2019-10-11 TOEFL: writing feedback, speaking 3

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-chess-alex-gendler
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Homework: Give a score (1 to 5) to each of the sample responses to today’s writing tasks.
Compare the scores you gave to your partner’s. If you disagree, why?
Integrated
A - 3 - “The response to the last point is completely unclear” and the first point is also a bit hard to understand. There are errors with grammar and vocabulary. The organization is correct and all three points are addressed separately.
B - 1 - “it does not present any information from the lecture” (It doesn’t matter how good a summary of the text you write. If you don’t correctly include information from the lecture, you’ll get 1 point.) However, it is the writer’s own words rather than copied sentences, so it’s not a 0.
C - 5 - It addresses all three points correctly and clearly. The points from the reading are explained in the first paragraph and then refuted in the body paragraphs. (I recommend explicitly mentioning both the reading and the listening in each paragraph to help you if your language use is at all unclear.)
D - 2 - “This response earns a score of 2 primarily because it summarizes only one of the main points from the lecture.” “A reader who is not already familiar with the reading passage and the lecture would not understand what the response is about.”
E - 4 - This has more language errors that make it harder to understand than C. It also doesn’t explain why the professor’s reputation is important. There are some structure problems that also interfere with meaning.
Independent
A - 4 - There are several distinct reasons (though the paragraph divisions are a bit confusing), but they aren’t developed enough and there are problems with vocabulary and grammar. The errors “do not interfere with meaning but are frequent enough to earn this essay a score of 4.”
B - 3 - “This essay earns a score of 3 because it lacks development of its key points.” The main reason it lacks development is because it has too many points.
C - 5 - All the points are clear and developed “and the writer draws logical conclusions from each example.”
D - 1 - “It lacks any development of the main ideas. There are no examples or explanations to support the points.”
E - 2 - This is also underdeveloped but it has more than D. The writer says it’s not true that young people enjoy life more, they just enjoy life differently. That’s “a fine approach”, but it needs to be developed.
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Speaking Section: third section, after the break, about 17 minutes total, 4 tasks
1 (old 2) independent, choice question - 15 seconds to prepare / 45 seconds to speak
2 (old 3) integrated reading/listening/speaking, campus announcement and conversation - 30/60
3 (old 4) integrated R/L/S, academic text and lecture - 30/60
4 (old 6) integrated L/S, academic lecture - 20/60
- Because the format of the test changed recently, existing TOEFL books still include all six of the previous speaking tasks. Questions 1 and 5 were removed from the test.
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Speaking Task 3 (ETS 2.1 question 4 example)
- 45 seconds to read a paragraph from a textbook that introduces a concept or idea
	What is the concept? (What is an establishing shot?)
	Does the text describe related steps, types or examples? (2 purposes: setting+mood)
- Listen to a lecture about that concept.
	What specific details or examples does the professor give about the topic?
		(He describes a specific shot and explains what it tells him about the setting and the mood.)
- Listen to the prompt.
- 30 seconds to prepare your response
- 60 seconds to record your response
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BREAK
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You can organize your response like this:
1 Introduction: Explain the topic and the main ideas of the text.
2 Lead-in: State what kind of points the professor makes (“The professor describes an example…”)
3 First point (“First, the shot established the setting.”)
4 Detail/example (“It was an image of a building in a city, so we know…”)
5 Second point
6 Detail/example
(7 Conclusion - if you have time)
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Record your responses to the ETS Guide practice tests.
Listen to your own recordings and decide which one is the best.
Listen to classmates’ recordings. What’s good and bad about each one?
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Listen to the sample responses from the guide.
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Homework: If you want more than a score and one or two sentences about your writing from yesterday, email me with a self-evaluation of both responses. What did you do better or worse than previous writing? What do you think you did well with? What will you try to improve for next time? Finally, what score would you give yourself?