Independent: Questions 1 and 2
Question 1
For this task, you will be asked to speak about a person, place, object, or event that is familiar to you. You will be given 45 seconds to speak your response. The topics for this question will vary, but you will always be asked to base your response on personal experience or a familiar topic. You might, for example, be asked about a place you like to visit, an important event in your life, a person who influenced you, or an activity that you enjoy.
Tip
Make a list of familiar topics, and practice speaking about them. You may want to begin by describing a familiar place or recounting a personal experience.
This question will always ask you both to describe something (for example, an important event, a favorite activity, an influential person) and to give reasons—
to explain why the event was important, why the activity is one of your favorites, how the person influenced you, etc. Be sure to respond to all parts of the ques-tion. Your response should include specific details and/or examples because they will make your description informative and your reasons comprehensible.
Tip
When giving descriptions, try to avoid presenting long lists since this will reduce the time you have available to elaborate on the rest of your response.
After you are presented with the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You may want to jot down a few brief notes about what you will want to say, but you should not try to write out a full and complete answer. There will not be enough time for you to do that, and raters want to know how well you can speak in response to a question, not how well you can read aloud from something you have written. If you do jot down notes during the preparation time, you should not rely on them too much in giving your answer.
The question will be read aloud by a narrator and will remain on the screen throughout the time you are giving your response.
Example The following example shows how a question of this type will appear on your computer screen.
1. Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.
Preparation Time: 15 Seconds Response Time: 45 Seconds
You will be told when to begin to prepare your response and when to begin speaking. After the question is read, a “Preparation Time” clock will appear below the question and begin to count down from 15 seconds (00:00:15). At the end of 15 seconds you will hear a short beep. After the beep, the clock will change to read “Response Time” and will begin to count down from 45 seconds (00:00:45).
When the response time has ended, recording will stop and a new screen will appear alerting you that the response time has ended.
Tip
Record your own voice to make sure that your pronunciation and fluency of speech are clear. Then take the recording to an English teacher or tutor who can evaluate your response using the TOEFL iBT Speaking rubric.
To answer a question like the one above, you would probably begin by briefly identifying the teacher you are going to speak about—not necessarily by name, of course, but by giving just enough relevant information so that someone listening to your response can make sense of your explanation. For example, what subject did the teacher teach? How old were you when you had him or her as a teacher?
After briefly describing the teacher in whatever way is useful, you could then pro-ceed to explain what it was about the teacher that made you admire him or her.
Perhaps it was something specific that he or she did. If so, you should describe what the teacher did and provide details that illustrate why the action was admirable. Maybe the teacher displayed a special personal quality or had a special character trait. If so, you would want to describe it and give details that provide evidence of it—occasions when you noticed it, the effect it had on you, and so forth. There are many, many ways to answer this question, and of course there is no “right” or “wrong” answer. The important thing, if you were to receive this particular question, is that you communicate enough information about the person to help the rater understand why you find that person admirable.
Question 2
In this second Independent Speaking Task, you will be presented with two possi-ble actions, situations, or opinions. Then you will be asked to say which of the actions or situations you think is preferable or which opinion you think is more justified and then explain your choice by providing reasons and details. As with question 1, you will have 45 seconds to give your response.
Topics for this question include everyday issues of general interest to a stu-dent. You may be asked, for example, whether you think it is better to study at home or at the library, or whether you think students should take courses from a wide variety of fields or else focus on a single subject area, or whether first-year college students should be required to live in the dormitory or be allowed to live off campus in apartments of their own. You could also be presented with two opposing opinions about a familiar topic—for example, about whether or not television has been a benefit to humanity—and you would then be asked which of the two opinions you agree with.
This question will always ask you to state what your choice or preference or opinion is and to explain why—in other words, to support your answer with rea-sons, explanations, details, and/or examples. It is important that you respond to all parts of the question, and that you are clear about what your opinion is and give reasons that will communicate why you have made the choice you did. It does not matter which of the two actions, situations, or opinions you choose, and, as with Question 1, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer. Your response will be rated not on which of the alternatives you choose, but rather on how well you explain your choice by supporting it with reasons and details.
