

HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore



HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
2


HowtoTeach
TOEFL®TOEIC®IELTS®
andOtherStandardizedExaminations

SecondEdition
Copyright©TEFLeBooksdotcom
Allrightsreserved.
Permissiongrantedtoreproducepartsofthis
publicationaslongasattributionisnoted.

ThisebookwasdevelopedincooperationwithTEFLBootCamp


Tohelpusdoabetterjobofhelpingyou,wewouldappreciate
youropinionaboutthisebook.Pleasetakeourfast,easyand
confidentialsurveyhere:CLICKHERE



HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
3

A.Overviewofthetest‐whatitisusedfor
Differentformsofthetest:paper,cBT,iBT
B.Howtoselectastudybookforyo
urstudents
Thingstolookfor
Currency
Baselines
Scoring
ProgressTests
C.Howtouseastudybook
Baseline
Strategybuilding
BuildSkills
PracticeSkills
ProgressTesting



HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
5
D.Whattakingthetestislike
E.Skillstested
TypesofQuestions:
Reading
Listening
Writing
Speaking
F.PracticeTestingandrecalibratinggoals

IV.IELTS‐Page30

7
VII.TeachingStudyandExaminationSkills—Page51
PlanningandRealisticGoalSetting
Settingtheenvironment
Gatheringmaterials
Distributedpractice
SQ3R
Homeworkandassignments(forstudents)

VIII.TeachingReadingSkills‐Page68

Selectingtextsandmaterials
Survey
Skimming
Scanning
Comprehension
DiscriminationTraining
Buildingreadingspeed
Buildingvocabulary



HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
8
IX.TeachingWritingSkills‐Page82
Selectingtextsandmaterials
Organizationofwriting


X.TeachingListeningSkills‐Page84



HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
10
II.StandardizedTesting

A. Whatisstandardizedtesting?
Testsare“standardized”whentheyaredeveloped,administered,and
scoredusingestablishedproceduresandguidelines.Theseprocedures
andguidelinesensurethatallstudentsaretestedunderthesamecon‐
ditions,thattheyareallgivenequalopportunitytodeterminethe
correctanswers,andthatallscoresareestablishedandinterpreted
usingappropriatecriteria.Twotypesofstandardizedtestsare:
1. norm‐referencedtests,usedtocomparestudentperformanceto
thatofotherstudents;and
2. criterion‐referencedtests,usedtomeasurestudentperformance
againstadefinedsetoflearningrequirementsorexpectations.
Indevelopingstandardizedtests,testdevelopersfollowestablished
procedurestocreatequestionsthatreflectthecurriculaorthelearning
requirements.Theyalsoanalyzethetesttoensurethatitmeasures
studentperformanceaccuratelyandreliably.Whenstandardizedtests
aregiventostudents,thereareprescribeddirectionsforhowthetestis
tobeadministeredandeverytestgivenineverysettingmustbegiven
underthesameconditionstoensurethatnoonehasanadvantage.
Themoreyouknowaboutthetypeoftest
beinggiven,howitisdeveloped,administered,
scored,andinterpreted,themoreinsightyou
willhaveinunderstandingthetestingprocess,
itsoutcomes,and,ultimately,inmaking
decisionsregardingastudent’seducation.

nativeability.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
12
B.IntroductiontoTestDevelopment
Validity
Howdoweknowwhetheratestmeasurestheabilityinwhichweare
interested?Evenifatestisperfectlyreliableandvirtuallyerror‐free,
howdoweknowifitismeasuringtheabilitieswewantittomeasure
andnotsomethingelse?Thisistheideaandcentralconcernofvalidity,
andultimatelyinvolvesthekindsofjudgmentsthatcanbedrawnfrom
testscores.
Let'sconsideramathtestconsistingonlyofwordproblems.Thetest
scorecouldappropriatelybeusedtoindicatethestudent'sabilityto
solvemathproblemsthatrequirereading;thatwouldbeavaliduseof
thetestscore.However,usingthetestscoreasarepresentationofthe
student'smathabilityingeneralmightnotbevalid,especiallyifthe
studentwasnotfluentinthelanguageinwhichthewordproblems
werewritten.
Peoplewhodeveloptestsanalyzetheminseveralwaystodetermine
theappropriate(i.e.,valid)useoftestscores.Let'sreviewsomeofthe
issuesconsideredindeterminingthevaliduseoftestscores:


