Today I want to talk a little bit about increasing your TOEFL speaking score by giving persuasive rather than descriptive responses in TOEFL speaking question one.

Descriptive responses merely describe something, while persuasive responses try to persuade the grader that your argument is a good one.

Note that since you have so little time to speak in this response (just 45 seconds!) the difference between a persuasive answer and a descriptive answer is very tiny.  But I think there is a real difference.

Here’s what I mean.

Imagine you’ve been asked if you prefer taking online classes or in-person classes and you’ve picked online classes.  This supporting reason is descriptive:

“First, we can take online classes at any time.  I am a mom and the best time for me to study is at night, and in-person classes are usually during the day.  Moreover, I can take a class at night while watching my kids.” 

This is descriptive, as I’m merely describing some of the features of online classes.  The grader might be wondering so what?  Why are these good things?  

In comparison, here is a persuasive reason:

“First, we can take online classes at any time.  I am a mom and the best time for me to study is at night, and in-person classes are usually during the day.  Moreover, I can take a class at night while watching my kids.  This flexibility allows busy parents to improve their lives by getting university degrees”  

That is a bit more persuasive.  It describes what an online class is, but also mentions a reason why these things matter.  Hopefully I’ve persuaded the grader that the stuff I’ve mentioned is important. As you can see, it is possible to turn a descriptive reason into a persuasive reason just by adding a universal long-term benefit.  Like I did here.

This is part of what the speaking rubric means when it talks about a “clear progression of ideas,” I believe.

I think there are a few things to mention about this strategy:

  • If you include two reasons, you probably only have room to do it in one of them.  That means one descriptive and one persuasive reason.
  • This whole article can be summed up as “mention a long term benefit of one of the reasons”
  • I do want to emphasize that in such a tiny little argument (three sentences!) the difference between persuasive and descriptive is very slight.  Don’t get too hung up on terminology.
  • Since this technique involves adding more content it does require the student to speak at a natural pace and without a lot of pauses.  
  • DON’T PANIC

 

 

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