TOEFL Speaking Question Type: INDEPENDENT QUESTIONS : QUESTIONS 1 and the sample answer.Ref NO:2009031401

Question 1

For this task, you will be asked to speak about a person, place, object, or event that is familiar to you. You will be given 45 seconds for your response. The topics for this question will vary, but you will always be asked to base your response on personal experience or a familiar topic. You might, for example, be asked about a place you like to visit, an important event in your life, a person who influenced you, or an activity that you enjoy.

This question will always ask you both to describe something (for example, an important event, a favorite activity, an influential person) and to give reasons—to explain why the event was important, why the activity is one of your favorites, how the person influenced you, etc. Be sure to respond to all parts of the ques¬tion. Your response should include specific details and/or examples because they will make your descrip¬tion informative and your reasons comprehensible.

After you are presented with the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You may want to jot down a few brief notes about what you will want to say, but you should not try to write out a full and complete answer. There will not be enough time for you to do that, and raters want to know how well you can speak in response to a question, not how well you can read aloud from something you have written. If you do jot down notes during the preparation time, you should not rely on them too much in giving your answer.

The question will be read aloud by a narrator and will remain on the screen throughout the time you are giving your response.

TIP:
Make a list of familiar topics, and practice speaking about them. You may want to begin by describing a familiar place or recounting a personal experience.

TIP:
When giving descriptions, try to avoid presenting long lists since this will reduce the time you have available to elaborate on the rest of your response.

Example
The following example shows how a question of this type will appear on your computer screen.

1. Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include
specific examples and details in your explanation.
Preparation Time: 15 Seconds
Response Time: 45 Seconds

You will be told when to begin to prepare your response and when to begin speaking. After the question is read, a "Preparation Time" clock will appear below the question and begin to count down from 15 seconds (00:00:15). At the end of 15 seconds you will hear a short beep. After the beep, the clock will change to read "Response Time" and will begin to count down from 45 seconds (00:00:45). When the response time has ended, recording will stop and a new screen will appear alerting you that the response time has ended.

To answer a question like the one above, you would probably begin by briefly identifying the teacher you are going to speak about—not necessarily by name, of course, but by giving just enough relevant information so that someone listening to your response can make sense of your explanation. For example, what subject did the teacher teach? How old were you when you had him or her as a teacher? After briefly describing the teacher in whatever way is useful, you could then pro¬ceed to explain what it was about the teacher that made you admire him or her. Perhaps it was something specific that he or she did. If so, you should describe what the teacher did and provide details that illustrate why the action was admirable. Maybe the teacher displayed a special personal quality or had a special character trait. If so, you would want to describe it and give details that provide evidence of it—occasions when you noticed it, the effect it had on you, and so forth. There are many, many ways to answer this question, and of course there is no "right" or "wrong" answer. The important thing, if you were to receive this particular question, is that you communicate enough information about the person to help the rater understand why you find that person admirable.

TIP:
Record your own voice in testbig and listen to make sure that your pronunciation and fluency of speech are clear. And the speaking exports in testbig.com will evaluate your response using the TOEFL iBT Speaking rubric.

Record your answers now for this topic
(Apply the Ref NO:2009031401 in speaking title, so users can understand which topic you are talking about)

or click to listen to the sample answer for this topic :