Motivating Students for the TOEFL

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Motivating Students for the TOEFL iBT

• Roger Fusselman
• Lee Sang Hee Preparatory School
• Pohang, Kyungsangbuk-do
• fusselman_at_hotmail.com OR grammarand_at_yahoo.com
• Daegu KOTESOL / Kyungpook National University
  Conference
• Saturday, June 3, 2006 Daegu, South Korea

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Test Changes Global Impact

• The TOEFL changes are important for international
  students seeking global education opportunities
  in the USA and Canada.
• International students wanting admission to US
  and Canadian universities must learn about how
  the TOEFL changes their admissions requirements.
• Teachers needing to prepare students for academic
  American English should incorporate these changes
  into their lesson plans.

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Test Changes Good news

• Grammar/Structure section gone.
• Speaking section added.
• Integrated tasks added tasks where test-takers
  combine two or more of the four skills.
• Combinations include read ? listen ? speak
  listen ? speak read ? listen ? write.
• Reading and listening passages are longer (600
  words) and more authentic.
• New ways of assessing reading and listening.

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Even more good news!

• All writing tasks are answered via keyboard
  typing. No handwritten answers allowed. Many
  people write faster on the computer.
• Note-taking is allowed.
• Greater communicative opportunities.

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Why prepare students for the iBT?

• iBT measures communicative competence.
• The test demands and requirements (note-taking,
  computer knowledge, four skills) reflect American
  academic demands more than previous tests.
• Skills useful for the PBT and the CBT not found
  in the iBT (shorter listening tasks, shorter
  readings, grammaticality test items, etc.) are
  already taught in Korean schools and many
  hogwans.
• ETS wants to replace the PBT and CBT with the iBT.

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Why the changes should motivate you.

• You can
• teach academic skills and content, not just
  test-taking strategies (the secret of teaching
  TOEFL).
• use the four skills to promote variety.
• use ESL/EFL and native-English-speaking materials
  to teach these skills.
• promote integration mental connections across
  skills.
• have goal-directed students that excel.
• Your enthusiasm will encourage them.

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Technical assistance
Check out TOEFL iBT Links 101 from toeflsmeagle on Daves ESL Café TOEFL forum. Advice and documents -- ETS. University websites. BBC website on learning English.
Many precious resources on the Internet
Supplementary materials allow tasks to seem academically relevant rather than merely TOEFL-relevant.
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Pacing and Variety

• A skill every hour or hour and a half (e.g.,
  reading vocabulary in context, etc) or faster.
• Rotate the four skills reading for 1-2 weeks,
  writing for 1-2 weeks, etc. Dont be too linear.
• Avoid becoming too divergent move in a mostly
  predictable, productive, planned fashion.
• Always bring supplements from websites with
  academic content, e.g., from online writing labs
  at universities.
• You can overwork them, but not underwork them.

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An essay topic as a gift

• TOEFL topics are not known in advance, so how
  does one assign them to simulate the test?
• Essay topic on A4, with paper folded over so as
  to hide the topic, with a red circular sticker
  keeping the fold closed.
• ? Topic underneath reads
• People learn in different ways. Some people learn
  by doing things other people learn by reading
  about things others learn by listening to people
  talk about things. Which of these methods of
  learning is best for you? Use specific examples
  to support your choice.

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An essay is a forum for discussion

• 30-minute time limit, 300 words, but not over
  yet.
• Some people learn by- a good first essay
  topic, for seeing your students learning
  preferences.
• Pair work students discuss the advantages and
  disadvantages of the methods they prefer.
  Students challenge each other.
• Whole class discuss advantages and disadvantages
  of students preferred methods.
• Teacher makes chart on board Possible
  Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Learning
  Preferences. Note-taking by students.

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Assessment is an opportunity to learn

• Use the ETS rubric for the Independent Writing
  Task. This provides the holistic rating.
• On the other side, have an analytical rubric
  keyed to the text of your choice.
• The Longman rubric and the McGraw-Hill rubric
  (attached) have areas checked that need work.
• Electronic version of the analytical rubrics
  allows students the freedom to research on their
  own.
• Mark to teach about 3 items that need
  improvement.
• ABCDF grades? If so, grade on effort, not quality.

