ترفندهای فعالیت ترکیبی

There’s a bit of false advertisement on the speaking section of the TOEFL.

From the name, you’d think it’s just about speaking, but actually, the test writers shoehorn some reading and listening in there too!

The reading and listening sneaks into the speaking section on the independent tasks .

These tasks ask you to respond to a prompt by referring to supplementary listening or reading and listening material. You’ll get four independent tasks on the test:

Two with a prompt and a listening passage. In these tasks, you’ll have to listen to someone speaking English and then respond to a question about the speech.

Two with a prompt, a listening passage and a reading passage. In these tasks, you’ll have to read a passage, listen to a short speech in English on a related topic and then respond to a question about both on them.

These tasks sound really complicated, but they’re not actually as bad as they sound. And you can make them even less scary by knowing what’s coming and using some smart strategies. In this lesson, we’ll go over some tips and strategies to help you make it work.

Success on the independent tasks starts with the listening and reading passages that you’ll be talking about - treating this material carefully makes all the difference (specifically, take notes).

On all the independent tasks, you’ll be able to take notes on the listening passage.

If the task has a reading passage, you’ll be able to take notes on that, too.

You’ll have to talk about the reading and listening material in your response.

Taking solid notes will help you save brainpower for the actual speaking, so you won’t have to waste it remembering facts from the passages.

Don’t try to write down every word though; you won’t be able to keep up, especially with the listening.

Instead, write down key points, vocabulary words and main ideas.

Here are some tips for making them work for you:

If the task includes a reading passage as well, make it clear which notes are for the reading and which are for the listening.

The prompts will often ask you to compare and contrast the passages, or do something else that requires being very clear on which one is which.

If the task includes a reading passage, pay special attention to terms or concepts that show up in both passages: those are likely to be covered in the prompt.

After you’ve taken your notes, you’ll get a prep period: 20 seconds for the tasks with just a listening passage and 30 seconds for tasks with reading as well.

That’s hardly any time, so here’s a tip to make your organization easy and automatic: use the prompt to give you an outline!

For example, you might hear a listening passage where two students discuss a book they’re reading for a class.

One student thinks they can’t really understand the book without knowing the author’s personal history; the other student thinks it doesn’t matter, and the book should be read on its own.

Then the prompt might ask you something like: Describe the disagreement these two students have about the reading.

Then state whose opinion you’d agree with and why.

This prompt practically gives you your outline: first you’ll briefly summarize the disagreement; then you’ll pick a side and support your answer.

An outline might look like this:

Disagreement: author’s personal life relevant (y/n)? <-- Briefly summarize the disagreement.

Me: n, not relevant <-- Pick a side.

Reason: Book topic different <-- Support your answer.

It’s fine to use abbreviations and slang like this; nobody will see your notes but you.

As long as you can read them, you’re fine.

If you have a reading and a listening passage, make sure your answer references both of them. If it doesn’t refer to both, you haven’t answered the prompt correctly.

Next comes the actual speaking; you’ll speak for 60 seconds on all the integrated tasks. If you have a solid outline from the previous step, you’re already halfway there - just follow along with the outline, and you’ll be fine.

As you’re speaking, keep half an eye on the clock. When it hits 30 seconds, briefly check your notes to make sure you’re more or less halfway through your response.

This will help you deal with any pacing issues before you run out of time to fix them - with 30 seconds left, you have a little wiggle room to speed up or slow down without making it too obvious.

If you do make a mistake, don’t panic: you can still get a high score even if you make a few mistakes.

Even if you get really lost, just go back to the last point where you know what you were saying and start again from there, following the outline you wrote down in your notes.

Other than following your outline, one of the best ways to help yourself on the actual speaking part is to practice beforehand.

This helps you know instinctively how long 60 seconds really is, how quickly you need to speak and how much you can say in that time without rushing.

In this lesson, you got some tips for managing the integrated speaking tasks on the TOEFL. You’ll get four integrated tasks: two with a listening passage only and two with both listening and reading.

On the tasks with a listening passage only, you’ll hear the passage, prepare your response for 20 seconds and then speak for 60 seconds. On the tasks with both passages, you’ll read, listen, prepare for 30 seconds and then speak for 60 seconds. As you’re doing these tasks, remember:

Take effective notes - write down main ideas and key terms, not every word. On tasks with a reading passage, make sure to keep your notes for each passage separate and pay special attention to ideas that pop up in both tasks.

During your preparation period, use the prompt to make an outline for your speech.

As you speak, use your notes and follow your outline.

Practice timing yourself for 60 seconds before test day so you know roughly how long it is.

It’s a lot to keep in mind all at once, but once you start practicing, you’ll get better and soon, it’ll almost be automatic.