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1. Nowadays, many people around the world, especially academic communities, tend to believe that taking English proficiency tests such as
TEOFL, IELTS, and TOEIC is very important when someone is planning to continue his study abroad since those tests provide results that will be admitted as the valid measurement of someone’s English language proficiency.
2. I believe that many
people still consider that taking English proficiency tests is very important and those tests really measure someone’s proficiency accurately and the results are valid since these tests have been used for more than 20 years.
3.
The problem that may answer this question is that these kinds of proficiency tests is only to test one variety of English language while there are many varieties of English language as it claims itself to be an international language.
4. I believe tha
t a result of a proficiency test can only be a measurement for the basic competence of someone’s proficiency in a particular part because to judge someone’s proficiency, we need other measurements, factors, and good understanding of the variations of English language.
5. As it claim as one of the most widely spoken languages all over the world, English language must be spoken in many countries as either
second language or foreign language.
6. Understanding this fact, I believe that there are many varieties of English language spoken by many people from different countries, whether
it is about the differences in pronunciation, in grammar, and also in the level of semantics.
7. Canagarajah 2006 stated his point of view in his article mentioning that testing students by using one variety of English language as its base
is not reasonable in this globalization era p.229.
8.
Does people who are exposed by English language as their second or foreign language speak differently from inner circle people? The answer is yes, but will they language be accepted in the society? I believe so.
9. It means that language that is spoken by either outer circle countries or extended circle countries could be accepted as good English several
years from now and English language spoken by those who lived in the inner circle would no longer have it as a role model anymore and neither would the proficiency tests that are based on standard English language.
10.
Widdowson 2003 stated that native English speakers who have good understanding and competence in using standard form of English will not become role models anymore from the consequence that other varieties of English language are accepted, because those who are from
outer circle countries and even the extended countries could be the new role model.
11. That is why, these new findings challenge the work of earlier researchers, who tended to assume that language proficiency tests such as
TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS are the only valid and accurate data to measure someone’s language proficiency will not last longer.
12. I believe that this replacement happens since the stigma saying that we who are from outer circle or extended circle countries will never be
native English speakers since we do not acquire the language and it is not our mother tongue.
