Category: Books

You Should Read More – Part 51

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Continuing along with the Norton Library Podcast, this month I read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”  You can check out the podcast episodes starting here.

One unique feature of this classic horror novel is that it is an epistolary novel.  That refers to how the book is presented as a collection of letters, diary entries, phonograph transcripts, newspaper articles and telegrams written by characters in the novel.  While the topic of vampires has likely never appeared on the TOEFL, I am quite certain that at some point there has been an article or lecture about this kind of writing.  So instead of reaching for Dracula, perhaps take a moment to sharpen your reading skills by exploring the wikipedia article on this topic.

Next, I read the 16 November 2023 issue of the London Review of Books.  Yeah… I have another pile of unread magazines.  Fortunately, this is one of my favorite publications and I look forward to working through all of the old issues on my shelf.  A few stories stood out in this issue:

  • “Kettle of Vultures” is a quick look at the history of interest.  The charging of it, the collecting of it, the religious implications of it, and more.
  • “Red Flag, Green Light” is the story of famous fraudster John Ackah Blay-Miezah.  He may have invented the famous “Nigerian Prince” scam.
  • “I Thought You Were Incredible” is a fun read for film fans.  It’s a quick overview of the life of Elizabeth Taylor, with special consideration paid to her relationship with Montgomery Clift.

More of this sort of thing in 30 days.

You Should Read More – Part 50!

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I’m very happy that I can mark the 50th monthly installment in this column with a few words about Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “English.”  As I’ve mentioned a few times in this space, this play is set entirely in a TOEFL classroom in Iran.  It is a very sparse play, but is a touching exploration of what it means to learn a language and to be able to (or not able to) express ourselves when we desire to do so.  It is also quite funny at times.  Highly recommended!

This month, while flying home from India, I plowed through the final four “New Yorker” magazines in my collection.  A few articles stood out.

  • First up, in the April 24 & May 1 2023 issue I read “How Much Can Duolingo Teach Us?” Of course this one is worth mentioning here!  The article briefly mentions the Duolingo English Test and the TOEFL Test!
  • Next, in the May 15, 2023 issue I read “Buzzfeed, Gawker and the Casualties of the Traffic Wars” about what it dubs “publishing in the age of web traffic.”
  • Moving along, in the May 22, 2023 issue I liked “Earth League International Hunts the Hunters,” about an anti-poaching organization.  Very cloak-and-dagger stuff.
  • Finally, in the May 29, 203 issue I read “Two Weeks at the Front in Ukraine.”  I don’t usually include reporting from the war in this column.  I liked this article, though, as this sort of embedded reporting that tells personal stories seems the best we can do in an era where accurate “big picture” reporting seems impossible to find.

More links in a month!

 

On Syntactic Structures

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I just found some photos I took while I was in Pittsburgh this past June. While in the city, I visited the world famous Carnegie Library to read up on Chomsky, in hopes of better understanding the TOEFL writing and speaking rubrics.

Sadly, I left the library as perplexed as when I arrived.  It turns out that Chomsky is very difficult.  Who knew?

I kid.  But really:  if a test maker creates a scoring rubric and refers test takers to it when they seek guidance on the test, the rubric should contain language that is easily grasped.  Telling test takers that their responses should include “a variety of syntactic structures” doesn’t really help them.

Note the presence of Dippy the Dinosaur in the background of the first photo.  Study alcoves in the library stacks offer a nice view of the natural history wing of the Carnegie Museum.  Local children write letters to the dinosaurs and tape them to the windows.

On the Popularity and Impact of Good Prep Books!

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Below are photos of the endcap displays of TOEFL and IELTS books at the big Kyobo Books location near Seoul City Hall.  Even more books of both types are found on the store’s shelves.  Eagle-eyed readers will spot a mixture of both official and third party publications.

When trying to account for why certain tests are popular in the East Asian market, it is really important to pay attention to the amount of prep materials on the market, especially (but not only) collections of practice tests.

