TOEFL® Grants and Awards
TOEFL® Grants and Awards
ETS is pleased to announce the TOEFL® Committee of Examiners (COE) 2025 Young Students Series (YSS) Research Program.
The TOEFL YSS Research Grants are intended to support research related to the assessment of young language learners (under 16 years of age). Priority will be given to research relevant to the TOEFL YSS assessments (the TOEFL Primary® and TOEFL Junior® tests) as well as foundational research that promotes high-quality young language learner assessments.
Amount of grant: Up to US $10,000
Consideration will be given to research on other issues or innovations related to the TOEFL Primary or TOEFL Junior tests.
The TOEFL Junior and TOEFL Primary research test forms will be available to principal investigators funded by the TOEFL COE YSS research program.
For the TOEFL Junior test, two types of research test forms are available:
For the TOEFL Primary test, two types of research test forms are available:
For data output, ETS will provide grantees with a scoring file. For each test section, either raw scores or scaled scores can be provided to grantees. Scoring fees should be included in the project budget, and a scoring-fee estimate should be obtained by contacting the grant coordinator at TOEFLYS@ets.org.
The Public Use Datasets are available to principal investigators funded by the TOEFL COE YSS research program. The datasets come from two test forms of each test, include scores accompanied by demographic information about test takers (e.g., gender, native language, native country, etc.) and copies of relevant test materials.
Requests for research instruments and data for other TOEFL YSS assessment products (e.g., the TOEFL Junior Speaking test, the TOEFL Primary Speaking test) will be considered on a case-by-case basis and granted when feasible. Please be aware that legal concerns related to the protection of test taker identity may limit what data can be shared with external researchers. ETS welcomes grant applications from researchers who plan to recruit participants and collect data locally in countries around the globe.
The TOEFL YSS Research Grants for graduate students are offered to students enrolled in master's and doctoral programs in institutions around the world in language testing, language education, applied linguistics or related fields. Priority for the Research Grants for Graduate Students will be given to TOEFL YSS-related research or foundational research related to young students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL).
Each grantee will be required to submit at least one progress report and at least one manuscript of publishable quality, in addition to appropriately acknowledging the support of the TOEFL program when disseminating the results of the funded work.
Note: Due to United States and European Union governmental sanctions, ETS may not be able to make payments to individuals or organizations in certain countries. The specific countries are determined by the United States and European Union governmental agencies and are subject to change. If your application is from one of these countries, you may be notified that your application cannot be considered for a TOEFL grant or award at this time.
Interested researchers must submit an intent form by April 15, 2024. Applicants should use the Intent Form Template (Word) and submit it electronically to TOEFLYS@ets.org, including "Intent to Apply — COE YSS Graduate Student Research Grant (Last Name)" in the subject line. Selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals.
Applicants who are invited to submit a full proposal have the opportunity to join a one-hour virtual meeting to discuss their intended research study and obtain feedback and guidance from TOEFL COE members with expertise in young language learner assessment.
For applicants who are invited to submit full proposals, proposal materials must be submitted via email to TOEFLYS@ets.org by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on July 15, 2024.
Proposal submissions must include the following documents:
The non-blind copy of your proposal must include all of the following key components, which are outlined in the below and are provided in the Grant Proposal Template (Word):
The blind copy of your proposal should be the same as the non-blind copy, except that it must not include:
Please use the proposal template, which contains the following formatting:
Each proposal will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
The review will take into account each of the criteria above. To view our review form, see TOEFL COE Proposal Review Form (PDF).
Applicants who are invited to revise and resubmit proposals will receive constructive comments. An invitation to the next step does not guarantee that applicants will receive a grant.
All grant winners will be required to submit at least one progress report and one manuscript of publishable quality during their funded study. The exact due dates for these deliverables depend upon the individual project schedule. Please indicate the date by which you intend to submit your progress report(s) and manuscript in your project schedule.
Grant funds are generally disbursed in several payments, aligned to study milestones and submission of deliverables. The timing and amount of grant disbursements is flexible, depending on the project's needs. A typical grant might receive a first payment near the beginning of the project to help defray the costs of data collection. Please estimate in your budget and project schedule the specific amounts you will need for specific purposes at specific dates. For each payment that is disbursed, ETS must receive an invoice that itemizes the relevant project milestones and deliverables for which grant funds are requested.
Authors are expected to submit one manuscript of publishable quality as the final deliverable of the grant. Typically, the research can be published either as an ETS Research Report or as an article in a scholarly journal. When a final grant report successfully passes technical review, it can be submitted for publication. In your proposal, please specify the publication venue you plan to pursue, and be aware that the manuscript will have to pass ETS technical review before being submitted for publication, whether as an ETS Research Report or an article in a scholarly journal.