Tip
One good exercise would be to state an opinion or a preference and then present supporting reasons clearly and with detail.
Like Question 1, this question will appear on your computer screen and be read aloud at the same time by the narrator, and you will be given 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You should use this time to think about what you want to say, organize your thoughts, and jot down some notes if you feel this will be helpful.
But remember, you should not try to write out a full answer—just a few words or phrases that may help remind you of the direction you want to take in giving your response.
Tip
Study and practice words and expressions commonly used to express opinions, such as:
In my opinion . . . I believe . . .
Example The following example shows how a question of this type will appear on your computer screen.
2. Some students study for classes individually. Others study in groups. Which method of studying do you think is better for students and why?
Preparation Time: 15 Seconds Response Time: 45 Seconds
After you hear the question, you will be told when to begin to prepare your response and when to begin speaking. As with question 1, a “Preparation Time”
clock will appear below the question and begin to count down from 15 seconds (00:00:15). At the end of 15 seconds you will hear a short beep. After the beep, the clock will change to read “Response Time” and will begin to count down from 45 seconds (00:00:45). When the response time has ended, recording will stop and a new screen will appear alerting you that the response time has ended.
In answering a question like this one, it is important that you begin by clearly stating what your opinion is: do you think it is better for students to study for classes individually, or do you think it is better for them to study in groups? If you do not begin by stating your opinion, it may be difficult for someone listen-ing to your response to understand your reasons for holdlisten-ing that opinion. As for the reasons you give in support of your opinion, they can vary widely and may be based on your own experience and observations. For example, if the position you
take is that it is better for students to study alone, you might say that when stu-dents meet to study in groups, they often waste time discussing matters that have nothing to do with their class work. You might continue this explanation by con-trasting the inefficiency of studying in a group with the kind of productivity a stu-dent can achieve when studying alone. If you have personal experiences that help illustrate your point, you might want to include them in your explanation. If so, you should be clear about how they illustrate your point. Or perhaps you want to take the opposite position, that it is better for students to study in groups. In that case, you would explain the advantages of group study and the disadvantages of studying alone. Perhaps you think that the more capable students can help the less capable students when students study together. Or perhaps you have found that students who study in groups often share each other’s lecture notes, and this way they can make sure everyone understands all the material that has been cov-ered in a course. There are many good reasons for either choice. In fact, it may be your opinion that in some cases it is better to study in groups and in other cases it is better to study alone. If that is the opinion you would like to express, you should explain—with reasons, examples, and/or specific details—why group study is better in some cases and individual study is better in others. Here again, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer to a question like this. The important thing is to clearly communicate to the person who will be listening to your response what your opinion is and explain the reasons you have for holding it.
Tip
Practice making a recommendation and explaining why it is your preferred course of action.
Integrated Listening/Reading/Speaking: Questions 3 and 4
Question 3
Question 3 is the first of the four Integrated Tasks in the Speaking section. For this question, you will read a short reading passage on your computer screen about a topic of campus-related interest. You will then listen to two people (or in some cases, one person) discussing that topic and expressing an opinion about the topic from the reading. Then you will be asked a question based on what you have read and what you have heard. You will have 60 seconds to speak your response. The general areas from which these topics are typically drawn include university policies, rules or procedures; university plans; campus facilities, or quality of life on campus. The topics are designed to be accessible to all test takers and will be presented to you in a way that does not require that you have prior firsthand experience of college or university life in North America.
The reading passage could take various forms. For example, it could be a bul-letin from the administration of a university regarding a new parking rule, or a letter to the editor of a campus newspaper responding to a new university policy restricting the use of radios in dormitory rooms, or an article from the campus newspaper discussing a proposal to build a new football stadium. In addition to
describing the proposal, the reading passage will usually present two reasons either for or against the proposal. The reading passage is brief, usually between 75 and 100 words long. You will be given sufficient time to read the passage.
In the dialogue (or monologue) that will be played after you have read the reading passage, you will hear one or two speakers—usually students—speaking about the same article (or letter or announcement) that you have just read. If there are two speakers, one of them will have a strong opinion about the proposed change—either in favor of it or against it—and will give reasons to support that opinion. The discussion is brief and typically lasts between 60 and 80 seconds.
