TOEFL

Integrated Writing Task

 Integrated writing task overview

The Integrated Writing

task: 1 task

Step three:
Step one: Step two: Write a response 20
Read an academic Listen to a mini-lecture minutes
passage (reading disappears) (reading reappears)
• Now read and discuss the Integrated Writing
Rubrics with your teacher

•http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/
Writing_Rubrics.pdf
 The reading passage: Overview
• The topics
- Generally academic in nature
• The organization
-Like an encyclopedia entry
-Depends on the academic discipline
• The purpose of the reading
-To provide background information
-To introduce new vocabulary words/ concepts
 ...
• The tone/ stance
- Positive to neutral
• The length
- around 200 words
• The time
- Usually 3 minutes
The reading passage: Forestry Science
• Questions to consider while reading;
- What do you already know about this topic?
- What tipe of reading is this? (From which
academic discipline? Science? Education?
History?
- What are 3-4 main points in the reading?
Where can you find that information?
-Are there any new vocabulary words/concepts?
How do you know?
 To take notes or...
• Considering you have only 3 minutes to read
the text, it might be a good idea NOT to take
notes;
• It depends on how fast you are as a reader!
 To take notes or...
• The key is to recognize that there will
probably be around 3-4 main points (and new
vocabulary/ concepts) that the reading will be
trying to adress, and these points will most
likely be addressed in one way or another by
the professsor in his/her lecture;
• Don’t forget, the reading WILL return during
the writing portion of the task
 The listening passage: overview
• Who is speaking?
- A professor giving a lecture
• What is he/she saying?
- The professor will be responding to the
reading, possibly adding more information or
giving more details
 The listening passage
• How long is the lecture?
- Usually around 2-3 minutes
• What should I be doing while I listen
-Take notes!
-Try to identify the professor’s stance from the
beginning
 The listening passage: the professor

• Questions to consider while listening:

- What is the professor’s stance?
- What are the 3-4 main points the professor
discusses?
• Does he mention any new vocabulary/
concepts?
 Tips
• Stance
• Just as we discussed in the TOEFL listening series, the
professor is going to indicate his/her STANCE fairly
early in the mini-lecture;
• On this part of the test, the professor is going to have
basically one of two possible opinions:
-He/she basically agrees with the information and the
purpose will be to ADD more information.
-He/she basically disagrees with the information and
will contrast the text with other ideas.
 Words/Ideas Signaling Additional
Research/ Information
• Conjunctive adverbs or connectors
-Also
-In addition
• Referent Ideas
-Other
-Another
-Additional
• Other Signal Ideas
-Research
-Studies
-Further
Words/Ideas Signaling Disagreement
• Conjunctive adverbs or connectors
-However
-But
-Instead
Negative words
- Not
- Didn’t
- problem
- Difference
- Missing
 It’s in the details…
• As discussed in the TOEFL Listening Series,
merely understanding and getting the basic
ideas in the listening passage is NOT
enough;
• The better responses to the TOEFL task
involved accomplishing MOST or ALL of the
following ideas when it came to taking notes:
 Taking notes: The listening passage
• The stance
-Negative
-Adding reseach/examples
• Accuracy
-Did you get all the information correct?
• Order
-Did you get the information in the right order? (Following the
professor)
• Level of detail/ comprehensiveness
- Did you include all of the examples/details from the presentation?
- Did you include some of the same vocabulary/terminology as the
professor?
 …It’s in the details
• When taking notes, it would be better to think
of this as a dictation-like activity, writing
down as much information as possible while
listening;
• You will have time after you listen to sort
through the information to try and figure out
what the important points are.