Grant recipients are required to appropriately acknowledge the support of the TOEFL program when disseminating the results of funded work. The following standard disclaimer should be included in any publications including conference presentations:
1. Why am I required to submit a support letter from a faculty member?
To ensure that the research funded through these grants is of high quality, the Young Students Research Subcommittee requires a written statement of support from a faculty member who can comment on the applicant's research skills, and who is familiar with the plan, scope and schedule of the proposed study.
2. I am an International student studying in the United States. Can I apply for the grant?
Yes, but to make sure you will be able to perform the work associated with the project, you must first discuss potential involvement with your department and university. (Please see FAQ #2 above.)
3. I am studying in an institution outside of the United States. Can I apply for the grant?
Yes, but to make sure you will be able to perform the work associated with the project, you must first discuss potential involvement with your department and university. (Please see FAQ #2 above.)
4. When can the work on the project begin?
Please consider April 1, 2025, as the tentative start date of the project. The actual start date will vary depending on the duration of the contract process involving your university and ETS.
5. How long can projects funded through the TOEFL YSS Research Grants for Graduate Students last?
The expected duration for each project is 12 months. However, individual projects may continue beyond the first 12 months. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, with the caveat that project duration cannot exceed 24 months. If you intend for your study to last more than 12 months, please include an explanation in your proposal's schedule section.
6. If the project continues beyond the initially agreed-upon end date, will additional funding be available to researchers?
No. No additional funding will be made available to grantees should their project extend beyond the original project timeline.
7. My project involves payments to participants. Should I include these in my budget?
Yes, please include information about the payments to participants in your budget details. If your payments and other project expenses exceed the maximum award amount (USD $10,000), please consider alternative funding resources to cover the difference.
8. I need a data set for my study. Is there a dataset I can use?
The Public Use Datasets are available to principal investigators funded by the TOEFL COE YSS research program. The datasets come from two test forms of each test, and they include scores accompanied by demographic information about test takers (e.g., gender, native language, native country, etc.) and copies of relevant test materials.
9. I am interested in administering the TOEFL Junior or TOEFL Primary tests for my research. How are the TOEFL YSS assessments administered?
If you plan to administer a research test form to your participants, ETS can share with you a research test form of the TOEFL Junior Standard test, or the TOEFL Primary test Step 1 or Step 2 (Listening and Reading only), which you can administer to your research participants free of charge. Researchers may also administer publicly available sample items.
If you intend to administer a secure, live test to your participants for research purposes, please be aware that the TOEFL Junior tests and the TOEFL Primary tests are administered locally to students in schools or other institutional settings. When approved by ETS, researchers are responsible for administering the assessment for the purposes of their study. For more information about the assessments, please visit TOEFL Primary tests and TOEFL Junior tests.
Note: ETS cannot provide live, secure assessments or constructed-response scoring services free of charge. If you plan to use the secure, live test in your research, or to use sample tasks to collect spoken or written responses to be scored at ETS, please contact TOEFLYS@ets.org to obtain more detailed information on fees you would need to budget in your proposal, and for any further questions regarding test administration for research purposes.
10. If I want to administer one or more of the assessments, how are the tests scored?
If you plan to administer publicly available sample speaking and writing tasks, and you would like responses to be scored by ETS raters, you will need to budget for scoring. Please contact ETS at TOEFLYS@ets.org regarding a scoring estimate for your budget.
Note: Score reports cannot be provided to test takers who take a research form.
11. Can I use this research grant to support my dissertation research?
Yes, the study funded through the grant can be used to build your dissertation project.
12. Who will own the data and draft manuscript resulting from the project?
Student grantees will own both the data and the manuscript.
13. Will I be allowed to present the research at conferences?
Yes, we encourage our grantees to present their work at professional conferences. Grantees are required to submit an abstract and presentation slides to ETS for review at least 2 weeks prior to the date on which they are to be submitted or presented. In addition, grantees are required to include the standard disclaimer statement in their presentations (see Dissemination Plan above).
14. Can I request funds to travel to conferences to present the research?
Yes. However, total travel expenses per calendar year should not exceed USD $1,500 for domestic travel or USD $2,500 for international travel.
15. How should I itemize the expenses that are listed in my budget?
For guidance on budgeting, please see the budget section of the Grant Proposal Template (Word).
16. Can I request funds for computer software or hardware in the project budget?
No. We do not provide funds for software or hardware purchases, as most universities or institutions already provide all necessary software and equipment.
If you have additional questions about the application process or the grant in general, please contact us at TOEFLYS@ets.org.