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
13
 Dothequestionsonthetestrepresenttheentiresubjectmatter
aboutwhichconclusionsaretobedrawn?Forinstance,ifatestis
designedtomeasuregeneralarithmeticability,thereshouldbe

tobeslightlydifferent,butthemoreerrorthereisinthetest's
make‐up,themoredifferentthetwotestscoresarelikelytobe.Ifthe
twotestscoresareverydifferent,itisreasonabletoconcludethatthe
differenceisduetotesterrorandthatthescoresdonotreallyreflect
whatthetesttakerknowsandisabletodo.
Inconsistenciesinscoringtestsmightalsoundercutreliability.Some
testsarecomposedofmultiple‐choicequestions,whileothersrequire
thatthetesttakerconstructaresponse,suchasanessay.Scoringa
multiple‐choicequestionisstraightforward,becausethereisoneright
answer;theanswerprovidediseithercorrectorincorrect.Therefore,
regardlessofwhoscoresthetest,thescoreonthatquestionwillbethe
same.Essay‐typequestions,however,requirehumanjudgmentandare
thereforemoredifficulttoscore.Iftwopeoplereadthesameessay,it's
likelythateachpersonwillgivetheessayaslightlydifferentscore.
However,ifthetwoscoresgivenbythetwoscorers,or"raters,"are
verydifferent,thenthescoreonthatessayisnotveryconsistentand
thusnotveryreliable.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
15
Themeasureofconsistencybetweenscorersiscalledinter‐rater
reliability.Thecloserthescoresassignedtoanessaybydifferent
raters,thehighertheinter‐raterreliabilityofthattest.Whileitmight
seemimpossibletogetdifferentraterstoassignexactlythesame
score,itispossibletotrainraterssothattheyallscoreinaverysimilar
way.Ifthisgoalisaccomplished,therecanbemoreconfidencethatthe
scoreassignedtotheessayreflectstheabilityofthestudent.
BasicStatisticalConcepts
The“Normal”Curve

theabovegraph)accountsforsomewherearound68percentofthe
peopleinthisgroup.Twostandarddeviationsawayfromthemean
(thefirstfourareas)accountforroughly95percentofthepeople.And
threestandarddeviations(thesixareas)accountforabout99percent
ofthepeople.
Ifthiscurvewereflatterandmorespreadout,thestandarddeviation
wouldhavetobelargerinordertoaccountforthose68percentorso
ofthepeople.Sothat'swhythestandarddeviationcantellyouhow
spreadouttheexamplesinasetarefrom
themean.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
17
Whenyouthinkaboutit,that'sjustcommonsense.Notthatmany
peoplearegettingbyonasingleservingofkelpandrice.Oroneight
mealsofsteakandmilkshakes.Mostpeopleliesomewherein
between,closertothemiddle.
Ifyoulookedatnormallydistributeddataonagraph,itwouldlook
somethinglikethechartontheleftofthispage.
Thex‐axis(thehorizontalone)isthevalueinquestion calories
consumed,dollarsearnedorcrimescommitted,forexample.Andthe
y‐axis(theverticalone)isthenumberofdatapointsforeachvalueon
thex‐axis inotherwords,thenumberofpeoplewhoeatxcalories,
thenumberofhouseholdsthatearnxdollars,orthenumberofcities
withxcrimescommitted.
Now,notallsetsofdatawillhavegraphsthatlookthisperfect.Some
willhaverelativelyflatcurves,otherswillbeprettysteep.Sometimes
themeanwillleanalittlebittoonesideortheother.Butall“normally
distributed”datawillhavesomethinglikethissame"bellcurve"shape.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
19
"Norming"atest‐andstatisticalcurvesmoothing
Teststhatdon’tnaturallyfitintoa“normal”curvecanbeforcedor
adaptedtoanormalcurveviatheuseofstatisticalmethods.
Errorintestscores
Asweexplainedatthebeginningofthissection,someerrorisalwaysa
factorintestscoreinterpretation.Infact,testssimplycannotprovide
informationthatis100%accurate.Thismightsoundsurprising,butthis
istrueformanyreasons;forexample:
 Theextenttowhichastudenthaslearnedthebreadthanddepthof
asubjectwillinfluencehowsheorheperformsonatest.Ona
readingtest,forexample,astudentmightdowellwithquestions
aboutwordmeaningandfindingthemainideaofapassagebut
havehadlesspracticedistinguishingfactfromopinion.The
experience(orlackthereof)thatatest‐takerbringstothetest
representsasourceoferrorintermsofusingthetestscoreto
generalizeaboutthestudent'sreadingability.
 Sometimesastudenttakingatestisjustplainunlucky.Ifastudent
istired,hungry,nervous,orevenjusttoowarm,heorshemightdo
worseonthetestthanifthecircumstancesweredifferent.
 Atestmighthavequestionsthatseemtrickyorconfusing.Ifa
studentisnotclearaboutthemeaningofaquestion,heorshewill
havetroublefindingthecorrectanswer.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
20
Standarderrorofmeasurement

