improving scores on the ibt Speaking section

[julierudd]

I have been working for three months privately with a student to improve his scores on the speaking section of the Ibt. He has downloaded, paid for and taken the three practice tests available through ETS and taken the official ibt twice. His scores are not improving and I am at a loss. Their scoring feedback is computer-generated, full of useless generalities. I am feeling particularly responsible. Even though he and I realize that his spoken English has a long way to go, I though we could at least make some headway in constructing good topic sentences and logical development of ideas, speaking slowly and clearly. eliminating the ums and ahs and sounding natural and comprehensible. I have taped him and he has made marked improvement since the beginning, but not according to the official raters. Does anyone have any insight into the scoring of the ibt speaking section that could offer us some tips? This poor guy's job is hanging in the TOEFL balance. He has scored very high on the the reading, writing and listening sections.

[toeflsmeagle]

<Here’s advice straight from ETS, from their TOEFL Tips PDF, which is available at

http://upload.mcgill.ca/applying/TOEFL_Tips.pdf
or
ftp://ftp.ets.org/pub/toefl/989563wt.pdf

Speaking rubrics are also in this PDF. (More on assessment of speaking later.) I have interspersed by own additional suggestions between < and >. I’ll scatter this over three posts.>

SPEAKING TIPS (from ETS)
The best way to practice speaking is with native speakers of English. In some countries, there are English-speaking tutors or assistants who help students with their conversation skills. It is critical to speak as often as possible with them, and ask if classroom assistants offer private tutoring. Another way students can practice speaking is to join a club that involves speaking in English about movies, music, travel, etc. If no such clubs exist, students can start their own clubs and invite any native speakers they know to join. Here are some suggestions for ways to strengthen skills for the Speaking section of the TOEFL iBT test.

INDEPENDENT SPEAKING TASKS
* Make a list of topics that are familiar, and practice speaking about them.
* Begin by describing a familiar place or talking about a personal experience.
* A more advanced exercise would be to state an opinion or a preference and then present reasons clearly and with detail.
* Another is to make a recommendation and explain why it is the best way to proceed.
* Practice giving 1-minute responses to each topic.
< You can also use discussion questions similar to those available at http://iteslj.org/questions/ or some other source for questions. If you know the pattern of these questions, you will be able to make your own independent speaking questions or prompts. Your student could make his own, also.>

[toeflsmeagle]

<part two of a three-parter>

INTEGRATED SPEAKING TASKS (from ETS, my own comments in <>)
* Find a textbook that includes questions about the material at the end of chapters. Practice answering the questions orally.

* Read a short article (100–200 words). Make an outline that includes only the major points of the article. Use the outline to orally summarize the information. Then add detail to the outline and orally summarize again.

* Find listening and reading material on the same topic. The material can provide similar or different views. The Internet and the library are good places to find information.

<I would also recommend doing all of the TOEFL tasks in such a way that they produce speaking, such as by giving whole essay topics orally, discussing the reading, discussing the listening, etc. As for some of the above advice, NPR and CNN may have some interesting integrated speaking tools, though I am partial to the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ >

* Take notes on the listening and reading material and do the following:
-- Orally summarize the information in both. Be sure to paraphrase using different words and grammatical structures.
-- Orally synthesize by combining information from the reading and listening material and explain how they relate.
Please note: Taking notes throughout the TOEFL iBT test is allowed. Since the reading and listening material in the integrated Speaking task is very brief, taking notes on the material may not be necessary. However, the activity described above will help you prepare for the academic environment you plan to enter. Also, if you can do well with this kind of activity, you will most likely succeed on the integrated Speaking tasks on the TOEFL iBT test.

* State and support an opinion about the ideas and information presented in the reading and listening material.

* If the reading and/or listening material describes a problem, suggest and explain a solution to the problem.

* Recognize the attitude of the speaker or the writer of the original material through intonation, stress, and word choice. This helps you understand his/her point of view and plan an appropriate response.

