Motivating Students for the
TOEFL® iBT
Roger Fusselman
Lee Sang Hee Preparatory School
Pohang, Kyungsangbuk-do
fusselman@hotmail.com OR grammarand@yahoo.com
Daegu KOTESOL / Kyungpook National University Conference
Saturday, June 3, 2006 * Daegu, South Korea
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why the changes should motivate you.
You can
teach academic skills and content, not just testtaking 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.
Technical assistance
Many precious
resources on the
Internet
Check out “TOEFL iBT Links 101”
from toeflsmeagle on Dave’s ESL
Café TOEFL forum.
Advice and documents -- ETS.
University websites.
BBC website on learning
English.
Supplementary materials allow tasks to seem
academically relevant rather than merely
TOEFL-relevant.
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. Don’t 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 practice’s 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.
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).
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.
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.
Mental skills can justify academic skills
Paraphrasing – it’s about avoiding plagiarism.
Even deeper – it’s about making someone’s
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.
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.
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.
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