{"id":3831,"date":"2020-08-29T14:21:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T21:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=3831"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:41:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:41:37","slug":"structure-toefl-speaking-task-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/structure-toefl-speaking-task-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Structure of TOEFL Speaking Task 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nFor many of the students I work with, TOEFL Speaking Task 2 is one of the hardest parts of the Speaking Section<\/a>. The prompt is so packed with information!<\/p>\n

The Complexity of TOEFL Speaking Task 2<\/h2>\n

In fact, you could even say that the TOEFL Task 2 Speaking prompt is\u00a0deceptively<\/em> complicated. At a glance, the task looks simple.<\/p>\n

The passage is very short, and so is the audio track. But both cover a complex, argumentative structure. In 100 words or less, the passage will describe a policy or plan that affects students on campus, and will give two supporting reasons\u00a0for the policy.<\/p>\n

Then in one minute or slightly less, two students will have a conversation about the written announcement. But here’s the important part — only\u00a0one<\/em> of those students will give information that’s actually important for completing the task. That student — the opinionated one — will either approve or disapprove of the policy from the article. And said student will give two reasons for why they hold their opinion. The students’ two reasons will each directly address the two reasons for the proposed change in the original article.<\/p>\n

TOEFL Speaking Task 2 in a Chart<\/h2>\n

If you got a little confused while\u00a0reading the above description of Task 2, don’t feel bad. I almost started to feel confused as I wrote it! Actually, the information in the TOEFL Speaking Task 2 prompt can be broken down a lot more clearly in table form:<\/p>\n

\"TOEFL<\/p>\n

How This Structure Affects TOEFL Prep<\/h2>\n

As you prepare for the exam, knowing this structure can help you take good notes. Use the chart above to build\u00a0your\u00a0note-taking strategy for the task. You’ll know exactly how many ideas to listen for in the conversation. And\u00a0once you start listening to the student talk about the passage, you’ll already have some idea of what the student’s going to say. This\u00a0definitely<\/em> helps you take effective notes.<\/p>\n

This can also help you avoid any unofficial practice materials for Task 2 that aren’t truly TOEFL-like. If you are going through a Task 2 prompt form a privately published book or website and you don’t see this structure, then you know the prompt isn’t fully preparing you for the real test. On any non-ETS\u00a0TOEFL Task 2 prompts, read the passage carefully and make sure you can see a clear university policy and two clear lines of reasoning for the policy.<\/p>\n

Then make sure that the opinionated student in the dialogue is directly responding to the policy from the TOEFL Task 2 reading passage. In a truly useful Speaking Task 2 practice prompt, the student will have a clear opinion about the campus policy, and will support their opinion by directly responding to both of the passage’s stated reasons for the policy.<\/p>\n

IMPORTANT: The varied Nature of TOEFL Speaking Task 2<\/h2>\n

As you consider the structure of TOEFL Speaking Task 3, remember the the structure can vary a bit. In the conversation track of TOEFL Speaking Task 2, the speaker often disagreews witht he passage. But they may also agree<\/em>, or, in very rare instances, partlya gree and partly disagree.<\/p>\n

This varied nature of the TOEFL Speaking Task 2 audio dialogue is easy to forget. After all, the majority of the time, the opinionated student in the TOEFL Speaking Task 2 conversation will\u00a0disagree<\/em> with the policy in the passage. However, somewhere between 10 to 20% of the time, the student will agree <\/em>with the passage.\u00a0<\/em>In this case, the student will add their own extra arguments in favor of the policy, on top of the supporting details in the reading itself. And still another 2% of the time or so, there will partial agreement and partial disagreement, where the student adds arguments in favor of some aspects of the policy, while arguing against other aspects.<\/p>\n

If the student actually agrees with sof or all aspects of the passage’s policy — and its arguments in favor of the policy — this changes the structure of your own answer. Instead of summarizing an argument and counter-argument, you are summarizing a written argument and then a spoken argument that supports or at least partly the written argument in greater detail. When this happens, TOEFL Speaking Task 2 becomes bit more like TOEFL Speaking Task 4, where you read a passage and then listen to a lecture that expands on the passage.<\/p>\n

How to Prepare for the Alternate Format of TOEFL Speaking Task 2<\/h2>\n

Because you have a 10-20% chance of getting this alternate format of the Speaking Task 2 prompt, it helps to prepare. \u00a0One of the best ways to prepare is by using a good template<\/em> for the task.<\/p>\n

Recently, I showed you two different templates that can help you catch every important detail in this prompt, and appropriately connect the reading and the listening. The first\u00a0TOEFL Speaking Task 2 template I showed you<\/a> is based on an outline. The second TOEFL\u00a0Speaking Task 2 Template<\/a> is based on a flowchart.<\/p>\n

The last two templates I showed you are meant to be flexible enough to work for either Task 2 format. But for the extra cautious TOEFL prepper,\u00a0it may help to make two different templates — one for each possible direction the audio conversation could go. In my next post, I’ll show you a template that separately covers both possible audio responses to the Task 2 reading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many of the students I work with, TOEFL Speaking Task 3 is one of the hardest parts of the Speaking Section. The prompt is so packed with information!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13610],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-3831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speaking-task-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Structure of TOEFL Speaking Task 2 - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TOEFL Speaking Task 2 is one of the hardest parts of the Speaking Section. Knowing the structure of Speaking Task 2 will help you master it. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C50&q=Recine+magoosh&btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3831"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}