welcomes you and overview
of the toeic
toefl i_b_t_ independent writing tasks
part one
the objectives for parking and falls
providing an overview for the tele canto for writing tests
on the telecast is referred to as question number eight
on the till full will be looking at
task referred to as the independent writing to ask
and there will be looking at the square herridge for both
who also engage in activity
helping us where that defied the types of topics we will see
on these assessments
and this activity is referred to as name that topic
on the telecom again referred to as question abrasion in his colby or
writing a penny n_s_a_
on this part of the tests it is
it comprises one task
take about thirty minutes to play n right and revise a personal essay at
about three hundred words
it must be tight
and the word processing feature that you'll be using us much more similar to
note pad if you have windows
uh... microsoft windows
instead of microsoft word
so he really can only cut n paste tax on this particular part of the test
the essay sort of follows a standard college essay format though it's
probably not as strict as you would see it
state university
you do need to include a brief introduction which is somewhat important
on this task
of course the body of the s_a_s_ probably most important
can usually this is where you would include the two reasons you're trying to
make to support surer her argument
and then give a conclusion which again is someone important numbers together to
ask
the essay itself is court holistic lee
holistic leanings sort of overall or overall evaluation
annie get they use a rubric to identified
the uh... areas that they're looking at what they consider to be most important
so yeah organization in content are things that in the most important
vocabulary any ability expression shelf as part of that and that's also a very
important idea on the status
however grammar and punctuation well it's not necessary to have perfect
grammar punctuation so we will consider these to be a little less important than
the others
in terms of the scoring
the scale of zero two five in which five is the highest score that you can
receive
so again if you will notice in writing an opinion essay
vitesse makers themselves
explained that the things they are looking for
or
are your opinions supported by reasons than examples
of course grammar is always something that will be looking for
but and really samples will be looking at a later videos you will see that
perfect grammar isn't always necessary
vocabulary of course
is one of the most important areas
because certainly
part of the idea is
will cavalier is linked to our ability a express ourselves
and most importantly
organizing our thoughts so that they resi to read in logical follow
on itself all you'll notice that the requirements look almost the same and
this shouldn't be a surprise since both sets sir
um... provided by the same company uh... educational testing service or ii two
yes
again the independent writing test for the still full
terrace one independent writing task
again thirty minutes and three hundred warrants
it must be tight
and again the word processing feature
very much like notepad
on the till full speaking section
you'll notice that the writings action is evaluated much the same way and again
that's holistic lee
as we said earlier holistic leah's
looking at overall evaluation of your writing style
so in general the ability to organize your thoughts and express your ideas
clearly and logically
those are the things that they look for
vocabulary appropriate length
uh... and of course that's more important than just a restraining
grammatical accuracy
certainly you can spend your time creating very dramatically accurate
sentences but not say anything very interesting so
especially my experience becomes more apparent
that the uh... tell full is much more about the ability to express yourself so
using their vocabulary so it's important
and again the evaluation criteria
are almost exactly the same as for the toeic
from zero to five five being the highest
content is more important in grammar
organization is generally more important than style
and fluency an expression are highly valued
because again against the test raters and nothing for mation to evaluate your
ability
you will find links
to veto for writing rubrics sample topics that sample responses available
at the bottom of this webpage
now in terms of just general advice to writing
writing is something that often give since difficulty
mainly because it's something that we don't necessarily do everyday
sure you might write an ad uh... an email once in awhile or maybe send texts
but those are definitely not the same things is writing an essay
so the first thing we're going to stress in this course
is to think about the idea that we need to practice and practice a lot
because again on the tests
you have to be a fluid tightness and you have to be fluid in your ability express
yourself in english
so i really want to think about and in much the same weather we improve our
speaking by speaking
the only way to be a better brighter history
and again the written responses on both of these tests followed a general
elements of a basic college essay format
those would involve introduction
abadi
again conclusions are important
of course you will see some examples in which the conclusions themselves
may not be the most important part of the asst
something we often forget mainly because there's a time element involved we often
forget i had a plan and revise for these types of activities