To some extent, here in Korea TOEFL and IELTS have avoided the headwinds they face in other markets because there is such a healthy ecosystem of prep materials available.  The PTE is doing okay here, but it isn’t challenging IELTS to the same extent that it is in India.  Likewise, while the DET has a lot of fans here, it hasn’t supplanted the TOEFL as a test for America-bound students like it has in Europe.

People here want to take tests that they can prepare for on their own.  Young people in Korea spend a lot of time studying for tests, and are pretty good at breaking them down to their component parts and mastering them bit by bit.  But that can only be done when they have access to a ton of super accurate study materials. Reputable third party publishers here are trusted to produce practice tests that are 99% similar to the real thing. That’s one reason why some people here are sticking with the legacy tests.

In markets with less of this sort of stuff, there is less reason to stick with the legacy tests.

In part this explains the high volumes (in Korea) of somewhat older English tests like the G-TELP, TOEIC and OPIc, all of which remain extremely popular in the region.  Surprisingly so.

Test makers should keep this in mind.  They should also remember that the legacy tests can count on third party publishers to crank out a steady stream of materials on their own, but upstarts might have to shoulder some of the burden themselves.

(For the record, I didn’t spot any PTE books and I’m not sure any are available from Korea publishers at all.  I didn’t spot any DET books either, though the influential “Siwon School” company does have a line on the market.)

The Chinese market deserves a post all of its own.  So… I think I’ll save my thoughts on that one for a later date.

New Lemann has Dropped!

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I saw that Nicholas Lemann has written a new book on standardized testing called “Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing.” I’m looking forward to reading it, as Lemann’s “The Big Test” (published 25 years ago) is one of my favorite works on the topic. It was also the inaugural selection for my standardized testing book club, which is almost a real thing.

You Should Read More – Part 49!

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A quick mid-month column this month since I am off to India tomorrow morning and won’t have time to write between now and the end of the month (though I will have plenty of time to read magazines, as it is a long flight).

First up, I’ll remind you that I reviewed a couple of TOEFL books this month.  I really liked The TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide.  I really did not like the new Mometrix TOEFL Guide.

Next, I read a couple issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.  The best story I encountered was “The Last Days of Good People” by A.T. Sayre.  It tells the story of a research team sent to a distant plant to study a pre-industrial civilization being impacted by a deadly pandemic.  If you can  I’ve been reading Analog for quite a few years now, and this is one of the best things they’ve published in recent memory.  You ought to read it if you can figure out how to get a copy of the July/August 2024 issue.  A free PDF version might be available during awards season.  If that’s the case, I’ll post a link in a future column.

I read Catherine Liu’s “Virtue Hoarders.”  One day I must compile all books of this type into the the “Test Resources Left Book Club.”

Lastly, I read the April 11, 2022 (!) issue of The New Yorker.  It included a lovely profile of the actress Natasha Lyonne, to coincide with the broadcast of the second season of “Russian Doll.”  That’s one of my favorite TV shows of the past five years or so.  Check it out if you haven’t already.  It’s on Netflix.

 

Review: Mometrix TOEFL iBT 2024-2025

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I picked up Mometrix Media’s “TOEFL iBT 2024-2025 Preparation Book” a few months ago. TOEFL books by real publishers are hard to come by these days, so I think it is important to check out the small press stuff like this which frequently shows up in the Amazon charts.  As I write this, Mometrix’s book is the second best selling TOEFL book, behind only the Official Guide to the TOEFL.  But is it any good?

To cut to the chase:  this is a surprisingly terrible TOEFL preparation book.

Very little in this book is accurate.

Take the first practice reading passage, for example.  The article itself (about the succession to Elizabeth I) looks like a TOEFL reading passage to some extent, but of the 14 questions that follow only 6 resemble what one might find on the real TOEFL.  The other reading passages are just as bad.

And, yes, the passage contains 14 questions even though the real test only contains 10 questions per passage.

