2020-01-30 TOEFL: speaking/writing overview

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-bones-make-blood-melody-smith
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Homework: Oxford p. 231-233 - exercises 4L6 and 4L8
	(Note that in British universities, a “faculty” is a school, college, or other major division within the university. Each faculty has multiple departments inside.)
4L6
1 c
2 a
3 a d
4 b c d
5 c d
6 c
4L8
1 c
2 d
3 b
4 a c
5 a
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Speaking Section: third section, after the break; 4 tasks, 3m45s speaking time
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 (general/specific) - 30/60
4 (old 6) integrated L/S, academic lecture (summary) - 20/60
(The test changed on August 1, 2019. Pay attention to when videos were made if you look on YouTube for practice.)
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dodge a bullet = avoid a potentially very bad situation, often by luck
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Task 1 is a choice question, fairly similar to the independent writing, althoguh for speaking you might have three choices instead of just two.
You can get some practice thinking about this type of question with “would you rather” conversation starters.
https://conversationstartersworld.com/would-you-rather-questions/
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When you see the choice in the prompt, try to pick one option as quickly as possible and think of reasons to support it. You can write a mini outline to help you organize your response.

no bathroom
- gross
- dishwasher

Then when you give your response, add specific details or examples:
1 Introduction: state your choice
2 Lead-in (optional): “I have two reasons for my opinion.”
3 First reason: “First, cleaning the bathroom is gross.”
4 Detail/example: “For example, if you live with men, …”
5 Second reason: “Second, I have a dishwasher for my dishes.”
6 Detail/example: “This means doing the dishes is a very simple and fast chore.”
(7 Conclusion - if you have time: “In conclusion, because the bathroom is gross and I have a dishwasher, I would rather never have to clean a bathroom again.”)
- Try to move onto your first reason with at least 30 seconds remaining, and move onto the second reason with 15-20 seconds remaining.
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p. 116-117 of your book has a good summary of how to approach this task
Descriptions of score levels for speaking are at https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/toefl_speaking_rubrics.pdf
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The general rule for accuracy (in speaking and writing) is that it’s fine to the extent that it’s understandable. If your mistakes make it more difficult to understand, you might lose points.
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Writing Section: fourth and final section; two tasks
1 integrated: read a text, listen to a lecture on the same topic, write about how they’re related (20m)
2 independent: choice question prompt, write a short essay to explain and support your answer (30m)
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Typically an “effective response” has 150-225 words for integrated and 300+ words for independent.
https://www.typingtest.com/ - You can test your speed and do exercises to improve it. You’ll want to be able to type at least 20 words/minute accurately to do well on TOEFL writing.