Upstart English-Testing Services Take Aim at Longtime Market Leaders
Newcomers Offer Language-Proficiency Exams on the Web or Pitch Their Prices Low
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The digital English learning-products market is forecast to be worth $3.1 billion by 2018. WSJ's Ramy Inocenio speaks with EF Education First's executive vice president Ming Chen about an online testing service that may disrupt the language industry.
With explosive growth under way in English-language testing, entrants to the market are offering lower-cost, or even free, exams in an effort to elbow aside the few established players dominating the industry.
Next week, Switzerland-based EF Education First, which teaches languages and organizes cultural exchange programs, will unveil free English reading and listening tests, called EFSET, that can be taken on any computer.
And Pittsburgh-based language-learning startup Duolingo in July released a $20 English proficiency exam that can be taken online or on a smartphone. The 20-minute test gives takers results within 24 hours.
Later this month, a unit of publishing and education company Pearson PSON.LN -0.73% Pearson PLC U.K.: London GBp1,229.00 -9.00 -0.73% Sept. 22, 2014 9:00 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 159,346 P/E Ratio 0.13 Market Cap GBp10.15 Billion Dividend Yield 2.77% Rev. per Employee GBp115,707 09/22/14 CMO Today 09/12/14 Upstart English-Testing Servic... 09/12/14 Virgin Money Appoints Moreno C... More quote details and news » PLC, will release a 35-minute online English test, with the standard version costing $19.99.
Market newcomers are trying to lure customers away from a cluster of well-established and pricier testers. The leading incumbents are the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL, which was created in 1963 and used by more than 9,000 universities and agencies and the Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC, which came about in 1979 and is used mainly for hiring. Those two are administered by Educational Testing Service, or ETS.
Another service is the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, established in 1989 and co-owned by the British Council, a U.K government backed cultural relations organization that teaches English around the world, and two other educational services concerns.
Some recent entrants, such as EF, aim to nudge aside the long-established testing services, but most newcomers see immediate opportunities in emerging economies where repeated test taking can be prohibitively expensive for English learners.
It could well be an uphill battle for the newcomers. Well-established testers are commonly used by universities and governments. U.S. universities, such as Columbia and Harvard, require most nonnative English speakers to provide TOEFL scores.
British Council's director of examinations Mark Walker said recognition by universities and immigration authorities is a key advantage of IELTS. The test is one of the English tests required by countries such as the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada for immigration and study purposes.
But a key attraction of the newcomers would be affordability. The TOEFL test typically costs between $165 and $255. IELTS costs vary, but to sit the test in Shanghai costs 1,700 yuan ($277), according to the tester's website. And that is the cost for the test alone.
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