The fourth task in the iBT TOEFL Speaking section is possibly one of the most challening parts of the entire test. Certainly based on my own observations of students attempting this part, plus the extensive comments and feedback I've gotten from actual test takers, it appears to be the speaking task that is the hardest to do well on.
The activity I am going to suggest here is essentially something a teacher can facilitate in a classroom environment, but there is no reason why an independent study group comprising students/test-takers couldn't attempt it as well.
Basically, a great way to practice for this kind of challenge in a very hands-on and task-based way is to organize mini-debates, or more accurately, "present-debates".
Together, the teacher and/or just the students can track down a range of small academic articles from the fields of natural or social science, social studies, archaeology, anthropology, technology, etc. Wikipedia would be a great place to start, but there are also places like the BBC news service, National Geographic and Discovery. There are clearly added benefits here: students will be reading extensively and critically, and hopefully getting access to articles that both interest them personally and may be of broader current appeal at the time.
The two conditions that need to be met are that the articles chosen claim or posit something in a definitive way, and they should be relatively brief (100-150 words only).
Once each student has an article, duplicates are made and put in a pile. Each student then chooses at random a duplicate of one of their classmates' articles. After reading the article, they then need do some more research to find additonal material in response to it. Following the trend of the iBT TOEFL part 4 speaking task, they'll need to decide whether to:
(a) accept the drift of the original article, and find supplementary findings or evidence that supports and/or extends it in a direct way, or
(b) disagree with the drift of the article, and find supplementary material that challenges the assertions made in the original article.
This ushers in a second phase of research and information gathering, with yet more academic extensive and critical reading. At this point you might be thinking to yourself that there is far too much preparation involved in this and the students are not getting down to the nuts and bolts of the speaking task fast enough. On the contrary, I would argue that this very process helps to take students very deep inside the actual task, with a critical and experiential awareness of what is involved with two different content inputs and how the actual speaking part 4 task is essentially set up. And, as you'll see in a moment, this process is actually facilitating a nice big bank of task materials with fantastic variety - leading to extensive practice options.
Okay, so by now what the class or group should have is a situation whereby each student has an original academic article, and each student has a duplicate of another student's article, alongside a critical extension or challenge to it. What you have now is a rich bank of materials to facilitate practice of the speaking part 4 task.
One last preparation step: for the original articles, more duplicates need to be made so that there are enough for every student in the group. This doesn't apply to the follow up materials - just the original materials.
From here the mini-debate presentations can proceed. Basically, taking turns each student stands up before the others, hands out the duplicates of the original article, and allows them 1-2 minutes to read and take some notes (just as with the actual TOEFL test for this task). Then the student reads out his/her extension/challenge information linked to the original article, while the other students listen and take notes. Once this process has been completed, students take turns talking about the presentation, comparing and discussing how the listening information relates to the original written information. The first student, who made the presentation, then acts as an assessor to judge how well each classmate stated and synthesized the key information. Remember that there will be a second student amongst the speakers who saw the original article (as he/she chose it), who may have the bonus of being able to speak more confidently as a result and/or assist the presenting student with the assessment stage. There is yet another bonus here in that each student is encouraged to go deeper into the assessment criteria for the TOEFL speaking section (and indeed, copies of the actual ETS Integrated Speaking Rubric will come in very handy here).
From here each student can take his/her turn distributing duplicates of an original article, reading out his/her selected follow up information, and facilitating and informally assessing how well classmates respond to it. As an overall activity, this will become an extended and engaging experience with plenty of speaking part 4 style practice.
Okay, I'm sure there will be some challenges to this, so I'll try to head some of them off here and now:
Q: What if the materials chosen by the students are not IBT TOEFL appropriate, too hard or too easy?
A: I think this is all beneficial awareness-raising for potential test-takers. The bonuses represented in doing lots of academic reading, making academic judgements about sources of content, doing some academic writing, etc., all more than outweigh any potential disadvantages with not making perfect choices about the original content.
Q: Students will read with their native accent, which won't sound like the scripts used on the actual TOEFL. Won't this be a disadvantage?
A: Well, it might be - depending on how you look at it, and/or what sort of overall proficiency is inherent to the particular group and its various members. Personally I think it is another fantastic chance to promote pronunciation and intonation practice (students could be asked to rehearse their reading aloud sections in advance). And, if the pronunciation is actually poor or hard to make out, isn't this in the end going to be actually easier once you get to the real iBT TOEFL and hear the "golden tones" of the "crystal clear" native speakers?
Q: Can students be relied on to make fair and accurate assessments of their classmates' speaking efforts?
A: I like to believe so, but there are other safeguards inherent to the activity. For one, the person presenting the information has a good chance of knowing it in great detail, thereby granting an advantage in terms of judging how well others have picked it up. Second, in a group environment there is nothing wrong with letting the group itself get involved with each assessment score. As in, each person in the group should be allowed to voice their opinion and say why a speaking performance ought to be graded up or down, so long as they can provide solid rationales (again - having the actual rubric alongside will be helpful in this regard).
There may be other challenges to the potential success of this kind of activity, of course. By all means voice them by leaving a comment here on the blog and I'll do my best to tackle them and make suggestions.
However, there are many things I personally like about this process overall. It involves the students/test-takers in the nuts and bolts of the task and its content in ways repetitive practice out of books cannot. It works with a group dynamic, which is great for socializing the material and implementation in a way that is not all that distant from the actual real-world acadmic activity the TOEFL speaking task is trying to emulate and facilitate. It also creates independent students who do not feel completely dependent on a teacher or native speaker to ensure they get access to good, active TOEFL speaking test preparation.
And you know what? It sure will be a challenge, but the students involved might actually enjoy doing this sort of task. As much as that would be a novelty, I would say to anyone that whenever you can find a way to make test preparation stimulating and enjoyable, you are assuredly on a rare (and good) thing.
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Posted by: Faiza elshafie | November 02, 2007 at 10:37 AM