Going by the username 12Skystar at “The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT” Voxopop talk Group, Skystar has been posting independent and integrated speaking practice tests on a regular basis since subscribing to this online TOEFL course a few weeks ago. Today, she submitted independent speaking practice test 12. And was I ever surprised!
At the beginning of her speech, she included a topic statement which included two reasons why children should not be allowed to have cell phones. Then, she restated both reasons as two separate topics in her speech. After each topic, she included a specific example to illustrate why children should not be given cell phones. For example, to defend her first reason that cell phones would distract children from their studies, she explained that, if children had cell phones, they would spend more time calling, texting, and using new applications (apps) on their phone and less time doing their math or English homework. Then she used the following sentence to transition to the next idea, “In addition to being a distraction, cell phones can pose as safety hazards to children.”, which, of course brilliantly connected the two parts of her speech together. Throughout the speech, she used a combination of both basic and advanced vocabulary and grammar to the extent that she was not in any way limited in her expression of ideas. In fact, the vocabulary and grammar that she used allowed her to fully express her ideas. I think that it is safe to say that she and I could sit outside a Starsbucks and chat about pretty much anything we wanted, and Skystar would have the vocabulary, the grammar, and the social confidence needed to keep the conversation sustained and lively.
And what about her delivery? Well, she spoke clearly without a distracting heavy non-native speaker accent. Her intonation and pausing were natural, even to the extent that I almost forgot that Skystar was a non-native speaker. There were no mispronunciations of any words nor were there any intelligibility problems to cause me to have to concentrate to understand her meaning. Her response was direct to the task; in other words, on no account did she fail to address what was required. It was perfect: like pitching a no-hitter in baseball, bowling a 300, running a sub-four minute mile, or finding that perfect Nordstrom outfit, complete with matching shoes! Her practice test was one of a kind, and I gave her a score of 4.0/4.0 or 30/30 points.
In fact, to listen to her response, CLICK HERE.
And here are my video comments about her response:
| This article was written by Michael Buckhoff–co-founder and materials writer for Better TOEFL Scores and The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT, Composition and Linguistics Professor, TOEFL Specialist, ESL Master Instructor, and Placement and Testing Coordinator for California State University, San Bernardino.Follow more posts and videos from Michael at Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. |