TOEFL READING SECTION - COMMENTS # 1

HULLO!

BEAUTIFUL NATURE!

Source: Pixabay, Public Domain. Enjoy!

In a previous post I wrote that the main Reading Section of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) could have 3 – 5 passages with 12 – 14 questions for each passage.

Here is a list of possible reading topics that could serve to illustrate this part of the TOEFL.

• Characteristics of the gambrel roof in Dutch colonial architecture.
• The story of the Marie Celeste, a maritime mystery of the nineteenth century
• Decompression sickness, a hazard that affects deep-sea divers
• The role of background music in films
• Water scarcity and its effect on agriculture
• The Battle of Gettysburg
• Advantages and disadvantages of the production of green energy
• The development of agriculture during Neolithic times
• The possible causes of the disappearance of the mega fauna
• The life and times of Isadora Duncan
• 
  

I think this list is enough to ´provide a general idea of the demands of the TOEFL Reading Section!

IS PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY?

It is a fact that most introductions to the TOEFL will tell you that you do not need to be an expert on any of the reading topics, in fact  you do not need to have any prior knowledge of the contents at all!

Well, that is true up to a point. Obviously it will be much easier for the candidates if they do know something of the contents.

If you want to improve your TOEFL score, you will need to start reading, and read, and read, and read, especially in those areas of knowledge about which you know practically nothing!

Here is where specializations can cause problems. As a teacher who has worked with various candidates for the TOEFL, it has often been difficult to convince a person with a scientific background, to read history, or vice versa.

This is an understandable reaction, but not a very practical one for facing the difficulties of the TOEFL.

In addition, preparation time is usually scarce, so however much you read, it is never going to be enough!

MY PERSONAL SUGGESTIONS.

The answers that I give to these problems usually consider the following ideas:

• If you have practiced reading contents that do not relate to your specific knowledge, you will not feel so traumatized when those mostly unknown texts pop up in the test.
• You will therefore face the reading tasks with more confidence!
• You could get lucky and get reading topics that you did actually read about, or that you know about.
• The bigger the variety of topics you read, the higher the probability that you will have to answer something that is already familiar!

If these arguments do not convince you, then I am afraid you will just have to risk it on the test and face the consequences!

WHERE TO FIND FREE ONLINE READING TOPICS WHEN PRACTICING FOR THE TOEFL

My basic suggestions always include:

• Articles from the National Geographic
• Articles from Wikipedia

It is easy to get ideas about topics from cultural magazines, from photo collections, from newspapers.

After you decide on a topic, you can search for articles on Wikipedia, for example. That is a very good source with a level of difficulty that is more or less similar to the TOEFL articles.

You could even start off by using the list of suggested topics I included in this post.

MORE INTERNET SOURCES FOR FREE READING MATERIAL

I personally publish articles on Hubpages.com, a very comprehensive magazine-type web page that can provide hundreds of good quality articles.

My home page there is http://joanveronica.hubpages.com

I have a couple of different lines that I write about, with a total of 33 articles to this date, which can be found through my home page, which is also my profile page. You can use them for reading practice if you like, you would be very welcome.

Hubpages can offer you a classification based on topics, where other writers’ work can be found.

I also write articles on my other Blog, which is oriented to Spanish speakers who need to practice English. You can enter this Blog at:

http://joanveronica.blogspot.com/SemblanceofSpanishAmerica

I would like to point out that my specialization is Mathematics, but I am very comfortable with other topics too. This is the ideal situation for TOEFL candidates!

I will be writing more about the Reading Section in a future post, so stay tuned!

© 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

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