with10
0%
accura
cy.

Thestandarderrorofmeasurementisa
statisticalestimateofhowfaroffthetrue
scorethetestscoreislikelytobe.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
21
III.TOEFL
A. Overviewofthetest
TOEFL®standsfortheTestofEnglishasaForeignLanguage.Thistestis
designedtomeasuretheEnglishlanguageabilityofpeoplewhodonot
speakEnglishastheirfirstlanguageandwhoplantostudyatcolleges
anduniversities.
AbouttheTOEFLTest
TosucceedinanacademicenvironmentinwhichEnglishisthe
languageofinstruction,internationalstudentsneedtonotonly
understandEnglish,butalsotocommunicateeffectively.TheTestof
EnglishasaForeignLanguage(TOEFL)isatestthatassessesallfour
basiclanguageskills:listening,reading,writing,andspeaking.The
TOEFLiBT(Internet‐basedtest)helpsindividualsdemonstratethe
Englishskillsneededforacademicsuccess,aswellashelpinstitutions
makebetterdecisionsaboutprospectivestudents'readinessfor
academiccourseworkincollegesanduniversities.
Morethan6,000institutionsand
agenciesin110countriesrelyon

WhyTaketheTOEFLTest?
MostpeopletaketheTOEFLtestasa
prerequisiteforadmissioninto
collegesanduniversitieswhere
Englishisusedorrequired.In
addition,manygovernment,
licensing,andcertificationagencies,
andexchangeandscholarship
programsuseTOEFLscoresto
evaluatetheEnglishproficiencyof
peopleforwhomEnglishisnottheir
nativela
ngu
age.Thetestpredicts
successinanacademicsettinginan
Englishspeakingcountry.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
23
FormsoftheTest
ThetestcomesinthepBTandiBTforms‐meaningthepaper‐based
test(beingphasedout)andtheInternet‐basedtest(tobecomethe
standard).ThecBTorcomputer‐basedtesthasbeenphasedout.
Wewillfocusonthetestitselfhereandnottheforminwhichitis
administered.
B.Howtoselectastudybookforyourstudents
Lookforastudymanualthathasabaselineexaminationandatleast
three,preferablyasmanyassixormore,practicetests,aswellasgood,
clearexplanationsofthetestandtestitems.Thestudymanualshould

studentsabaselinetesttodeterminetheircurrentskilllevels.
Onceanestimatedbaselinescorehasbeenestablished,carefully
reviewyourstudents’skilllevelsanddevelopastudyplanthatwill
helpraiselowerscoresandstrengthenthehigherscores.
Irregularityofskilllevels(strongverbalskillsandveryweakwriting
scores,forexample)arenotuncommonandworkingonraisingthe
lowerlevelskillswill,mostlikely,yieldthequickestresults(ETS
researchsuggeststhisistrue).
Studentswilloftenwanttostudyintensivelyforshortperiodsoftime,
buttheywillgenerallybemoresuccessfulwithdistributedpractice
overlongerperiodsoftime.
Baseline,practiceand
progresstestsshouldbe
takenunderconditions
ascloseaspossibleas
thoseatatestingcenter.


HowtoTeachTOEFLTOEICIELTSandMore
25
Itisnotuncommonforstudentstowanttotakeamajorexamination
infourweeksorevenlessandexpectthattheycansignificantlyraise
theirscoresinthatperiodoftime.Suchanapproachisusually
self‐defeatingandshouldbediscouraged.

Manymajortestsrequireaminimumofthreemonthstopassbetween
examinationsastheyhavegoodresearchthatindicatesthatstudent
scorestypicallydonotchangesignificantlyiflesstimeisinvolved,

Oncethestudyplanisimplementedandthestudentsareworking