iBT Speaking and Writing

Speaking Question 1 (Independent Task): Beware! Many Korean iBT preparation textbooks have it wrong!

I was recently reviewing a couple of the iBT speaking textbooks produced by Korean publishers, and came across something that surprised and alarmed me.

For independent speaking task 1 in the test, four of the Korean company books I have recommend the following procedure for answering the "open choice" independent question on the iBT:

1. State your topic

2.a - Reason 1 (with supporting details)

2.b - Reason 2 (with supporting details)

When I saw this in one book, I was surprised. When I saw the same essential formula repeated in ALL FOUR books, I got worried. Based on what I had studied about this question, referring to official guides produced by ETS, the approach I have been recommending is different. I was worried because I thought that perhaps I'd had some crazy lapse of memory or judgement. If all four of these books, produced by what are considered "powerful" and "reliable" test prep companies in Korea (the biggest market for TOEFL outside the U.S.), gave this as the most effective formula, perhaps I had gotten it wrong somewhere along the way.

Here is the formula I have been advocating to students in my classrooms and on our site http://www.onlinEnglish.net:

1. Choose/state a topic to talk about

2. Describe the person/place/thing/etc. to create a feel or context

3. Give reasons for choosing that person/place/thing/etc.

Did I have it wrong???

Well, visitors, test-takers and commentators (all people who have taken the actual test on more than one occasion) on OnlinEnglish have claimed this formula (admittedly only one of six overall) helped them achieve scores of 26+ on the speaking section, whereas before they had been achieving low 20s.

That in itself is heartening. There's nothing like the proof being in the pudding.

However, I decided to go back to the official ETS guide again (the one published with McGraw Hill: The Official Guide to the NEW TOEFL IBT, 2006) and just check to be sure my understanding of his question was correct.

Here's what the official guide has to say about it:

"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." [My underline, their italics] pg.208

There it is, as plain as day. They then go on to explore a sample question asking about an admired teacher, and this advice is offered:

"To answer a question like the one above, you would probably begin by briefly identifying the teacher you are going to talk about... giving just enough relevant information so that someone listening to your response can make sense of your explanation... After briefly describing the teacher in whatever way is useful, you could then proceed to explain what it was about the teacher that made you admire him or her." pg 209-210

Seems I wasn't losing my marbles after all. You are required to do some describing before you get into reasons. And when you think about it, it makes perfect sense - in a question where you are being asked about something personally familiar to you - to expect that you create a context for the listener to understand your relationship and experience with the person/place/thing, before asking you to start dishing out rationales.

Advising my students to go about question 1 in this manner results in better scores - I have the proof.

But what about the thousands of poor Korean students, who are rarely game enough to choose a prep book that is not (at least partly) written in their own language and/or written by some sort of celebrated local TOEFL expert? The advice they're being given isn't totally off base, but it is certainly enough to create the potential for points to be lost here in the very first question.

This formula of state-reason1-reason2 actually works quite well for question 2, the paired choice independent question. Perhaps the Korean textbook "experts" figured the formula was for both questions. I think it's pretty clear they're only about 50-60% right when it comes to question 1.

I won't name the textbooks referred to here. Korea has peculiar libel laws that allow you to be charged with defamation even if what you're claiming is completely true... I'll let people figure out the discrepancy for themselves. I would also urge people to always base their formulae and advice first and foremost on the official ETS documents, sites and textbooks.

I'll trust the word of the company that actually makes the test over some so-called 'expert' who may not have even taken the test - any day.

But now it's got me thinking. If these prep books got it wrong for question 1, what about all their advice for the other questions?

Best I take a look and check. Watch this space...

New Cutting Edge (Pearson Longman)

I recently finished up an intensive summer session doing, amongst other things, iBT preparation for intermediate-advanced secondary school students in South Korea. A last minute book selection was New Cutting Edge from Pearson Longman, after the books chosen by the institute turned out to be unavailable (they confirmed this the week before the session started, mind you...).

I was using the Upper Intermediate level in the series, and I found it to be an outstanding book for both iBT and IELTS preparation. All skills are covered in every module, but the way they are drawn on is so natural and seamless in the thematic treatment that you barely notice any major transition from one skill area to another.

