Rethinking Study Abroad: Why TOEIC Gains Are Not Guaranteed

By Beniko Mason

Everyone assumes that immersion works. Go live in the target country. Take ESL classes. Speak the language every day. Interact with native speakers. Surely this must be the fastest way to acquire a language.

I used to believe this as well.

However, I began to notice something unexpected. Some students spent a year abroad in the target country, yet when they returned home, their TOEIC scores showed very little improvement.

Even so, the belief remains strong: immersion is the best way to learn a language.

Two of my former students had this experience. They went overseas expecting significant progress. Instead, their TOEIC gains were minimal.

This was surprising at first—but from the perspective of Pure Optimal Unified Input (POUI), it is not surprising at all.

Sawako

Sawako was one of the strongest students in the English department at the junior college where I taught. When she graduated in the mid-1990s, her TOEIC score was 650. After graduation, she continued reading, and by 2001 her score had risen to 830.

She then went to Canada for over a year. She lived with a host family, spoke English daily, took ESL classes, and later enrolled in college-level business courses taught in English. By almost any definition, this was ideal immersion.

When she took the TOEIC after returning to Japan, her score was 835—an increase of just five points after more than a year of living and studying in the target country.

Several years later, her score dropped to 810.

Sawako then enrolled in a Story-Listening and Guided Self-Selected Reading class at her former college. Over one semester, she listened to 30 stories in class and read 1,740 pages of upper-level graded readers at home.

Her TOEIC score increased from 810 to 895—an 85-point gain in one semester.

At home. In Japan.

Not in Canada.

Kenta

Kenta was a university student majoring in international business. His TOEIC score when he began was 295.

In his first year, he took five EFL classes—three communication classes with native speakers and two reading classes. His score increased by 15 points.

In his second year, he enrolled in a Story-Listening and Guided Self-Selected Reading class. He listened to stories and read graded readers. Over a semester and a half, his TOEIC score rose from 310 to 615—a gain of 305 points.

In his third year, he decided to focus on speaking. He attended conversation sessions with native speakers on campus and studied abroad—first in the Philippines for a language program, then in Seattle. In total, he spent ten weeks using English in immersive environments. He expected a substantial increase.

After two semesters, his TOEIC score was 625—a gain of just 10 points.

In his final year, Kenta returned to listening and reading. He attended Story-Listening and Guided Self-Selected Reading classes twice a week for two semesters. Over that year, he listened to 120 stories (about 60 hours) and read 6,475 pages—Harry Potter, Twilight, and other books he chose himself.

His TOEIC score increased from 625 to 795 within one year—a gain of 170 points.

From listening and reading alone.

Why Immersion Often Fails

The everyday conversation that occurs during immersion—in shops, at meals, and in language schools—may be comprehensible, but it is often not optimal. It is not always rich enough, sustained enough, or sufficiently matched to the learner's level to drive efficient acquisition. A learner may go for long periods without receiving optimal input. Conversation partners may speak too quickly or use language that is far beyond what the learner can follow.

At the same time, learners may develop the impression that they have improved. They may find that they can converse more easily with native speakers than before. However, this apparent fluency may be based on familiarity with a limited range of repeated exchanges. While such interactions can feel smooth and effortless, they do not necessarily reflect broader language development.

In contrast, Story-Listening and self-selected reading can provide large amounts of optimal input—input that is comprehensible, interesting, rich, and abundant. The learner has greater control: content is selected for understanding, and the input continues as long as the learner chooses to engage with it.

Immersion has an appealing logic. But the data from these two students—across very different conditions—point in the same direction: listening and reading for pleasure, at the right level, can be more effective—and more efficient—than living abroad.

Reference: Mason, B. & Krashen, S. (2020). The Immersion Assumption. Selected Papers from the Twenty-ninth International Symposium on English Teaching, 107–113.