The practice speaking sets in the book have the same problem; though the speaking section was reduced to 4 questions back in 2019, the book follows the old 6-question model.  Though the author indicates that this was done “to help you practice as much as possible,” there is no indication of which question types were removed from the test.

Finally, let’s turn to the writing practice.  Though the independent writing question was removed from the test in 2023, it is still present in this book (which was published in 2024).  The new “writing for an academic discussion” task is not mentioned.  For what it’s worth, the provided integrated writing question isn’t even close to accurate.  In this instance, the lecture elaborates on the reading topic in a general way instead of opposing it as it would on the real test.

All-in-all, the book is focused on a practice test that is less accurate than what ChatGTP could produce with minimal prompting.

Outside of this one (inaccurate) practice test there isn’t much else in the book.  Readers will find some general study tips which are generic enough to (probably) appear in other Mometrix books, lists of suffixes and prefixes, writing strategies of a very general type, a list of idioms and a few pages about how to overcome test-related anxiety.  None of this stuff is particularly useful.  Most of it feels recycled.

I don’t recommend this book.

Review: TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide

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My friends at ETS India sent me a copy of the new “TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide.”  A hard copy of this book is now sent free of charge to people who register for the TOEFL in India.  ETS’s current “get a free book” promise seems to be a unique quirk of the super-competitive Indian market – IELTS registrants in that country have been entitled to a free book for as long as I can remember.

I’m happy to report that most people will find the beginner’s guide really useful.  The first ten pages describe the format, content and scoring of the test.  The rest consists of a complete (and accurate) practice test, followed by sample speaking and writing responses.  I’m VERY happy to report that the test will be totally new to most TOEFL test takers.  This is not one of the tests from the Quick Prep collection, the PDF sets, or the TestReady page! It’s new! And there is so much unmet demand for new and accurate practice tests.  That said, a few experts may recognize it as one of the tests currently licensed to New Oriental for use in their schools in China (test #50, I think).

It must be noted that about 50% of the book is made up of blank pages for note taking.  This means that a second complete test could be easily added without increasing the cost of printing or mailing the book.  Indeed, it is likely that with some creative thinking a third complete test could be added without increasing the page count. Perhaps this should be considered. Have I mentioned the unmet demand for accurate practice tests? Note that the free IELTS book contains four tests.

As an aside: if the so-called “New Oriental Tests” are now cleared for use outside of China… well, I can think of a few good uses for them.

You Should Read More – Part 47

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Continuing along with the Norton Library Podcast, this month I read Jane Austen’s “Emma.”  You can find the podcast episodes on Youtube.  I haven’t read a huge amount of Austen’s work, but since I enjoy the whole “comedy of manners” genre, she has always been on my to-read list.  Interestingly, this story of the “idle rich” ties in nicely with a book I’ll write about next month (spoiler:  it’s “The Meritocracy Trap”).  Let me know if the comments if you’d rather be rich and busy or rich and carefree.

Meanwhile, I spent my time digging into TOEFL books.  Most importantly, I finished my examination of changes in the latest editions of the three official TOEFL books from ETS.  You can find my blog posts below:

As I’ve indicated on the blog a few times, I’m really happy with these new editions.  They have been updated to match the new version of the TOEFL, and great number of small errors and annoyances have been removed.  Buy them!

I also continued my exploration of all the random TOEFL stuff that pops up in places like Hoopla.  This month I read Jackie Bolan’s “TOEFL iBT Reading Practice.”  I posted the following review on my Goodreads page (follow me!):

Not a fan of this one. The cover says “TOEFL iBT Reading Practice” but the content is just general academic reading practice. The articles are superficially like what one would find in the TOEFL reading section, but the questions are not even close.

The cover says that this book might help one to “master the reading section of the TOEFL Exam.” While it is true that it might improve one’s academic reading skills in a general sense, mastery requires more accurate practice materials.

Following that, I read Daniel Smith’s “TOEFL Words Vocabulary Enhancer.”  My review went like this:

This book contains about 4000 words, each with a very short definition and sample sentence. There isn’t anything specific to the TOEFL here. There aren’t any practice TOEFL questions. This probably isn’t the best way to study vocabulary for the TOEFL, but I guess it could be used as a supplemental test prep source.