After you have read the passage and then listened to the discussion, you will be asked a question about what you have read and heard. For example, there may be a reading passage that describes plans to make a new university rule and a conversation in which a professor and a student are discussing the rule. If in the conversation the student thinks the new rule is a bad idea, you would be asked to state what the student’s opinion is and to explain the reasons the student gives for holding that opinion using information from both the reading and the listening.
This task tests your ability to integrate information from two sources—the reading passage and the listening—and to summarize some aspect of what you have heard. The reading passage provides the context that allows you to under-stand what the speakers are talking about. The speakers will generally refer to the reading passage only indirectly. Therefore, as you read the reading passage, you should pay attention to a number of things: the description of the proposal (what has been proposed, planned, changed, etc.), and the reasons that are given for or against the proposal. This will help you understand what it is that the two speak-ers are discussing as you listen to their convspeak-ersation.
In some cases, a speaker will object to the position taken in the reading and will give information that challenges the reasons offered in the reading for that position. In other cases, a speaker will agree with the position from the reading and will give information that supports those reasons. It is therefore important, as you listen to the discussion, to determine the speaker’s opinions toward the proposal and to understand the relationship between what the speakers say and what you have learned from the reading passage.
To answer question 3, it is important to understand not only what the ques-tion asks you to do, but also what the quesques-tion does not ask you to do. This type of Integrated Speaking task does not ask for your own opinion; rather, it asks you to state the opinion of one of the speakers and to summarize the speaker’s rea-sons for having that opinion.
You will be given between 40 and 45 seconds to read the passage, depending on its length, after which you will listen to the discussion. Then you will be given 30 seconds to prepare your answer and 60 seconds to respond. As with all the other questions, you may take notes while reading, listening, and preparing your answer, and you may refer to your notes while answering the question.
Tip
Remember that taking notes on the reading and listening material in the Integrated Speaking tasks on the TOEFL iBT test is allowed.
Example The following sample question consists of an announcement of a university’s decision to increase tuition and a discussion between students about whether the increase is justified. This example shows how a question of this type will be pre-sented to you on your computer.
You will hear:
Narrator
In this question you will read a short passage about a campus situation and then listen to a talk on the same topic. You will then answer a question using information from both the reading passage and the talk. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.
Then you will hear this:
Narrator
City University is planning to increase tuition and fees. Read the announcement about the increase from the president of City University.
You will have 45 seconds to read the announcement. Begin reading now.
Announcement from the President
The university has decided to increase tuition and fees for all students by approxi-mately 8% next semester. For the past 5 years, the tuition and fees have remained the same, but it is necessary to increase them now for several reasons. The univer-sity has many more students than we had five years ago, and we must hire addi-tional professors to teach these students. We have also made a new commitment to research and technology and will be renovating and upgrading our laboratory facil-ities to better meet our students’ needs.
The reading passage will appear on the screen.
When the passage appears, a clock at the top of your computer screen will begin counting down the time you have to read. When reading time has ended, the passage will disappear from the screen and will be replaced by a picture of two students engaged in conversation.
You will then hear:
Narrator
Now listen to two students as they discuss the announcement.
Then the dialogue will begin.
Man
Oh great, now we have to come up with more money for next semester.
Woman
Yeah, I know, but I can see why. When I first started here, classes were so much smaller than they are now. With this many students, it’s hard to get the personal attention you need . . .
Man
Yeah, I guess you’re right. You know, in some classes I can’t even get a seat. And I couldn’t take the math course I wanted to because it was already full when I signed up.
Woman
And the other thing is, well, I am kind of worried about not being able to get a job after I graduate.
Man
Why? I mean you’re doing really well in your classes, aren’t you?
Woman
I’m doing ok, but the facilities here are so limited. There are some great new experi-ments in microbiology that we can’t even do here . . . there isn’t enough equipment in the laboratories, and the equipment they have is out of date. How am I going to compete for jobs with people who have practical research experience? I think the extra tuition will be a good investment.
When the dialogue has ended, the picture of the students will be replaced by the following: