2019-03-22 TOEFL: sample writing, speaking 6

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Look at the sample responses for yesterday’s integrated writing. What score do you think each one should get (1 to 5)? Use the ETS and DELTA score descriptions to help you.
https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/toefl_writing_rubrics.pdf
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A - 4 - Explains all the main points, but there are some mistakes and organization problems. “The connections to the reading could be stronger.” The sentinel meerkat “eats before”, but it’s not clear what this fact is in contrast to. (If the first point was entirely missing, this would be a 3.)
B - 5 - There are some mistakes but they generally don’t hurt understanding. The response includes all the points from the reading and the lecture, and the relationships between them are clear.
C - 2 - This starts out misstating what altruism is. It’s also unclear what the significance of “having eaten before” is. The student doesn’t explain that having a full stomach is evidence against altruism in meerkats. “The best part of this response is the explanation of the lecturer’s point that organ donation can be seen from a selfish point of view.” Because it’s correct about organ donation, it’s not a 1.
D - 3 - It includes the facts from the lecture, but is vague in how it relates to the reading. There’s no clear reference to the sentinal giving up food or other meerkats being in danger. Some sentences are also pretty unclear.
E - 1 - It includes almost no information from the lecture and isn’t at all clear about how the lecture relates to the reading. “If anything, it is somehow construed as supporting the concept of meerkat altruism.” (In other words, this student probably misunderstood that the lecture challenged the reading.)
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Read and listen about topics you don’t already know about. Smithsonian and National Geographic often have a variety of topics. For specific fields, you could try to read things like the Economist or Scientific American.
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BREAK
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Speaking Section: third section, after the break, 20 minutes total, 6 tasks, 5.5 minutes of speaking time
1 independent, open-ended - 15 seconds to prepare / 45 seconds to speak
2 independent, choice question - 15/45
3 integrated reading/listening/speaking, campus announcement and conversation - 30/60
4 integrated R/L/S, academic text and lecture (general/specific) - 30/60
5 integrated L/S, conversation about a problem and solutions - 20/60
6 integrated L/S, academic lecture - 20/60
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ETS 2.1 - Listen to the lecture and take notes.
“Using points from the lecture, explain how the passion plant and the potato plant defend themselves from insects.”
You can organize your response like this:
1 Introduction: introduce the topic and briefly summarize the general background given
2 Lead-in: state what kinds of points the professor makes (“The professor gives two examples of…”)
3 First point: “First, she talks about the passion plant, which has a physical defense against insects.”
4 Detail/example: “The passion plant has…”
5 Second point: “Then she discusses the potato plant, which has a chemical defense.”
6 Detail/example: “There is a substance…”
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Listen to the sample responses. What’s good and bad about each one?
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Record your responses to ETS 2 tests 3-5.
Listen to your responses and choose one we can hear as a class.
Listen to your classmates’ responses. What’s good and bad?
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Homework (optional): If you want more feedback than a score and one sentence, email me this weekend with your own self-evaluations of your writings from today. What did you do well? What do you need to work on for next time? Did you do anything better or worse than your last writing for me? You can use the official score guide at https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/toefl_writing_rubrics.pdf to give you ideas.