I also read Smith’s “TOEFL Grammar with Answer Key” and wrote:

Not recommended. The book is just 1300 multiple choice grammar and vocabulary questions. There is no categorization, no answer explanations and no lessons. Just a bunch of random questions.

There is nothing that connects this content to the TOEFL, except for the fact that improving your grammar will increase your writing score. But if your goal is to improve your grammar in a general way, it is better to reach for something like “English Grammar in Use” from Cambridge.

That’s all for this month.  I’ll be back in August with proper non-fiction and academic stuff.  Stay tuned.

 

 

Changes in Official TOEFL Tests, Volume 2 (4th Edition)

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A bit delayed, but here is a list of all the changes (that I could spot) in the fourth edition of “Official TOEFL iBT Tests, Volume 2.” You can find the changes in Volume 1 over here.

In addition to the changes listed below, note that the independent writing task has been replaced with an academic discussion task in each test.

By the way:  this is an excellent book for TOEFL preparation.  I recommend it to literally everyone I teach.

Test One

Reading:

  • “Colonizing the Americas” removed
  • “Reflection in Teaching” removed (it had a weird question about “how is paragraph 4 related to…”)
  • “The Impact of Industrialization on Labor Systems” added

Test Two

Reading:

  • “Variations in the Climate” removed

Test Three

Reading:

  • “17th Century European Economic Growth” removed

Test Four

Reading:

  • “What Hand Did They use?” removed
  • “Water in the Desert” removed (it had a chart)
  • “The Chaco Phenomenon” added (surprisingly, more Chaco)

Listening:

  • A lecture about music history removed
  • A lecture about architecture added

Test Five

Reading:

  • “Types of Social Groups” removed (it had a chart)
  • “Biological Clocks” removed (it had only three giant paragraphs)
  • “Steel and the United States Industrial Economy” added

Listening:

  • A really dated campus encounter about going to the language lab to watch a video removed
  • A campus encounter at the financial aid office added.

I did not spot changes to the speaking questions in any of the tests.

 

You Should Read More – Part 45!

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I read a whole bunch of random things this month!

  • Most importantly, I read the newly-released seventh edition of the Official Guide to the TOEFL.  The guide was heavily revised for this edition, which came as a pleasant surprise.  For my complete coverage of what was changed, start reading here.  Next month I’ll dig into the new editions of the two official test collection books.
  • I also read a bunch of the TOEFL e-books published by Jackie Bolan which are available on Amazon, Hoopla and various other services.  Specifically, I read:  Phrasal Verbs for TOEFL, TOEFL Vocabulary Builder, and English Vocabulary Masterclass for TOEFL.  They are decent vocabulary books, but aren’t exactly TOEFL books as they don’t contain any TOEFL-specific content.  I suppose the “Vocabulary Builder” is the best, as it might help you learn some words used in campus situations (that you’ll need to know for parts of the listening and speaking sections).  In the months ahead I’ll dig into more of the TOEFL odds-and-ends that litter libraries and online bookstores.
  • I also read College Board: Its First Fifty Years.  You bet I did!
  • I read a couple more issues of History Today, which I’ve mentioned here is one of my favorite sources of academic reading practice.  In the April, 2024 issue I enjoyed The Value of Wills to Historians, which explores a somewhat mundane topic… exactly like the TOEFL reading section.  I also enjoyed When Nostalgia was Deadly, an examination of the deadly disease known as “nostalgia.”  Apparently this was a pretty big deal in medieval Europe.  In the May 2024 issue, I liked Inventing Cyrillic, which is a quick look at the history of the Cyrillic alphabet.  That sort of thing is exactly what the folks at ETS like to put on the TOEFL test.
  • Lastly, I continued my read-along with the Norton Library Podcast and read Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” I can’t recommend this book to people learning English, but you might enjoy the podcast episodes that cover it.