Real-Life Communications
Readings at McGill
Readings in Language Tests
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Once CIS obtain good scores in any proficiency test and then manage to be enrolled at McGill, they find that real-life communications are different from what they encounter in the test. Firstly, the content is much more difficult in real life. For example, in the Educational Sociolinguistics course, I am required to read at least three academic papers per week in order to be actively engaged in the classroom discussion. Compared with the reading articles in the TOEFL test, these papers are usually 15-25 pages longer and contain more terminologies. Moreover, in the TOEFL test, I was required to write approximately 350 words to demonstrate my English writing skills (i.e., lexical choices, sentence structure, etc.). The real life now is that my professors have asked me to write at least ten pages to elaborate my ideas clearly on some issues (e.g., the educational eliminationism in China).
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Secondly, the real life communication is more complex. For instance, while the speed of listening materials remain moderate in the test, the speaking speed of professors vary. Honestly speaking, when I attended the classes in my first semester at McGill, some professors spoke so fast that I was only able to understand 70 percent of their words, especially in the earlier weeks. In addition, while I only needed to speak at most one-minute for a TOEFL speaking question, I had to collaborate with my team members to prepare a 30-minute team-led seminar in front of the class and interact with my classmates by raising questions and then discussing them.
Although CIS could achieve higher scores in English proficiency tests, indicating their English proficiency is relatively advanced. Nevertheless, all real-life communications are much more English demanding. |
Real life communication
Speaking in the TOEFL test
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