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A Brief Overview of TOEFL iBT

Howard Burns

Paper-Based TOEFL TOEFL iBT

Testing Points

ListeningStructureReading

ListeningReadingSpeakingWriting

Test Duration

2 hours 4 hours

Score range

220 – 667 0 – 120

Usage Until June 1998 From July 2006

Why is the TOEFL Test Changing?

• To measure the ability to communicate successfully in an academic setting;

• To reflect how language is really used;

• To keep up with the best practices in language learning and teaching (integrated skills).

TOEFL Reading Question Types

Basic Information and Inferencing Questions:Basic Information and Inferencing Questions:1.1. Factual information questionsFactual information questions2.2. Negative factual information questionsNegative factual information questions3.3. Inference question questionsInference question questions4.4. Rhetorical purpose questionsRhetorical purpose questions5.5. Vocabulary questionsVocabulary questions6.6. Reference questionsReference questions7.7. Sentence simplification questionsSentence simplification questions8.8. Insert text questions Insert text questions Reading to Learn questions:Reading to Learn questions:9. Prose summary9. Prose summary10. Fill in a table10. Fill in a table

Vocabulary Question (iBT)Growth, reproduction, and daily metabolism all require an organism to expend energy. The expenditure of energy is essentially a process of budgeting, just as finances are budgeted. If all of one's money is spent on clothes, there may be none left to buy food or go to the movies. Similarly, a plant or animal cannot squander all its energy on growing a big body if none would be left over for reproduction, for this is the surest way to extinction.

The word squander in the passage is closest in meaning to:

a. extendb. transformc. activated. waste

Taken from ETS Website

TOEFL iBT Listening Materials

Conversations:Office HoursService Encounters

Lectures:ArtsLife SciencePhysical ScienceSocial Science

These conversations and talks are typical of those that occur on North American university campuses

Speaking Question TypesIndependent:

1. Question about a person, place, object, or event.

2. Question about preference from two possible actions, situations, or opinions

Integrated Listening/Reading/Speaking (questions #3 & #4)

Integrated Listening/Speaking (questions #5 & #6)

Examples of speaking questions

1. Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.

2. Some students study for classes individually. Others study in groups. Which method of studying do you think is better for students and why?

Writing Section of the TOEFL iBT

The Integrated Writing Task

1. Read a passage about an academic topic

2. Listen to a lecture related to the topic

3. Write a summary of the main points

The Independent Writing Task• Write an essay about your opinion on an

issue

Example of Writing Question

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.

Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

TOEFL iBT

Number of Questions Time

Reading 45 – 70 Qs 60 – 100 min

Listening 35 – 50 Qs 60 – 90 min

Speaking 6 tasks 20 – 30 min

Writing 2 tasks 50 min

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