TOEFL Tips to Improve Your Students’ Scores
Whatever a student’s ability, if they are unfamiliar with the strategies required to perform well at a particular examination, they will not do their best. The TOEFL iBT is quite unlike the IELTS exam, so teachers familiar with the latter should try the test themselves to discover what might trip students up as they struggle to perform under stress and strict time limits.
Below are several areas where students may fail to comprehend the instructions or, most importantly, waste time during the test.
Understanding TOEFL and IELTS Essay Rubrics
Understanding the assessment criteria is essential for both teachers and students. Without familiarity with the rubrics used to evaluate TOEFL essays, learners may focus on the wrong aspects of their writing and fail to meet the expectations of the examiners.
For more details read this article: Understanding IELTS and TOEFL Essay Rubrics
TOEFL Speaking Tips for Teachers and Students
The main challenge here is that learners have only 45 seconds to record an answer to the question they are given onto an MP3 recording. This seems unnecessarily stressful.
For those who would like to gather their thoughts before mentally composing an answer, the teacher would have to advise, “no!” Lots of timed practice is obviously necessary here.
In reality, there is no situation where the addressee has to comprehend a complex question and give an answer in 45 seconds. Any hesitation strategies used would have to be very quick.
Even a native speaker would find it challenging to answer this question well under this time pressure, and test-takers may not be able to demonstrate their English-speaking ability fully.
TOEFL Speaking Practice – My Speaking Score
Why the TOEFL Speaking Task Is Unusual
The TOEFL speaking exam may also confuse test-takers because of the unusual and inauthentic nature of the task.
To quote from the Educational Testing Service site:
Test takers read a short passage communicating a typical campus situation or policy and then listen to a conversation in which a speaker expresses an opinion about the situation or policy. Test takers are then asked to give an oral summary of the speaker’s opinion.
A full response requires the test-taker to combine and convey key information from both the reading and listening input.
A non-native-speaker teacher would need to analyse the sample answers provided for useful structures that could be presented and practised in class. This is not necessarily what a non-American would describe as academic speaking or something that a high school student would have any experience of.
The Role of Reading and Listening in the TOEFL Speaking Test
The second speaking task, defined as Read / Listen / Speak (academic course topic), attempts to simulate academic work.
Test-takers must:
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listen to a lecture
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read a passage
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explain orally how the two are related
This is far more complex than the IELTS speaking exam and involves as much reading and listening as speaking.
In many cases, students’ performance depends heavily on their reading and listening ability rather than purely on their speaking ability.
TOEFL Listening Tips for Teachers and Students
TOEFL Reading Tips for Faster and More Accurate Answers
The test examined here is the practice reading set currently presented on the ETS website.
Many learners automatically read the passage carefully before looking at the questions. This wastes valuable time.
Instead, learners should:
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skim the passage quickly for general meaning
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analyse the questions carefully
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read the text again with a clear purpose
Test-takers have only twenty minutes to read the passage, answer questions, and complete a summary of the text.
Why Writing Out Full Answers Wastes Time
The table layout of Question 10 may confuse some test-takers.
Students are given the option of writing the answer sentences in full or simply writing the letter of the answer.
Some learners may mistakenly type the entire sentences, which could take several minutes and cost them valuable time for only two marks.
Teachers should emphasise clearly that writing the answer in full is a complete waste of time.
TOEFL Reading Tips for Teachers and Students
Prioritising Easier Questions First
As many learners cannot complete the test in twenty minutes, teachers should encourage them to focus on:
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quicker questions first
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more complex questions later
The reading section is relatively short compared with the IELTS reading exam, which lasts an hour.
The Most Difficult TOEFL Reading Question Type
Perhaps the most difficult item is Question 9, where test-takers must place a missing sentence into the correct location in the introduction.
This task affects the coherence of the passage and requires an understanding of paragraph structure.
Students must evaluate which location best fits the logical flow of the paragraph.
How Students Should Approach Sentence Placement Questions
Fluent readers may initially rely on discourse markers such as “in fact” to determine where the sentence belongs.
However, this strategy may lead to incorrect answers because more than one option may appear possible.
Students should:
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check all four possible locations
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avoid choosing the first acceptable option
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rely on intuition if necessary
They should also avoid spending too much time on this question.
Why Concept Checking Matters in TOEFL Preparation
Multiple-choice questions give test-takers the chance to answer correctly purely by chance.
Students who rush through the test by circling random answers may disrupt classroom preparation.
Teachers can reduce this issue by using:
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student-centred activities
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frequent concept checking
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guided discussion of answers
Teaching Grammar Effectively for the TOEFL
Another issue teachers should be aware of is that the TOEFL grammar exam no longer exists.
This is fortunate because explaining advanced grammar problems from earlier versions of the exam required a very high level of grammatical expertise.
However, grammar still matters for the speaking and writing tests.
Teachers should therefore focus on grammar that supports these tasks, particularly:
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reporting the opinions of others
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expressing comparisons
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explaining relationships between ideas
TOEFL Writing Tips for the Integrated Writing Task
Students often underestimate the importance of practising full test papers.
Practice tests are essential preparation for the TOEFL writing exam.
The writing task requires test-takers to:
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read a passage
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listen to a lecture
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write a short text comparing the two
This integrated structure is unusual and may confuse students encountering it for the first time.
Prewriting Activities for EFL Academic-Writing Classes
Using Reordering Activities to Teach Academic Writing
Teachers can make the material more engaging by turning passages into classroom activities.
For example:
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cut the text into paragraphs
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ask students to reorganise them
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discuss the logical structure together
This helps learners understand how academic texts are organised.
TOEFL Listening Tips for Teachers
One noticeable feature of the TOEFL listening test is the use of colloquial American English.
Some listening materials include informal expressions that students may not expect in an academic exam.
Learners who are regularly exposed to American media may therefore have an advantage.
Understanding the Cognitive Load of TOEFL Listening Tasks
Students must listen to several short lectures representing different academic areas.
Each lecture lasts about five minutes, meaning learners must quickly understand the topic and answer questions before moving on to another lecture.
This increases cognitive load and can be difficult for learners unfamiliar with the subject matter.
Ten While-Listening Activities
Preparing Students for the Online TOEFL Exam
Many commentators have expressed concern that the online format of the TOEFL interferes with test accuracy.
Technical problems such as screen freezes can increase exam stress.
Teachers may therefore wish to warn students to remain calm if technical issues occur and to check with their local test centre about procedures in case of problems.
Conclusion: Helping Students Succeed in the TOEFL
The complex instructions and integrated tasks of the TOEFL can disadvantage test-takers who have not taken a TOEFL preparation course.
Teachers therefore need to concept-check carefully to ensure that students understand the exam format.
With proper preparation, practice, and classroom explanation, learners can approach the test with greater confidence and perform much more effectively.
https://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/reading_practice_sets.pdf
