TOEFL iBT Speaking and Writing: A Case Study of a Student Who Took the TOEFL iBT Nine Times!

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Currently, I am tutoring a TOEFL iBT student who has taken the TOEFL iBT test nine times. His average TOEFL iBT scores range from 89 to 105. Averaging 24/30 on the speaking and 22/30 on the writing, he needs to score higher before being admitted into a resident pharmacy program in the United States. On the speaking section, he needs a minimum of 26/30 on the speaking and 24/30 on the writing. He is so close to his goal yet so far away!

During our first meeting, I gave him three speaking and two writing diagnostic tests to see what his weaknesses were. The results of the diagnostic tests were revealing.

He is struggling with three main problems during the independent and integrated speaking tasks. First, with the independent speaking tasks, he doesn’t have a  cohesive organization to this ideas. Second, he does not include specific details to support his generalizations. Finally, he speaks rather simplistically, choosing to use basic grammar over more complicated structures.

His biggest problem with the independent writing task is that he does not include a sharply-focused thesis statement around which to organize the developmental paragraphs. Second, since the essay does not have a specific direction from the beginning, he does not have focused topic sentences in his developmental paragraphs.

I will be profiling him as a case study in one of my TOEFL iBT Newsletters and will include specific teaching points to help other TOEFLers improve cohesion, use of details, the creation of sharply-focused thesis statements, all to help TOEFLers like my tutoree improve their writing and speaking TOEFL iBT scores.

In conclusion, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you have a cohesive organization to your ideas while completing TOEFL iBT speaking and writing tasks?

2. Do you include specific details to support your generalizations during TOEFL iBT speaking and writing?

3. Do you know how to create sharply-focused thesis statements during TOEFL independent and integrated writing tasks?

4. Do you avoid using complex grammar during TOEFL iBT speaking and writing tasks?

5. Do you create focused topic sentences BEFORE introducing details in the developmental paragraphs of your TOEFL iBT speaking and writing tasks?

For more information, go here:

http://www.michaelbuckhoff.com/index.html (TOEFL iBT)

http://www.michaelbuckhoff.com/page31.html (TOEFL iBT Speaking)

http://www.michaelbuckhoff.com/page28.html (TOEFL iBT Writing)