TOEFL Booster / Distant style, tough vocabulary
In this month's TOEFL Booster column, we'll conclude our three-part series on the reading section of the Internet-based TOEFL (iBT). We have already discussed several reasons why some test-takers find the passages in the reading section surprisingly difficult. The academic nature of the reading passages makes them challenging. So do the length and complexity of the readings.
Today, let's examine two other possible factors: impersonal "distancing" and vocabulary level.
You expect different things from different types of writing. A mystery story does not have the same style as a magazine article about a movie star. In academic pieces like iBT reading passages, one important stylistic feature is distancing. The author of an academic piece is likely to write in a generally impersonal style.
For example, the topic of keeping bees in order to harvest their honey can be approached in countless ways. You could write a "how-to" article for people who want to learn the techniques of beekeeping. You could write a recollection of your favorite experiences in beekeeping. You could explain the process of honey production by bees. And so on.
Each of these approaches would involve some subjective (personal) material and some objective (impersonal) material. A reading on this topic for the iBT would greatly emphasize the impersonal over the personal.
The brief passages below illustrate this:
SAMPLE A: The most astonishing thing is that most beekeepers don't wear gloves. I put on my veiled hood and my protective suit, then looked around for some gloves. "Too clumsy," Guilford said. "It's the face and neck you worry about. If one of them stings you on the hand, just scrape the stinger out with a fingernail."
SAMPLE B: Bees are most likely to sting on the face or neck, since they are attracted by the breath of the person disturbing them. Very few keepers would do hive work without a mesh veil. Gloves, however, are optional, and most keepers do not wear them.
Which of these two samples seems more personal to you? Probably Sample A. It contains the pronouns "I" and "my." Much of it is narrative--like a story. The adjective "astonishing" refers to a personal reaction to a situation. Sample B contains none of these features. It is much more like an iBT reading passage than Sample A.
Of course, both samples contain factual information--about gloves, protecting the face and neck, and so on. A personal piece of writing can be informative. But notice how the information is conveyed. In Sample B, the author seems to be standing apart from the topic, looking at it from a distance. In Sample A, the author is directly involved.
Many readers would find Sample A easier, simply because of its "closer" style. Reading passages on the iBT may be difficult because they are not framed in this way.
Since iBT readings are meant to be like the course material read by students in their first year of university, the vocabulary in these readings can be quite difficult. Besides the 2,000 or so most common words of English, someone taking the iBT will encounter a set of words considered "general academic vocabulary."
These are not highly specialized or technical words. They do not depend on any special knowledge about a topic or a field of study. Instead, they are words commonly used in academic readings, no matter what field you are studying.
Verbs like "acquire" or "manipulate," nouns like "volume" or "regime," adjectives like "empirical" or "unregulated"--all of these are widely applied in college-level readings for nearly any course.
To get some idea of the vocabulary you might expect in these readings, do an Internet search for the words "academic word list." You will discover a large collection of materials based on a careful analysis, by a researcher named Averil Coxhead, of the words used in academic writing.
The iBT is not based on Coxhead's list. A separate list, not available to the public, underlies the iBT. However, the words you see in the Academic Word List are a good guide to what you should know for the iBT.
Vocabulary is important for two broad purposes in the reading section of the iBT. The first is to answer explicit vocabulary questions, which make up about 30 percent of the questions related to any iBT reading. Here is an example:
The word "banks" in the passage is closest in meaning to:
a) bounces
b) deposits
c) depends
d) bends
To answer a question like this, you must depend on your general knowledge of English vocabulary and the context of the reading. In fact, in this case you need the context because every one of the option choices might be correct in one context or another.
The second broad purpose for vocabulary knowledge in the reading section is, of course, to understand the reading properly. Even if a certain vocabulary item does not appear in a question, you may need it to appreciate relationships among facts or ideas.
For example, consider the following short passage:
Some bacteria are able to fix nitrogen in the soil by incorporating it into compounds, such as nitrites, that can be metabolized by plants.
What is the relationship among the bacteria, nitrogen, and the soil? Unless you know that the word "fix" can mean "put into place," you might have difficulty figuring out what that relationship is.
Logic, knowledge of prefixes and suffixes, and even context are not much help in a situation like this. You simply have to understand the word fix beyond its most common meaning ("repair").
The demands on a test-taker's vocabulary are probably a factor in making the reading section of the iBT seem difficult. This is especially true for those test-takers who are not prepared for it. Know what to expect, and make vocabulary improvement part of your test preparation.
Next month we will turn our attention to the kinds of speaking questions appearing on the iBT.
Zwier teaches at Michigan State University and is an author of "The Michigan Guide to Academic Success and Better TOEFL Scores."