, forward it or send a separate message to ContactETS@ets.org.