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Essay topic types suggest activities

• E.g., the agree-disagree topic type
• Do you agree or disagree with the following
  statement? Grades (marks) encourage students to
  learn. Use specific reasons and examples to
  support your opinion.
• The agree-disagree lends itself to a debate
  format.
• Answer objections, work on transitions.
• Support/oppose-the-plan topic (e.g., for a new
  factory being built in your neighborhood) ? a
  town-hall discussion.
• Have a purposeful learning objective more than
  just practice.

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Additional ideas on independent writing

• Essay topics can have writing objectives attached
  to them (e.g., sentence variety, correct use of
  transitions, particular grammatical
  forms/patterns, paragraph types) rather than
  merely practice for practices sake.
• Essay topics can sometimes be chosen by students,
  or previewed as discussion topics (board game).
• Putting paragraphs in order activity (pair work)
  can be used to teach various aspects of essay
  writing, such as coherence or use of examples.

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The Integrated Writing Task

• Read (about 300 words, 3 min.) ? listen (about
  600 words, 3 min.) ? write (20 min., on the
  relation between the reading and the listening)
• Academic readings of 300 words in a TOEFL
  preparation book can be expanded on.
• E.g., Golden Age of Comics (in Longman)
• Additional lecture (by me) on how the Golden Age
  of Comics ended.
• In-class writing.
• Academic listening recordings available on the
  Net (e.g., at the BBC Learning English website).

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Suggestions for teaching the reading section

• Spoken summaries and paraphrases of passages.
• Expansion questions on the reading. E.g., in the
  Longman territoriality. Ask students to give an
  example of territoriality not given in the
  reading.
• Teach WHY the reading skills the prep books focus
  on are important for learning.
• Make Q-MS-D-T charts on reading skills that show
• 1) a particular question type
• 2) A mental skill it trains
• 3) How to identify that particular question
  type
• 4) How to answer that particular question type.

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A sample chart (very incomplete) Put the pieces
dictated by the teacher in the right place
Question Mental skill Diagnosis Treatment
Sentence insertion Logical connection Boldface sentence. Look for transitions.
Vocab. in context Understand meaning Ask for synonyms Substitute to check answer
Summary chart Think in essentials Choose sentences Remove true but minor
Fill in the chart Thinking in categories Choose sentences Know the kinds of writ.
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Mental skills can justify academic skills

• Paraphrasing its about avoiding plagiarism.
• Even deeper its about making someones
  thinking your own, digesting it by rephrasing it.
• Summarizing necessary in many academic
  situations, such as writing conclusions.
• Even deeper it saves space in your head to
  identify the important essentials of a subject.
• Such academic skills are not merely cultural
  requirements of Western academia they are
  helpful brain builders in many situations.

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Listening

• Pause to discuss academic content listened to,
  but discuss briefly. Content IS learning.
• Oral summaries/paraphrases of listening passages.
• Call attention to vocabulary items on the
  listening, including words, fixed expressions,
  clichés, etc.
• Always require note-taking! Teach different kinds
  of note-taking (key word, outline, Cornell, etc.)
• Take notes in class and show them to your
  students.

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Speaking Suggestions

• Time limits on the speaking (e.g., 15 seconds to
  plan, 45 seconds to speak) make for an
  interactive, competitive class.
• Get students to be timekeepers.
• Find English conversation topics that are similar
  to the speaking prompts, e.g, Some prefer X,
  others prefer Y. Which do you prefer?
• Bring in readings for individual students to
  summarize for the rest of the class, similar to
  the length they would have to summarize orally.

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The summing up

• Embrace the iBT for its challenges.
• Use variety and pacing purposefully.
• Exploit learning opportunities in writing,
  listening, and reading.
• Emphasize learning, not cracking the TOEFL.
• Provide academically challenging supplements.
• Give content a chance provides a sample of a
  possible future U.S. academic life.
• Those who fight for the future, live in it
  today. Ayn Rand