Tài liệu The complete guide to the toefl ibt writing part 1 docx

This section contains two writing tasks: an Integrated Writing Task and an Independent Writing Task.. Task Based on Type of Task Timing Recommended Length Integrated Reading passage | Su

SECTION

GUIDE TO WRITING

- ABOUT WRITING

The fourth section of the TOEFL iBT tests your ability to produce clear, well- organized academic writing This section contains two writing tasks: an Integrated Writing Task and an Independent Writing Task

Task Based on Type of Task Timing Recommended

Length Integrated Reading passage | Summarize and Reading: 3 200 words

Writing Task and related compare lecture | minutes

lecture and passage Lecture: 2

minutes Writing: 20 minutes Independent Your own Give your 30 minutes 300 words

Writing Task knowledge and opinion of an

experience issue or express

your personal preference

INTEGRATED VERSUS INDEPENDENT TASKS

For the Integrated Writing Task, you read a short passage, then listen to a short lec- ture on the same topic You then write an essay summarizing the lecture and the reading passage and showing the relationship between them You may take notes

on both the reading passage and the lecture The Integrated Task asks you only to summarize and paraphrase the information that you read and hear You should not express your own opinion of the issues and you should not bring in any informa- tion from outside the passage and the lecture (just as in the Integrated Speaking Tasks)

The Independent Writing Task requires you to read a prompt (a topic) and

express your opinion in your response Your response is based entirely on your own

knowledge and experience (just as in the Independent Speaking Tasks)

ENTERING AND EDITING THE WRITING TASKS ON THE COMPUTER

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This is the only part of the test in which you will primarily use the keyboard rather than the mouse You must type your responses on the computer If you do not have much typing experience, or you are not used to typing in English, you will need to practice as much as possible You can also download typing lessons from the Internet Type “free typing tutorial” into your browser and take your pick

About Writing 561

The program for typing the essay is a simplified version of a standard word pro- cessing program For the most part, all you need to do is type in the essay

Unfortunately, there are no “spell check” or “grammar check” tools! In fact, there are only the simplest editing tools: Cut, Paste, and Undo If you are not familiar with how to use these commands, read the section below

to write your essay, This includes the time to plan, write, and revise your essay

WordCount

Question:

CUT AND PASTE

You can use Cut and Paste to move part of your essay to another place in the essay

To use these two commands, you must first (select something that you have written) To do this, use the mouse to position the blinking cursor at the beginning of the text that you want to select and then click once Then, holding down the left-click button on the mouse, slowly move the cursor over the text that you want to select This highlights the text In other words, the selected text will appear in white letters on a black background

dhis is sentence 1 This is sentence 2 This is sentence 3 This is sentence 4 This is

sentence 5

Now, click Cut What happens? The highlighted text disappears

Cut Paste Undo This is sentence 2 This is sentence 3 This is sentence 4 This is sentence 5

You can stop here if you just want to get rid of Sentence 1 But if you want to move

it, use the mouse to position the blinking cursor where you want the text to go, and then click Paste The text now magically reappears in the new location

Cut Paste Undo This is sentence 2 This is sentence 3 This is sentence 4 This is sentence 5 This is

sentence 1.

562 Section 4 Guide to Writing

UNDO

The Undo command will reverse any commands or typing you have just done For example, if you cut and paste a sentence from one paragraph to another and then decide you want the sentence back where you first had it, click on Undo and the sentence will go back to where it was before you did the cut and paste You can also undo the last sentence that you typed If you decide that using the Undo command was a mistake, just click Undo again

MOVING AROUND THE ESSAY

There are a number of commands you can use to move the cursor from one part of your essay to another

>

>

You can use the four arrow keys to move the cursor up, down, left, or right You can move to the end of the line that you are working on by hitting the End key, or to the beginning of the line by hitting the Home key

You can move up and down through the essay quickly (one screen at a time) by hitting the PgUp or PgDn key

You can move to a new line (where you have not typed) by hitting the Enter key

DELETING TEXT

There are a number of ways you can delete (erase) text

>

>

>

You can delete a character to the left by hitting the Backspace key

You can delete one character to the right by hitting the Del (delete) key

You can delete a large piece of text by highlighting it and clicking on the Cut icon It will disappear

If you decide you didn’t really want to delete something, you can click on the Undo icon

About Writing 563

Asiana

e As with all sections of the test, be familiar with the directions When the

general directions and the directions for each task appear, click on the

Dismiss Directions button and begin working right away

® Give yourself time to think about the question or the prompt and to plan

your essay by taking notes and writing a simple outline

¢ Time management is important Keep your eye on the clock as you work on

both tasks

e Divide both responses into an introduction, body, and conclusion

e Use signal words to indicate transitions Signal words can be used to join

paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence

¢ Give yourself time to check your responses for problems with content,

grammar, and mechanics

e Don’t exit either task early Keep checking your response for problems until

you run out of time

THE INTEGRATED WRITING TASK

ELA

ABOUT THE INTEGRATED WRITING TASK

Skills that are required to write an effective Integrated Response include the abilities to

understand and take notes on the spoken lecture and the reading passage find the main idea and key points of both the lecture and the passage understand what the question asks

summarize the material in the lecture and the passage

words) synthesize (connect) the material in the lecture and the passage write a clear, well-organized, coherent response to the question use correct written grammar and appropriate vocabulary

tion, capitalization, etc.)

v word-process (type) your response

You will first see the general directions for the Writing Section, then the specific directions for the Integrated Task You should dismiss both sets of directions imme- diately (You will already be familiar with the directions because of your work in The Guide.) Next you will see the reading passage You will then hear the lecture

