description of the toefl its

1. VALESKA VIRGÍNIA SOARES SOUZA
valeskasouza@iftm.edu.br

2. A Reliable Assessment of Academic English
• The TOEFL® ITP tests are paper-based and use 100 percent
academic content to evaluate the English-language proficiency
of nonnative English speakers, giving you confidence about
your students' ability in a real-world academic setting. All
questions are multiple choice and students answer questions
by filling in an answer sheet. The tests evaluate skills in three
areas:
• Listening Comprehension measures the ability to understand
spoken English as it is used in colleges and universities
• Structure and Written Expression measures recognition of
selected structural and grammatical points in standard written
English
• Reading Comprehension measures the ability to read and
understand academic reading material in English

3. WHAT KINDS OF TOPICS WOULD YOU
PREDICT TO BE ON THE TOEFL ITP?
LET’S BRAINSTORM!
Guessing game

4. Paleontology
Astronomy
Field trips
Marketing
Registration
Social
events

5. Content and Settings for the TOEFL ITP tests
• Academic Topics
– Arts: fine arts, crafts, theater, dance, architecture, literature, music,
film, photography
– Humanities: history, political science, government, philosophy, law
– Life Sciences: paleontology, biochemistry, animal behavior, ecology,
anatomy, physiology, genetics, health science, biology, agriculture
– Physical Sciences: geology, astronomy, chemistry, geology, earth
science, engineering, meteorology, energy, technology,
oceanography, physics
– Social Sciences: anthropology, sociology, education, geography,
archaeology, psychology, economics, business, management,
marketing, communications
• Campus-life Topics
– Classes: class schedules, class requirements, library references,
assignments (papers, presentations, readings), professors, studying,
field trips
– Campus administration: registration, housing on and off campus,
study abroad, internships, university policies
– Campus activities: clubs, committees, social events

6. Weather
Requests for information Leaving messages
Personal schedules
Public transportation

7. • General Topics
– Business: management, offices, official documents, law
– Environment: weather, nature, climate, environment
– Food: types of food, restaurants
– Language and communication: mail, email, telephone use, leaving
messages, requests for information
– Media: TV, newspapers, Internet
– Objects: descriptions of objects, equipment
– Personal: family members, friends, health, emotions, physical
characteristics, daily routines
– Planning and time management: future events, invitations, personal
schedules
– Purchases: clothing, shopping, banking, money
– Recreation: sports, games, concerts, plays, art, books, photography,
music, parties and gatherings, public lectures
– Transportation: travel, driving, parking, public transportation, travel
reservations
– Workplace: applying for a job, on-campus employment, work
schedules

8. The TOEFL ITP Assessment at a Glance
MORE INFO: http://www.ets.org/toefl_itp

9. Grading system
48 + 50 + 55 = 153/3 = 510
310-677

11. TOEFL ITP
Now let’s prepare for the listening section of the test!
In this section of the test, you will have an
opportunity to demonstrate your ability to
understand conversations and talks in English.

12. General strategies for listening
comprehension
1. Be familiar with the directions
2. Listen carefully to the passages
3. Know where the easier and the more
difficult questions are generally found
4. Be familiar with the pacing of the test
5. Never leave any answers blank on your
answer sheet
6. Use any remaining time to look ahead at
the answers to the questions that follow

13. Structure of listening comprehension
1. Short Dialogues are two-line dialogues between
two speakers, each followed by a multiple choice
question.
2. Long conversations are 60-90 second
conversations on casual topics between students,
each followed by a number of multiple choice
questions.
3. Talks are commonly shortened versions of lectures
from courses taught in American colleges and
universities, each followed by questions.
• You will listen to each dialogue, long conversation,
talk and questions once.

14. Observe this example:
– (man) That exam was really awful.
– (woman) Oh, it could have been worse.
– (woman) What does the woman mean?
• (A) The exam was really awful.
• (B) It was the worst exam she had ever seen.
• (C) It couldn’t have been more difficult.
• (D) It wasn’t that hard.

15. TOEFL ITP
Now let’s prepare for the structure section of the test!
This section is designed to measure your ability to
recognize language that is appropriate for standard
written English. There are two types of questions in
this section, with special directions for each type.

16. STRUCTURE
• The president _____ the
election by a landslide.
• (A) won
• (B) he won
• (C) yesterday
• (D) fortunately
WRITTEN EXPRESSION
• The four string on a
violin are tuned.
• (A) The
• (B) string
• (C) are
• (D) tuned
Since there is a subject ‘The
president’, the sentence is
missing a verb, so the correct
answer is (A) won.
The number ‘four’ calls for a
plural noun, so (B) ‘string’
should be ‘strings’. You should
choose what makes the
sentence wrong.

17. Procedures for the structure questions
1. First, study the sentence. Your purpose is to
determine what is needed to complete the sentence
correctly.
2. Then study each answer based on how well it
completes the sentence. Eliminate answers that do
not complete the sentence correctly.
3. Do not try to eliminate incorrect answers by looking
only at the answers. The incorrect answers are
generally correct by themselves. The incorrect
answers are generally incorrect only when used to
complete the sentences.

18. TOEFL ITP
Now let’s prepare for the reading comprehension
section of the test!
This section is designed to measure your ability to read and
understand short passages similar in topic and style to those
that students are likely to encounter in North American
universities and colleges. To avoid creating an advantage to
individuals in any one field of study, sufficient context is
provided so that no subject-specific familiarity with the
subject matter is required to answer the questions.

19. What is the main idea of
the passage?
• (A) In modern society we
must make more time
for our neighbors.
• (B) The traditions of
society are timeless.
• (C) An accepted way of
measuring time is
essential for the smooth
functioning of society.
• (D) Society judges
people by the times at
which they conduct
certain activities.
The main idea of the passage is that
societies need to agree about how time is
measured in order to function smoothly.
Therefore, you should choose answer C.

20. In line 7, the phrase
"this tradition" refers
to
• (A) the practice of
starting the business
day at dawn.
• (B) friendly relations
between neighbors.
• (C) the railroad's
reliance on time
schedules.
• (D) people's
agreement on the
measurement of time.
The phrase "this tradition" refers to the
preceding clause, "people have been in
rough agreement with their neighbors as to
the time of day." Therefore, you should
choose answer D.