A change to the writing section of the TOEFL was announced, beginning in July 2023. This change to the TOEFL shows a clear change in the college experience as technology has advanced. The second TOEFL writing prompt now asks for students to participate in an academic discussion.

Task format

The discussion is set up like a discussion board similar to what is used in many college classes today. There is an explanation of the task, as with all TOEFL questions. The discussion board shows a question from the professor and responses from other students. You have 10 minutes to express and support your opinion. 

The goal of this task is to show that you can actively participate in an online class discussion and add to the conversation with your own unique ideas.

Response format

This task does not result in an essay. You should have a short response of about 100 words. 

Because you only have 10 minutes to read the other posts on the discussion board and add your own contribution, you need to think quickly.

Your response should begin with a 1 sentence clear statement of your opinion (similar to a thesis statement). The following sentences should provide support for your opinion.

The other student response can be used as a guide for how to organize your ideas, but you should be careful to add unique thoughts to your post. You do not want to repeat what someone else has already said. You can acknowledge the thought with a statement such as I agree with James or My perspective is similar to Emily's post. However, your ideas and language should be clearly distinct from what others have said. 

Scoring

In the TOEFL rubric, it is stated that a response would receive a high score if it is clearly connected to the prompt and the ideas are communicated well. 

Exercises