For those of you who have not heard of my TOEFL Writing Boot Camp course, this post will show you the process of how my online students practice and the type of feedback they get.
First of all, my students will choose one out of the 83 independent and integrated writing practice tests. The following student chose to take TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Test 5:
My students can also view the reading and listening scripts to the TOEFL integrated writing practice tests: Click Here
Second of all, once students watch the video of the writing practice test, they write a response to the task and post it online. Then they send me an e-mail telling me that they have completed a TOEFL writing practice test. Here is what the student wrote in response to the question that you saw at the end of the video:
The lecture and the reading are both about homeschooling, which is student stays at home and parents guide thorough the course work. The author of the reading believes that the idea of homeschooling gives more negative effects than positive effects like lack of social interaction, irresponsible parents and prevents from being punctual and responsible. The lecturer casts doubt on the claims made in the article. He thinks that homeschooling could be an alternative as all students do not learn in same ways.
First of all, the author points out that homeschooling deprives students from social interaction to society. This point is challenged by the lecturer. He says that all fields do not require social skills say for example computer engineers. Some students are shy by their nature and homeschooling provides good atmosphere for them. It also helps in developing extracurricular activities like sports and clubs.
Secondly, the author contends that parents are not properly trained in field of teaching and they are often very irresponsible. The lecturer rebuts this argument. He suggests that technology has developed these days. Teachers can teach through internet and students can be monitor by parents. He also says that irresponsible parents are completely false mentality. Sometimes students also abuse by school and teachers.
Finally, the author states that schools make students more punctual and responsible which help in to build future career. The lecturer on the other hand posits that some subjects creates pillar of responsibilities. The students from the homeschooling already know the responsibilities when they come to college. Parents do not push them to go college.
In conclusion, the lecturer effectively casts doubt on all the claims presented in the reading.
Third of all, after reading the practice test, I use some modified TOEFL iBT rubrics as a benchmark to score the essay. In this case, I scored the essay 3.5/5.0 or 22/30 points. To help the student improve her writing score, I produce a You Tube video in which I error-correct the essay for four purposes:
- To show the student whether or not there are inaccuracies or incompleteness to the writing task.
- To point out any problems that the student may have organizing and developing her points.
- To explain any grammatical problems that the student has, how she should correct those problems, and which lessons in her TOEFL Writing Boot Camp course she should study in order to improve these weak points.
- To show the student what changes she needs to make in the essay in order to score 5.0/5.0 or 30/30 points.
Fourth of all, in addition to the error-correction video, I also send the student an edited version of her essay that she can easily read:
Edited-Version of Student’s Essay
The reading passage claims that homeschooling negatively affects education because students are not able to get social interaction, they are taught by irresponsible parents, and these pupils do not learn how to be punctual and responsible. However, the lecturer casts doubt on each of these claims.
First of all, the author points out that homeschooling deprives students of social interaction with other students, so they miss opportunities to participate in groups and to solve problems. This point is challenged by the lecturer, however. He says that all fields do not require social skills, for example computer engineering. In addition, according to the speaker, some students are shy by nature, and homeschooling provides an easy-going atmosphere for them. Students who are homeschooled, argues the speaker, have chances to mingle with others peers by participating in extracurricular activities like sports and clubs.
Secondly, the author contends that parents are not properly trained in the field of teaching, and they are often very irresponsible, thereby limiting the breath of students’ educations. In contrast, the lecturer, rebutting this argument, suggests that technology has developed these days, and teachers can monitor home schooled children through the Internet. That students are not taught by teachers is a false claim, adds the speaker. In addition, the speaker contends that there are few cases of irresponsible parents who home school their children, so these exceptions to homeschooling should not give this type of education a bad reputation. In fact, according to the speaker, sometimes abuse of students can occur at traditional schools by teachers and students as well.
Finally, the author states that traditional schools make students more punctual and responsible because teachers and administrators require students to begin their studies every morning at a similar time. Furthermore, students who show up late receive negative consequences, so they learn the importance of being on time; this type of responsibility, the author argues, will help build their future careers. The lecturer, on the other hand, posits that, when students independently learn to find answers to the lessons in their subjects, they become more self-reliant and responsible. The students from the home schools, according to the speaker, will have already learned to work on their own when they attend college. Parents, therefore, will not have to push these students to go college because they will already know to work out academic issues independently.
In conclusion, the lecturer effectively casts doubt on all the claims presented in the reading.
Lastly, the student learns from the feedback that I give, she completes more practice tests, and, when she is consistently scoring higher than 24/30 on her writing task, she registers to take the official TOEFL iBT.
And that pretty much sums up how I provide writing feedback to students in this course.
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com