Martin Victor lists some tried & tested tricks that will help students to score higher in TOEFl
Many Test of English as a Foreign language (TOEFl) students in India find the section a hard nut to crack. So, they give up their dreams to secure admissions in the Ivy league institutions of North America and limit their search for greener pastures to Australia, New Zealand or other countries taking the IElTS route.
Much of this is also due to the belief that TOEFl is strictly based on American English, whereas we are used to speaking the British English. While this might have once been the case, this is no longer so as the test will present speakers who converse in British English, Australian English and even native speakers with Indian accents.
The biggest misconception is that the test requires a speaker to use a US accent. This is far from the truth. Back home in the US, native speakers have different accents, and these accents change from North to South and coast to coast. Accents do not matter for TOEFl; pronunciation does.
TOEFl is not interested in changing your accent. In fact, if a student were to attempt to change his accent during the test, it will not sound natural and it will have a negative impact on scores. Furthermore, it’s not about being a native speaker but about being a better speaker.
Some tried and tested tips and tricks to score higher:
Sound confident: Students here aren’t used to speaking English at home or with their friends or relatives. So, they find it really hard to respond spontaneously to the Speaking topics and easily lose confidence. A confidence-building exercise would be working on a good English foundation, enriched with regular reading, brushing-up on grammar and building on everyday vocabulary. Focus on specifics rather than generalised terms. This will help build confidence. Being crisp, being confident in your speech is important.
learn by smartphone: Students should make more use of smartphones in learning. They can put these gadgets to better use by recording their own voice and listening to it. By evaluating their responses, they can clearly see their mistakes. They can even use their phones to do online testing, which can really help improve their skills and provide a unique environment that is similar to the TOEFl Internet-based test. Thanks to the Internet, lots of videos are also available on the YouTube where students can improve their pronunciation.
Speak more: Whatever else you do, without speaking you won’t make it in TOEFl speaking. So, start speaking in English to people around you to build fluency. Don’t worry about mistakes. Use your smartphone, listen and identify your mistakes and try to avoid them the next time you speak. Even speaking to your reflection in the mirror is better than not speaking.
Improve note-taking: Put on a headset and start listening to a wide variety of material and take notes. Summarise those notes orally. This is a great way to develop note-taking skills and building up confidence. Some students complain that they cannot keep up with lectures and are unable to remember all the points. I always suggest to them to develop note-taking skills.
Work on pronunciation: Systematically improve your pronunciation. Pay attention to stresses, intonation patterns and pauses. Sound as natural as possible. Accent doesn't matter as long as what you say is clearly understood.
Practise: In the exam a student is given a short time to think what to say in order to answer the question. The students use the time to think of a layout to follow during his speech.
Do intensive practice to work within the time constraint. Write down the main points you would follow when speaking. Support the main points with some details and examples. And, most importantly, complete all this within the time allowed.
While there is no magic potion for good English, regular practice with friends and relatives can work wonders. Get down to the basics by practising as much as you can, both online and offline.
(The writer is an English language expert with TCY)b