Excellent book, and from what I hear from colleagues, an excellent series overall. If you're preparing secondary school students or adults for iBT, IELTS or just across the board English skills, I heartily recommend trying out this series in your classroom.

Fantastic covers and interior design and layout as well! I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover and all, but for learners and teacher, it DOES help if the book is attractice to look at and use!

Boost! - Ideal initial exposure to iBT demands for Junior Students

In certain contexts, preparation for iBT TOEFL is seen as a priority that needs to be tackled early. Too early, in fact. I'm referring to student age - with learners in late primary/elementary and early middle school grades expected to start developing iBT skills.

The idea of children and young teenagers doing iBT preparation is a little (okay - VERY) ridiculous when you remember that TOEFL is a test of academic English ability with a view to it being applied in English-speaking universities. Moreover, it's astronomically unfair when you realize it is being made a requirement for Korean middle school students who want to gain entry into special or foreign language high schools...

When such contextual demands confront us, we need to find ways to gently prepare younger students for the iBT demands and formats. However, we need a balanced approach that features gentle, incremental preparation for iBT style tasks as an element within a broader approach that hits a range of other buttons important in general for these younger age groups.

Boost! - the new integrated skills series out from Pearson Longman, is not specifically an iBT test-prep book. It focuses on skills development and integrated/blended learning activities for the upper primary/elementary grades and lower middle school sector. It's for those students who have already covered basic coursebook series and need (a) new materials that can challenge them at a higher level, and (b) a helping hand up and across to more advanced language application challenges. It also features regular iBT-style integrated skills activities, softened to be accessible to younger learners at a lower level of proficiency.

I could go out on a limb here and say I know a fair amount about how iBT has been pre-empted and facilitated in the Boost! series. That's because I, uh, well - I'm the author. As you can see, I'm now well into the potentially heinous act of reviewing my own course book series here on a public weblog. That's a bit cheeky, isn't it? Oh well - I've confessed openly and now I don't need to feel guilty anymore.

Given Korea's ongoing infatuation with tests in general and to some degree its current infatuation with iBT in particular, the presentation I used during a recent mini author tour of the peninsula was titled "Boost! - A Platform for Integrated Skills and Initial iBT Preparation." This presentation focused on the newly released components of Reading and Writing. You can download the PPT presentation for these seminars in three parts. They're pretty big files (I recommend right clicking to open them in a new browser) due to the volume of actual page samples included. Here they are:

(1) Boost Overview and Reading Component - Download

(2-1) Boost Writing Component (Section A) - Download 

(2-2) Boost Writing Component (Section B) - Download

Those should give you some good overviews and real examples of iBT-style activities in Boost!, though I'm happy to say they'll also show you iBT issues within the broader context of what Boost! is and what it is attempting to provide for learners. iBT is important, but it's only one of the many considerations the Boost! series aims to cater to.

I think I can also provide you here with a sneak preview of the Speaking component, which is nearing the end of production and is due out in late April/early May.

This is the final page in Unit 11 of the first level in the Boost! speaking component (the final page in every unit focuses on integration of skills). This continues the theme and skills already applied in the main part of the unit, but hopefully you'll notice this page presents a simplified version of iBT Speaking Question 3. Here it has been scaffolded and deliberately formatted to appeal to a younger age group both in language demands and situational/contextual application. But the basics are there - read a notice, listen to a conversation between two people, then report/talk about it.

Okay, here we have another integration page - this one from the final section of Unit 12 in level 1. It asks the students to read something, then listen to a passage, establish the relationship between the two and then link and compare specific details between the two. The complexity of the input is much simpler than you'll find on the actual iBT, but otherwise the task is a pretty good watered down version of iBT speaking question 4. Again, though, the main priority here has been to stay true to the overall unit skill and to apply this sort of task in a way that is accessible and potentially relevant to younger students.

You might have also noticed that the two units (11 and 12) in level 1 obviously share the same theme (computers/Internet). That's because all Boost! units are set into overall themes covering two units, one of which has a real-world feel or orientation, while the other covers a more academic application. Depending on how well you know the iBT speaking tasks, you might then see that the iBT question styles chosen for Unit 11 (real world application) and Unit 12 (academic application) are very appropriate.

