ABSTRACT
This chapter places the new TOEFL® in its historical context by examining the process leading up to the new TOEFL project. Did similar issues exist in 1961 when the first version of the TOEFL was conceived? How was the construct of language proficiency defined for the first TOEFL? What type of test tasks did the test consist of? How was validation approached? The TOEFL has constantly been the object of research and critical appraisal by representative test users, and therefore these basic questions have been discussed regularly throughout the history of TOEFL. Over this period, which spans more than 40 years, adjustments and additions have been made to the test format, and changing conceptions of language proficiency have been revisited regularly. Despite the fact that TOEFL revision is an ongoing process, in the interest of clarity, this chapter presents TOEFL history in three stages: the first TOEFL, the revisions beginning in the late 1970s, and first stages of the new TOEFL.
