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“What English Do I Need to Pass with a High Score on the TOEFL Test?”
Gabby: Hey Naturals! What’s up?
I’m Gabby Wallace and this is Go Natural English. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can click right here and subscribe on YouTube.
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Alright. So, this tip is about the TOEFL. What kind of English do I need in order to be successful and get this score I want on the TOEFL? Well I’ve heard some really bad advice from English teachers about the TOEFL. If your teacher tells you when you ask this question, “What do I need, what English do I need in order to get a good score on a TOEFL?” If your teacher tells you, “Just improve your general English and you’ll be fine.” that is bad advice.
I completely disagree with that because the TOEFL is a specific purpose. And improving your general English, of course, that’s not a bad thing to do. It’s always good to improve your general English skills. But keep in mind that the TOEFL is specific skill that is measuring focused activities.
So, if you improve your general English, that’s like being able to order food at a restaurant, to have a conversation with your friends about the weather or sports or you know, maybe to go to the doctor’s office and communicate successfully if you’re sick. Okay. That’s general English.
When I was learning Spanish, I became fluent in general Spanish. And then, one day I thought, well, I have a great idea. I saw that there was a job posting for a medical Spanish interpreter and I said, “Well, that would be a fun job. I’d like to help people who are sick. So maybe, I could be a Spanish medical interpreter.” So I went. I applied for the job. I got through the interview. They loved me. They said, “Wow, are you sure you are not a native speaker. You sound like totally native and fluent.” And I said, “Wow, thank you so much. But actually, English is my native language. But I learned Spanish on my own.” And they said, “Okay, great. Now, I would like you to sit down and take this test for Spanish medical vocabulary.” I failed that test. Because that was a very specific test and I should have prepared specific Spanish vocabulary for it. Like the names of the body organs and names of different conditions and illnesses that you don’t commonly find in everyday common Spanish. So, my point is, if you’re taking the TOEFL or if you have any other specific reason for learning English, you need to make sure that your studies match that. And so, I wanna tell you that the three kinds of English that you need to focus on for your TOEFL test.
There are written right here. You need “Academic English”. This is the kind of English that we use at the university, not just in the streets. You need “Conversational English” to understand the dialogues that you’re going to listen to that measure your listening skills. This includes a lot of idiomatic phrases and phrasal verbs.
So, those are very important to focus on. You also need “Analytical Skills” for the reading and the writing and the speaking section. Analytical skills include being able to make inferences, being able to make logical connections and being able to support your ideas logically and with things like data, facts, stories or other logical connections.
So, that’s the English that you need. Don’t believe anyone if they tell you that you just need to improve your general English. That kind of an answer is cop out because that teacher doesn’t know really what to advice you.
So, I’m telling you, you need these three types of English. Specifically, focus on these three types of English, if you’re taking the TOEFL test. So, if you’re interested in learning more about the TOEFL, leave me a comment in the comment below. And I hope to bring you more TOEFL tips to help you if you’re taking the test anytime soon.
So, I wish you good luck and I hope to hear from you. If you found this video helpful, then share it, because sharing is caring. And I love you guys. So, have a great day. And I’ll see you soon - two new English tips a week.
Alright. Bye for now.
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Gabby Wallace, M.Ed TESOL