the planning in revising are very important parts of the writing process
so don't skip these two areas even if you're trying to save time span
uh... artist to spend more of your time writing the asst
of course the best place to begin is talking about what what kind of essays
are we going to say
that would involve looking at the types of topics we're going to say
my first piece of advice like us are approaching the writing tasks is to be
very familiar with the types of topics they will ask you on both tests and
again there's a considerable amount
overlap between the teller canto form these and this case
the essays generally revolve around things soon for your personal opinion
about daily life or on the tail for especially about
university or campus life
the topics themselves are definitely not controversial
you won't see any topics about sex violence gun ownership uh... any of
those things are certainly with or
certainly not be included on the test
don't be surprised if you find uh... question types that are
referred to as hypothetical began hypothetical
means imaginary or not real
so you might see situations that i ask you what would you do in this particular
case
uh... again these are fairly comment on both the tell rick and the toefl
now in general there are three types of essays that you will see
those types involve defense essays or sometimes referred to is argumentative
comparison essays in which you have to compare ka different ideas
an explanatory essays in which you have to give uh... an explanation or your
opinion about some
specific topic
so let's begin with the defense are argumentative essays first
always remember that for all of the questions on of the total inter-league
involving writing
there your personal opinion
in terms of the body of the essay
as we said before two reasons are always uh... the minimum to begin with
so we need these two reasons to support the opinion or trying to give and these
reasons need to be logical
and they also need to be consistent
and of course this is something that we will continue to return to as we develop
are writing skills and english
now when we look at the topics themselves
we're going to be paying attention to a concerts
i like to refer to as signal words
and easily concerts that will discuss more and class
but for example in the defense essary
common signal worth it you will see
to help tell us what kind of s areas
involve words such as do you agree or disagree
or do you prefer one viewpoint over another viewpoint
and at least judging from the
literature that eighty s has provided for us
the defense essay seems to be the most common
topic tied
even if you take the test and find uh... comparison or explain tori
if you were to take a test several times
you might notice that the defense essay
might be the one you see the most
let's take a look at a couple of examples
so he had noticed n the light blue
identifying the signal wars that help tell us that this is a defense essay
so do you agree or disagree with the following statement
people should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing
you specific reasons and examples to support your answer
so notice in the first one
it's asking us to state a position and defend it
take a look at it
do you agree or disagree with that statement
should people sometimes do things they do not enjoy
course one of the difficulties and deconstructing this essay topic is to
think about
what if i disagree
what exactly i my disagreeing too
this is made that i think people
should do things that they uh... enjoy all the time
if i disagree
this is one of the trickier aspects of of looking at the topics in trying to
figure out what exactly i'm trying to say
look at the second example
is it better to enjoy your money when you earn it
or is it better to save your money for some time in the future
now you might think that this is looking like i'm stating a particular opinion
and that's true
but still you have a choice and you have to defend one of those choices over the
other
which one would you choose
has a better to enjoy the money now
or to save it for the future
both have very legitimate answers and both
could be argued
now let's look at the comparison essay
once again remember it's your personal opinion here not someone else's
in terms of the requirements i'd find the comparison essay to be a little less
straight for the defense uh... site
first off you get to kind of state uh... advantages and disadvantages of
different sides of an argument
which often times you don't get to the defense essay
so when the body
generally which you have to do is give an advantage of one point
and then given advantage perhaps of the opposite point of view
finally
the topic does usually want to know what you which give appoint you you prefer
so even though it incorporates a little bit more than a defense essay
here you have a little more freedom to kind of look at
both sides or many sides of an argument
i do find it's important though to remember that if you're going to compare
you have to give equal balance
many times did spend too much time on the first point
and not enough time on the second
because they don't manage their time well
when you give a response oftentimes we will use what we call contrasting
discourse markers
so in your response you might want to use words such as however
on the other hand
or on the contrary
these help the established
a difference between one point of view over another
when looking at the topic itself
again it's important to notice for one of the signal words that tell me
what kind of topic it is
in this case words such as compare