[toeflsmeagle]

<part three of a three-parter>

ALL SPEAKING TASKS (from ETS, my comments in <>)
* Increase your vocabulary and learn to use idiomatic speech appropriately.
* Learn grammatical structures so well that you can use them naturally when speaking.
* Work on pronunciation, including word stress, intonation patterns, and pauses. There are a number of products and Web sites that can help you develop your pronunciation skills.
* When practicing for the TOEFL iBT test using the tips above, take around 15 seconds to plan before beginning to speak. Write down a few key words and ideas, but do not attempt to write down exactly what you are going to say. (Raters will be able to detect responses that are read and give them a lower rating.)
* Use signal words and phrases to introduce new information or ideas, to connect ideas, and to mark important words or ideas. This will help the listener easily follow what you are saying. For example, “on one hand...” “but on the other hand...”, “what that means is...”, “The first reason is...”, “another difference is...”
* Make recordings of the above activities and listen to make sure the pronunciation and fluency are clear and easy to understand. An English teacher or tutor can evaluate the speech using the appropriate TOEFL iBT Speaking rubric.

<They seem to look for fluidity of speech, ability to think quickly, organization using a topic sentence, etc. Is your student’s use of English clearly influenced by his first language? This is something they look for. I’ve listened to the sample speaking from the workshop book that ETS provides, and the topics don’t seem to be that difficult. You may want to get the book for the samples, although it is kinda pricey (50 bucks US).
http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MA ... CACHE_ID=0
—Next Generation TOEFL Teacher Professional Development Workshop Manual (ETS)

Additionally, I recommend creating as relaxed an atmosphere as you possibly can. The trick to TOEFL teaching is knowing that you are NOT teaching to the test, but rather teaching them to be prepared for the academic rigors of the English-speaking world. I think this student might react negatively to the prospect of passing an all-important test. Perhaps on the other skills tested, that pressure is worthwhile, but it may trip up someone during the speaking portion of the test.

PS – Please post again if this didn’t answer any questions. Happy to help!>

[Pronunci]

1. Read the articles on VOA Special English. They have audio files recorded by English specialists who pronounce English clearly.
2. Download the audio files of the words he/she can't pronounce or mispronounce and practice them.
3. Record their voice and compare them against with the pre-recorded voice.
4. Learn phonics to help them remember/recall the correct pronunciation.
5. Practice, practice, and practice.
6. Implement the practice into their daily lives by making the conscious efforts. (They have to slow down and correct themselves when they fall back to the old pronunciation.)

You can download Pronunciation Patterns at www.PronunciationPatterns.com/download.html to help you do all these.

Xin,

[EnglishRaven]

This is a listing of oral tips for each question type:

http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/ibt_spe ... tips_.html

And here are the ETS assessment rubrics for the speaking section (in English or Korean):

http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/ibt_spe ... ng_ru.html

Hope this is helpful...

Jason Renshaw
CEO: www.OnlinEnglish.net

[EnglishRaven]

Sorry - the links above have become about out-of-date.

The tips have been replaced with better video versions at this link:
http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_Speaking_Tips.html

I've also added some brand new speaking tutorials that might be helpful:
http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_Spe ... rials.html

There is also a full free online speaking test available here:
http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_iBT ... tests.html


All of this stuff appears on my blog, too - in case you find that an easier point of reference:

http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/ibt_speaking_writing/


Best of luck,

~ Jason Renshaw

[ericmat]

This is a good informative site.
http://teflreviewer.blogspot.com/

[Sally Olsen]

There is a scoring template for the IELTS as well that is very useful because it describes exactly what the scorers are looking for. I just typed in IELTS
Scoring for Speaking in Google.

They seem to be looking for a variety of vocabulary so it is useful for the
students to have a Thesaurus and learn to use other words in the same conversation - lady, woman, lassie, and so on. Bernie Mohan has created
a rubric as well that shows the students that they ahve to move up the levels and I will try to add that next time.