Qualities of an Ideal TOEFL iBT Student by Michael Buckhoff

Every now and then, I travel and, in some cases I will see a former TOEFL student. She/he approaches me and says, "Hi, Michael. Do you remember me?" Remarkably, in some cases I do remember the student.

Whether or not I rememer a student years after having taught him/her or her depends largely on what type of student she/he was. There are certain qualities that will make a TOEFL iBT student stand out from the crowd. Morever, these same qualities help students to get a high TOEFL iBT score in a relatively short period of time.

The ideal TOEFL iBT student...

1. Has an effective personal learner style of positive learning strategies.
2. Has an active approach, often involving note-taking, to learning reading, speaking, listening, and writing.
3. Has a tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language and understanding with its speakers.
4. Has technical know-how about how to tackle a language.
5. Has strategies of experimentation and planning with the object of developing the new language into an ordered system and revising this system progressively.
6. Is willing to practice speaking and writing on a daily basis, even to the extent of writing 3-5 30 minute essays each week.
7. Is consistently searching for meaning, especially in using the right word in speaking and writing.
8. Is willing to use the language in real communication.
9. Has self-monitoring ability and critical sensitivity to language use, particularly in regards to pronunciation. He/she regularly does voice recordings to monitor speaking and pronunciation proficiency.
10. Is able to develop the target language more and more as a separate reference system and is able to learn to think in it. The student almost never uses a dictionary to understand new words, but, if she/he uses one, it is an English-English dictionary.

Would I remember you 10 years from now?