Building & Supporting Skills

Overview

The TOEFL test directly measures your skills in reading, listening, speaking and writing. Some supporting skills are tested indirectly. others are not tested but will support your chances of doing well. Listed in this lesson are five categories of supporting skills you will need to develop in order to succeed in the test.

Learner strategies

You can enhance your learning by developing learner strategies. When you begin studying for the TOEFL test, it will be valuable to identify your strengths and weaknesses, analyse what motivates you, recognise your most effective learning strategies, set goals, plan a study schedule, and think about how to evaluate your progress. None of these strategies will be tested, but they will help you focus your study and to better on the test.

Note taking, paraphrasing, and summarising

You are allowed to take notes throughout the test. Note taking is not required, but is an important skill that will help you focus your attention on the listening passages, remember the important points, and organise your thoughts in the integrated speaking and writing tasks. Paraphrasing and summarising are also important skills that will help you succeed on the test.

Vocabulary

Your knowledge of vocabulary is tested in the reading section. In addition, your ability to choose appropriate words to describe the main points and express your ideas will affect your score in the Speaking and Writing sections

Pronunciation

The speaking section is scored not only on how well you develop your responses but also on the clarity of your speech. Although you are not expected to have perfect native-speaker pronunciation, your ability to match English speech patterns closely will effect your score.

Grammar

There is no grammar section on the TOEFL test, but how correctly and naturally you use a combination of basic and complex grammatical structures in the speaking and writing tasks will effect your score. A strong command of English grammar will also help you comprehend the material in the Reading and Listening sections.

Answer the questions, honestly

Some questions will require you to write an answer, some questions you will select.

Open Ended

Think of a skill you are good at. Write it below.

I am good at ................

Poll

How do you know that your good at the skill.

I know because..........

• I got a good grade in school

• I have been praised for it

• I was told that I was good at it by someone whose opinion I trust

• I recognise my own ability

• Other reasons

Open Ended

Think about the skill you named, write down specific activities that helped you master this skill.

Example: What did I do on my own

What someone else did to help me

Recognising your learning style

For each of the four learning styles listed on the next slides, I need you to select all of the characteristics that describe you well.

Poll

The problem solver.

• I examine all parts of a task

• I like to understand things first

• I plan how to approach a task

• I enjoy the challenge of difficult tasks

• I like my work to be perfect

Poll

The explorer.

• I find everything interesting

• I collect unrelated bits of information

• I like details even though I seldom remember them

• I have difficulty deciding what is relevant

• I concentrate on the whole picture instead of the details

Poll

Th go-getter

• I tend to start in on the activity without reading instructions

• I solve problems through trial and error

• I like to see someone else do it first and then have the opportunity to do it myself

• I need lots of breaks while studying because I think better when I can move around

• I like to get on to the next activity quickly

Poll

The daydreamer.

• I add lots of pictures and arrows in my notes

• I remember better if I write information down

• I picture things in my mind

• I work best in a quiet place

• I think a lot about the toopics