TOEFL Writing Independent 編

TOEFL iBT Writing Independent 対策

TOEFL Writing Independent 概要

TOEFL Writing Independent 編では、身近なことについて聞かれます。

例えば、友達と週末の時間を過ごすこと、ひとりで週末の時間を過ごすこと、どちらが良いかなどです。

このセクションでは、嘘をつくことが非常に重要になります。学術的なレポート、論文ではないため、間違っていても、嘘でも構いません。とにかく、ロジカルなエッセイを書くことに努めましょう。

Integratedと異なり、テンプレートがあまり効果を発揮しない、自分で内容を考える必要がある、という理由からこのセクションを苦手にしている方は少なくないのではないでしょうか。

なお、Integrated 対策については以下を参考にしてください。

TOEFL iBT Writing Integrated 対策

ただし、以下の対策、練習で点数を改善することが可能です!

TOEFL Writing Independent 対策

まず、テンプレートについてですが、ライティングのIndependentの問題では、テンプレートはあまり効果を発揮しません。一応テンプレートも紹介しますが、むしろ、構成の部分を参考にしてください。なお、この記事の情報で十分だと思いますが、書籍を用いて学習したい場合には下のものがおすすめです。

塾、人によっては、3つの理由、イントロダクション、結論からなる5パラグラフで回答することを勧めます。しかし、個人的には、2つの理由、イントロダクション、結論からなる4パラグラフで回答することをオススメします。

なぜなら、3つの理由があると、しっかりとした理由とそれに対応する例を出すのが難しいからです。例えば、内容が重複したりすると、減点を受けてしまい、せっかく文字を稼いでも水の泡です。

実際、私は5パラグラフで書いていたときは、いくら文字数を稼いでも、20点を超えることが出来ませんでした。

構成

基本的に以下のような流れで、回答を構成すべきです。

構成

1パラグラフ(イントロダクション):

質問に対するちょっとした見解(例: テクノロジーの発展とそれに付随する経済成長で人々の生活が改善された)

賛成か反対か。(例: 賛成, 現代の生活の方が祖父母が子供だった時よりも快適かつ容易である)

2パラグラフ(理由1のため):

最初の理由を紹介する。(例: 現代の方がモノへのアクセスが容易だ)

次に、前述の理由を裏付ける例を幾つか、考えられるだけ書く(祖母曰く、食べ物がなくて困った〜 嘘でも可)

3パラグラフ(理由2のため):

最後の理由を紹介する。(例: 就労開始年齢が高く、自分探しをする時間がより多くある)

次に、前述の理由を裏付ける例を幾つか、考えられるだけ書く(例: 祖父が〜 嘘でも可)

4パラグラフ(結論):

2,3の例を上手く書き換えて、賛成か反対か改めて述べる。

上記では、最低限の論理展開を解説しました。そのため、より詳しく学びたい方は以下を参考にしてください。

英語のエッセイの書き方

回答する前に!

TOEFL iBTでは、メモ用紙が用意されており、それを使うことができます。そこで、私は、まずはメモ用紙上に上記のような構成を書くことをお勧めします。

Integrated セクションでも共通することですが、書きながら考えると時間が余分にかかってしまったり、論理の構成が不十分になってしまったりして、点数が上がりにくいです。

実際、私は、メモ用紙状に構成を書いてから、回答するようにしたことで、20点以上を安定して獲得できるようになりました。

問題例1

問題例

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Life today is easier and more comfortable than it was when your grandparents were children.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

回答例1

もちろん以下の理由は、一部正しいかもしれませんが、例は完全に虚偽です。ただし、採点基準は、前述の通り、「英語で意見をロジカルに書き表すことが可能か」です。従って、とにかくロジカルに見えればよく、述べられていることが事実か否かは無関係です。

回答例

I believe by dint of technological advancement followed by economic growth, lives of people have been improved, so I agree with the idea that life today is better than it was when my grandparents were little for some reasons while some may not agree.

