Job Discussion Forums

[MELEE]

Will,

I would never ask Brits to stop using Lorry amongst yourselves, and I think you should teach it to your students. But I don't think UCLES should put it on an exam that they are tying to sell to students in Mexico, China, Saudi, etc. (therefor implying that they expect elementary students all over the world to know it and implying that they think I should teach it to my students).

Cheers!

[shmooj]

[denise]

Coincidentally, my school just administered its mid-term unofficial institutional TOEFL today. I have very mixed feelings about both the test and the ways in which students prepare for it. I'm not going to get into the test itself (except to say that I had to grudgingly give it some respect when I saw the statistics on its reliability as a predictor of college GPAs), but as for teaching it...

Our students take the TOEFL basically every month. We have eight-week terms, and in each term they take a mid-term TOEFL and a final (official) TOEFL, which, along with their grades, determines whether they can advance to the next level. Our two highest levels (out of five) take a TOEFL class in addition to their reading, writing, speaking, etc. That TOEFL class is literally nothing more than practice, practice, practice, learning the strategies to use and the pitfalls to avoid, and taking a few sample tests. (So basically one could argue that a high score measures not their English ability, but their test-taking ability.) Despite constant focused practice and monthly tests, there are few students who make consistent improvements. Yeah, fluctuation is normal, but... Hmmm. The students get practice in reading and comprehension skills--inferring, guessing from context, making connections, skimming, scanning, etc., in their other classes, but somehow that knowledge never transfers to the TOEFL.

With our lower-level students, there is a bit of a vicious circle. Often the only thing that is holding them back from the next level is their TOEFL score, and until they get into those higher levels they don't get any TOEFL practice. (Not that such practice would really make a difference, though, as evidenced by the scores in the higher levels...)

d

[Capergirl]

[Will.]

For Melee, amongst others,

The implication , from UCLES, is that your students have been taught the distinction between truck and lorry, for we in Britain do use trucks,
Forklift trucks,
Pick-up trucks, known as utes in Aus
We also have a tractor-trailer rig which is alternately called a truck (forty ton truck) or an articulated lorry
Lorry alone is used for a a truck that is not articulated nor has a closed freight area. Known in N.Am as a flatbed truck.
Small distinctions but ones my students have been taught so that they can know there is a language difference and benefit from the knowledge of different names for the same vehicle.
I make a poinrt of teaching N.Am variants to my students here, who knows Who they might talk to on the tube. god forbid an american should ask them something and they would not be able to respond.
It is all knowledge.

[arioch36]

Prepping for the test the way Denise mentioned can have a limited value if the student is already at a level to make use of the test taking strategies, but what percentage of the students you teach are at that level.

At some point, if so much focus is on test-taking strategy, the actual teaching of learning how to learn english is going to take a back seat. And that is why I don't like teaching at local language school where the "IELTS class" is nothing more then four hours a week for five weeks of the "strategies" for taking IELTS (ithat is what the school and students expect)

Please stop being so lazy, I want to scream, and try learning english, and maybe you will do better on the tests.

Is the oral a part of the TOEFEL now? Last time I heard, they were planning on it.

[denise]

[shenyanggerry]

First question. How do we ensure that the person speaking is the person receiving the score? If these tests count, what's to stop a more fluent friend from doing the talking?

[johnslat]

Dear shenyanggerry,
I assume it would be as with the TOEFL test - there'd be some "official" at the other end (where the test is being conducted by computer) verifying that the person and the I.D. match.
Regards,
John

[arioch36]

I too wonder. The cheating in China is quite open. College students pay other students, and even teachers to take the tests. Testing by phone, how could you possible determine who was actually talking. In the Chinese competiveness, I would imagine even good students will feel pressured tohire someone to take the verbal test.

Can anyone imagine it would be different in other countries?

Wild, totally wild


Where are all the threads about Janet Jackson?

[foster]

I was told yesterday by my panel head to teach to the tests that my students write. Admittedly, they are not the TOEIC or anything, just High School ones, but that is all they want. They dont care about interesting things or variation. It is like preparing for a driving test by driving the same route a million times. What happens when you drive down a different road? Can you imagine the accidents??? Same with my kids and grammar. Give them an example and they beat it to death but ask them to do something on their own, and they are lost.

I hate spoonfeeding.

Janet Jackson...what a boob!

[shenyanggerry]

Foster, I presume you were refering to personality, not anatomy.

[foster]

Yes, her personality...Justin is also a boob and he doesn't have any.