After that, you will see the question and write a response to it

EAE

566 Section 4 Guide to Writing

| reading You can refer to the reading passage as you write

WordCount

Recently, there have been protests and demonstrations here on our campus,

as well as at many other places, about medical research performed on animals—

what is sometimes called vivisection It is natural that people are concerned about the ethical treatment of animals However, most of us agree that our top priority must

be the reduction of human suffering

Of course, it is possible, and absolutely necessary, to keep animal suffering to

a minimum Animal researchers use anesthesia whenever possible to reduce pain and keep their animals clean, com- fortable, and healthy It is possible to conduct experiments using animals without inflicting cruelty on animals

The problem is, there simply is no good substitute for animal experimentation

Other techniques can be used to test drugs, but none is as effective as testing

them on animals Humans and chim- be

panzees share about 99% of their genes

Other animals also share the same basic life functions as humans, and the reac- tions of these animals to drugs are a good guide to the reactions of human patients

The usefulness of animal testing has been shown over and over For example, the very basis of modern medicine, the germ theory—the idea that diseases are caused

great French scientist Louis Pasteur by experimenting on chickens and pigs and other farm animals The effectiveness of penicillin was tested on rabbits and mice, and insulin, which is used to treat dia- betes, was tested on dogs Animal testing remains a crucial tool today It is simply immoral to risk the lives of humans when

a drug or procedure can be tested on non-humans

About the Integrated Writing Task 567

THE PASSAGES AND LECTURES

The reading passages in the Writing Section are 200 to 300 words long—about half

as long as those in the Reading Section The passage can be about any academic subject—the physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, etc

The passage typically describes a theory, a concept, a problem, an issue, a system

of classification, or a process You have three minutes in which to read the passage, and you may take notes as you read

The lecture lasts about two minutes, and note taking is allowed The lecture is

on the same topic as the passage

You hear the lecture only once; you may not go back to it However, while you are working on the response to the question, you will be able to reread the passage and look at your notes

The most common relationship between the passage and the lecture is one of opposition The lecture refutes (contradicts) the ideas of the passage or takes a different view of the ideas in the passage Typically, the passage presents three positive points, while the lecture presents three corresponding (related) negative points Or the passage may give three negative points, while the lecture presents three corresponding positive points

Statement of the Concept Restatement of the Concept

1 Positive point 1 Corresponding negative point

2 Positive point 2 Corresponding negative point

3 Positive point 3 Corresponding negative point =

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Statement of the Concept — Restatement of the Concept

1 Negative point 1 Corresponding positive point

2 Negative point 2 Corresponding positive point

3 Negative point 3 Corresponding positive point

Here is an example of a typical passage and lecture First read a passage from a textbook in a secondary education class

568 Section 4 Guide to Writing

Two principal types of tests are used in secondary schools, and, in fact, in all

types of schools One type is the objective test Different types of questions can

be asked on objective tests: multiple choice, fill in the blanks, true-or-false, matching, and so on The other type of test is the subjective test, or essay test

This type of test asks students to write essays on one or more topics

Although objective tests continue to be used in many high school class- rooms, today the essay test is most often used because it tests a higher level of understanding Objective tests simply test a student’s ability to memorize dates, names, and other facts Essay tests, on the other hand, require students to organize and analyze, to see relationships, and to present information in a clear way This is a much more realistic task than any presented in an objective test

In real life, of course, questions will not be presented in a multiple-choice for- mat; instead, they require students to organize and communicate their thoughts

in a logical way

Essay exams emphasize to high school students the need to express them- selves clearly and effectively in writing Everyone agrees this is a necessary skill for all students at all levels and in all disciplines And if teachers in history classes give essay exams, they encourage their students to apply themselves with more enthusiasm in their composition classes Besides, as a bonus for the busy teacher, essay exams take far less time to construct than objective tests

Now listen to a lecture in a secondary education class You may read along with this lecture as you listen, but on actual tests, the lecture will not be written out

» Now start the Audio Program @

About the Integrated Writing Task 569

Professor

“Now, as your textbook points out, there are two types of tests: objective and essay

Your textbook author takes a pretty strong stand in favor of essay tests, doesn't he?

Well, I happen to agree with some of his ideas I have nothing against essay tests,

and they do get at different things than, uh, objective tests do They test students’

ability to think critically, to uh, solve problems That's why I generally include a

couple of essay questions in every test I give But I also use multiple-choice items

Sure, objective tests check your memorization skills—but what's wrong with

that? Sometimes, in some classes at least, you need to memorize basic facts and

information!

And it’s also true that that essay tests emphasize writing skills It’s ttue—and

it’s part of the problem! Good writers can get good grades on essay tests even if

they don’t know very much about the topic

And as far as saving time—yeah, it may take less time to write essay tests But

it takes a Jot more time to grade them Not only that, but you really should

grade all the essays at the same time, because well, studies show that the same

teacher will grade the same essay differently at different times To be fair, you

should grade all the tests at one sitting Now, with a small class, this isn't a big prob-

lem, but if you have a large class well, it’s a lot easier to grade objective tests,

and lots of times, you can have them machine graded

So when you start teaching, and giving tests yourself by all means, use

essay tests, but for some classes, for some material, for some situations objec-

tive tests, or combinations of objective and essay tests, may be best.”

Here’s an outline of the sample passage and lecture:

Statement of the Concept: Restatement of the Concept:

There are two main types of There are two types of tests,

tests, objective and essay objective and essay Essay tests

Essay tests are preferable are useful, but so are objective

tests

1 Positive point: Essay tests test a 1 Corresponding negative point:

higher type of understanding Sometimes it is necessary to test

(objective tests assess only memorization

memorization skills.)

2 Positive point: Essay tests 2 Corresponding negative point:

develop writing skills Good writers can do well on essay

tests without knowing content

3 Positive point: Essay tests are 3 Corresponding negative point:

easy to write Essay tests take a long time to

grade

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