To begin with, more resources and goods are available these days than before. When my grandparents were teenagers, they did not have access to the Internet, games, and even enough food. On the contrary, present people can easily play games for fun, and always eat whatever they want to. My grandmother’s story demonstrates this. When she was little, her family struggled with the scarcity of food and drink, so they were always hungry and thirsty, feeling unhealthy. On the other hand, when I was little, I could readily drink water, coke, and any soft drinks I loved and ate cakes, candy, and any sweets I liked. Moreover, she could not read articles, or play games online when they were bored, unlike contemporary children can. As a result, she and her siblings were always bored unlike me, who’s always been leading a comfortable and readily life.

Finally, people do not have to start working early. Most must agree that we want to do something other than work after graduating from high school, but while the majority of the young these days go to college after graduating from high school in Japan, those in my grandparents’ time did not. Therefore, they could neither pursue their academic interests nor discover their future career paths more than us. For instance, my grandfather told me that he actually wanted to study Economics at college and work, utilising the academic knowledge after graduation. However, he started working for a restaurant as a cook because his family was not financially stable and could not afford to pay the tuition for further study. Therefore, present young people must be feeling more comfortable as they are not forced to work as soon as they graduate from high school and they can pursue their curiosity or have time for hobbies.

To sum up, I can ascertain that children today are leading more comfortable life than them in my grandparents’ time since they have more access to goods to have fun and to keep themselves healthy, and they can commit to their curiosity and have more time to ponder about their future careers.

問題例2

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It is more important to keep your old friends than it is to make new friends.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

回答例2

回答例

I believe it is more significant to make new friends for some reasons while some may not agree with this idea.

To begin with, I think it is usually true that the more friends you have, the easier you cope with difficulties you confront. Since if you have more friends, they tend to be quite diverse, meaning that they have more variety of knowledge, skills, and experiences. Therefore, it is quite likely that you will be able to solve problems with the help of friends. My personal experience would strengthen my statement even more. When I was in high school, I had lots of friends such as a guy who was great at playing tennis, a girl who was adept at playing musical instruments, and a guy who was competent at solving mathematical questions. Just before exams, when I was preparing for the tests, I happened to realize that I had several questions I could not figure out. Thanks to the friend, I was able to understand the ways to answer the questions, and I could successfully answer them on the exams. Not only I could figure maths questions out, but also I could learn how to play tennis well thanks to another friend. I had such experiences many times. Thus, I can ascertain that making new friends to increase the diversity of the friendship is very valuable.

Finally, making new friends increases the number of our friends, so it is easier to find someone to hang out with. Everyone would agree that adjusting the schedule is quite hard if he or she only has a few friends. However, generally speaking, if he or she had lots of friends, it would be much easier to find at least one to hang out with. Indeed, when I was in junior high school, I had only about 3 friends, so when I wanted to go to the movie theater to watch an action movie, it was really hard to find someone to go and watch with. This happened a lot no matter where I was intended to go. As a result, I was always destined to go anywhere alone, feeling quite lonely each time I saw a group of friends hanging out. On the contrary, when I was in high school since I had a lot of friends, it was quite easy to go anywhere with someone. Therefore, it is quite meaningful to expand the friendship.

To sum up, in order to overcome hardship we may encounter, it is meaningful to diversify friends by making new friends, and in order to go somewhere with someone anytime you want to, it is great to increase friends by making new friends.

TOEFL Writing Independent まとめ

とにかく練習が大事です。頑張って練習しましょう。

書く前にメモをして、構成をプランしましょう。そうするとよりスムーズに書き進めることが可能になります。

嘘でも良いので、理由を裏付ける例をたくさん書き、ロジカルなエッセイを仕上げることを心がけましょう。そうすることで、効果的に文字数を稼ぎ、高得点につなげることが可能なはずです。

よくあるこのセクションにおけるミス(点数に繋がらない要因)については以下を参考にしてください。ETSの認定を受けたTOEFL講師が書いた記事を翻訳し、一部加筆したものです。

TOEFL ライティング よくあるミス トップ10

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Ryu Nishida
純ジャパの私が、怠惰ながら独学でTOEFL 104点、TOEIC 900点を達成した方法について解説します。 トロント大学在籍。