mike compare the advantages
discuss like discuss the views or discuss the advantages
these are often pretty clear signals better telling me that i need to prepare
something in the u_s_a_
sohail citizen sample topics
some people choose friends who are different from themselves
others choose friends who were similar to themself ps
compared the advantages of having friends who are different from you
with the advantages of having friends who are similar to you
which kinda fred do you prefer for yourself
and why
so you noticed the beginning of the essay looks much like a defense essay
but the key word here is the word compare
i get to look at both sides of the argument and say but there clearly are
advantages to both and again that's what the essay wants to know the advantages
not necessarily the disadvantages
so i could look and say well friends or even for me they provide some good
things
and friends or similar they also provide some good things
and one of the nice things about the comparison i say again is you get the
state your preference at the end
because even though you might be able to see the good in both
you probably do you have a preference
let's look at another example
some people believe that a college or university education should be available
to all students
others will leave the higher education should be available all lead to good
students
discuss these views
which do you do you agree with
explain why
now again you look at this essay and say oh wait a minute i do see that they want
me to choose one to agree with
that's true
but before that they do want you to discuss both of these points of views
so in that way it makes it a comparison essay
i get to look at both sides in
kinda discuss the advantages are
benefits for both
so should
university education developed everyone
are there are uh... advantages to the point of view
why update on the other hand do others believe that its utility bill to good
students
sewing and this gives you some freedom an opportunity to tend to look at both
sides
but remember
you do have to say your preference at the end
the final essay type we're going to be looking at
is referred to as the explanatory and again this is usually
what we might consider deep personal opinion asst
again once again all of these essays do involve
to a certain degree your personal attendant
and this one for rock pr
provides the most flexibility when it comes to responding
the body of the essay
really no different you need to give two reasons for why you believe what you
believe
and the single words you might see on the topic in fall things such as what is
your opinion
or what do you do in this case
again let's look at some samples
your school is received a gift of money
what do you think is the best way for your school to spend this money
use specific reason details to support your choice
so you notice right away what do you think
and even then if you continue any essay
it says the best way
so in this case i'd probably need to give one
fairly broad answer and then think about some reasons why i would support it
would be great if your school could receive the gift of money
think about of course if you're going to spend that money
it's obviously uh... a certain amount
you mate you have to think about what's a logical way
to respond in this case you can't spend this money on several different ideas
so perhaps you might wanna think of wealth
perhaps uh... are universally would benefit from a new library
or if it's uh...
uh... you know perhaps purchasing books for your library
in our second example notice that this one is a perhaps somewhat of a
historical perspective
the twentieth century saw great change
in your opinion what is one change that she remembered about the twentieth
century
you specific reasons in details to explain your choice
there clearly is not one right answer to this the twentieth century of course
uh... and saw a lots of different uh...
great technological innovations
so for example the automobile
uh... the bility for space travel
development of the computer
all of the seemed like pretty good answers
as long as you can explain yourself a provider detail
he'll probably do pretty well on the side and i said
so to help us understand the idea of topic a little better
we're going to play a little gain
so it's time to play the game
i'd like to call
named that topic
so let's discuss the rules
in your activity you'll be given two minutes to identify as many topics as
you can
simple by choosing other defense comparison or explanatory
in this activity you must receive a hundred percent
if you don't you'll have to go back and do it again until you do receive a
hundred percent
before you playing let's look at it example
what do you consider to be the most important room in the house
why is this room more important to you than any other rhythm
you specific reasons that examples to support your opinion
okay
so you see the topic
terrier three choices
is this a defense essay
a comparison essay or an explanatory essay
and hurry the clock is ticking
well if you said
explanatory assay you're correct
again in the example itself became words are or what do you
so what do you consider to be
notice in the essay it doesn't ask us to compare anything
s_s_c_ essentially choose something and explained
hopefully you did well on this little example
mail it's your turn
named that topic
so at the bottom of the page you will see a link
click on that link to begin this activity
when you are finished please return to the video portal to watch video part to
of
our video series
good luck