TOEFL® Grants and Awards
TOEFL® Grants and Awards
ETS is pleased to announce the TOEFL® Committee of Examiners (COE) 2025 Young Student 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.
Studies involving the collection of new empirical data can typically be funded up to US$50,000. This amount includes institutional overhead. ETS prefers to select bids which respect its nonprofit status. We therefore request that the overhead rate not exceed 15%.
Consideration will also be given to research on other topics or innovations related to the assessment of young language learners.
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, 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.
Requests for research instruments and data for other ETS Young Students Series 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.
Applications are invited from faculty or staff from around the world affiliated with nonprofit organizations and institutions (e.g., universities) with expertise in English language learning and assessment research. Proposals from current members of the TOEFL COE and for-profit organizations are not eligible.
Each grantee will be required to submit interim reports and at least 1 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 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. Applicants should use the Intent Form Template (Word) and submit it electronically to TOEFLYS@ets.org, including "Intent to Apply — COE YSS Faculty Research Grant (Last Name)" in the subject line. Selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals
Proposals must include a Letter of Institutional Commitment (PDF) committing the applicant's institution to the proposal. The letter must be signed by a representative of the institution's contracting office with commitment authority and must be submitted with the proposal. Proposals will not be reviewed for consideration until such a letter has been received. The contracting officer may obtain a sample ETS grant agreement by submitting a request to TOEFLYS@ets.org.
Note: Some institutions are unable to comply with ETS's contractual language regarding intellectual property and data ownership. We recommend that the contract language be reviewed by the institution's contracting officer before signing the letter of institutional commitment.
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 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 invited to revise and resubmit proposals will receive constructive comments. An invitation to submit a revised proposal does not guarantee that applicants will receive a grant.
All grant winners will be required to submit at least one progress report and at least 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(s) 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. 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 at least 1 manuscript of publishable quality as the final deliverable(s) of the grant. Typically, the research can be published either as an ETS Research Report or as an article in a scholarly journal. Please specify which 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 the funded work. The following standard disclaimer should be included in any publications including conference presentations:
1. I am a foreign national working 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 university or institution.
2. I am working 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 university or institution.
3. When can work on the project begin?
Please consider April 1, 2025, as the tentative start date for the project. The actual start date will vary depending on the duration of the contract process involving your university or organization and ETS. Contract negotiation and study planning may take several months depending on the regulations of your university or institution.
4. How long can the project last?
The expected duration for each project is 12 months. However, in special cases, projects may continue beyond 12 months. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, and projects 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.
5. 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.
6. My project involves payments to participants. Should I include these in my budget?
Yes. In your proposal budget, please include details about the payments you plan to make to potential participants.
7. 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.
8. 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 TOEFL Primary 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 the 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 publicly available 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.
9. If I want to administer one or more of the assessments, how are the tests scored?
Note: Score reports cannot be provided to test takers who take a research test form.
10. Who will own the data and draft manuscript resulting from the project?
ETS will own all data associated with the funded research. The Principal Investigator or the Principal Investigator's institution will own and retain copyright to any paper that is presented at a conference or accepted by a journal for publication. ETS will own and retain the copyright of any manuscript that is either published as an ETS Research Report or NOT accepted for publication. ETS encourages researchers to use the data and results for scientific publications; however, all conference papers and manuscripts will need to be subject to prior review and possible redaction by ETS.
A standard contract template is available to your grant officer upon request. If your grant officer would like to review the contract template before signing the Letter of Institutional Commitment (PDF), they should email a request to TOEFLYS@ets.org.
11. 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.)
12. 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.
13. How should I itemize the expenses that are listed in my budget?
For guidance on budgeting, please see the sample budget given in the Grant Proposal Template (Word).
14. 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.