The upper levels of the speaking component also have integration activities that cater to the (somewhat more demanding) formats of iBT Question 5 and iBT Question 6.

As per the approach used in the NorthStar iBT series (which I reviewed here), Boost! addresses iBT question types and task demands, but only in ways that fit into a broader approach and set of learning priorities. This is even more crucial for the Boost! series, which was never meant to be an explicit test preparation course. Where and when it is possible, we've basically incorporated key test formats (TOEFL, TOEIC and various regional test systems) into our general overall Boost! philosophy. In addition, we have quite unashamedly played and tinkered with the tasks so that they can look and feel more relevant and accessible to younger learners, and only allowed them a foot inside the unit door if they can demonstrably reinforce particular worthwhile skills we are seeking to pass on to the learners.

Last but not least, Boost! is another Pearson Longman series we've started applying through online speaking and writing tasks at onlinEnglish.net. If you go to the Boost! Online Learning Center, you can see some example online tasks, student submissions and scores and feedback from the online tutors.

   

   

 

   

NorthStar iBT Course Books - A Quick Review

These are the iBT versions from Pearson Longman to accompany the regular NorthStar series, which has already been around for some time and is well known. We've used the iBT versions alongside the regular NorthStar books in our curriculum twice, and I have to say they are fantastic - really top notch (but please don't mix up that comment with another Pearson Longman series out on the market...).

So what makes these books so special then? Well basically, they're not designed to be be-all/end-all prep books just for iBT practice. They're very much a bridging incremental approach that creates a nice smooth crossover from regular intermediate to advanced study into iBT-oriented skillwork. They utilize the familiar NorthStar format and approach, but frame and sequence the four skills in ways that are conducive to iBT application. Another way of putting it: this series gives the learners a pretty non-threatening and expertly scaffolded dip into the iBT skill pools - it doesn't throw the collective iBT sink at them and hope that will be enough to keep them learning and motivated in the general sense.

In some ways I think the way the tasks have been done here in this series is actually better than the iBT itself (of course, one is a series of books for classroom application while the other is a nasty test, I know that - but read on). The selection of content is more real-world in focus and has been carefully chosen to maintain interest and learner involvement. I also like the fact that the four skills are applied across a single theme, with topic focus in listening and reading then creating logical schema building before crossing into the productive skills of speaking and writing.

Despite a careful and regular format, they've managed to ensure that speaking and writing tasks swap between integrated and independent, both within their own sequencing cycles and within a given theme. Shall I explain that one a little more clearly? I mean, unit 1 for speaking is integrated, while unit 2's speaking is independent - but if, in a given unit, the speaking task is integrated, then the writing task will be independent (and vice versa). If you get my drift there, you'll understand what this ensures in the way of variety both within and across successive units.

The books also have a regular focus (at the end of each unit) on a strategy of some kind. It's wonderful to see strategies given such attention, it really is.

Leveling has been nicely done - refreshingly so, in fact, when I consider some of the other iBT oriented coursebooks we've tried to use (which basically stick to one single format and show their leveling through volume - or, more commonly, rely on the label on the cover to notify their market how one level varies from the others...).

Aside from those great plusses that I've noticed, the books have sets of 'real' iBT tasks at the back (apparently ETS collaborated with Pearson to produce these parts of the book), and all the rubrics for understanding how the tasks should be scored. In fact, students are regularly asked to turn to the rubrics during productive tasks to help grade classmates and themselves.

This series is the real deal, and an absolute must if you want to naturally build up high level students (and teachers!) to a basic readiness to take on the actual iBT test. In some ways it is way ahead of its time (what, with all this consideration for strategies, thematic reinforcement across skills, student self and peer assessment, goal setting through provision of real rubrics, collaboration with the actual test-makers...). Shucks. As critical as I am wont to be, I've got to admit these books are pretty darned good. Get 'em done in full color and I'll be a fan for life.

They're also ideal for online application (the speaking and writing parts, that is), so you're incredibly close to a full deck of cards when you use this series.

Information about iBT Prep Coursebooks

I intend at some point to post some thorough reviews of the various iBT coursebook series currently out on the market - especially from the perspective of having used them with real learners in classroom settings - but for now I found the information on this blog pretty extensive and helpful.