Appendix (for reading content...etc)
Writing based on reading and listening
Read the passage. On a piece of paper, take notes on the main points of the reading passage.
Reading time: 3 minutes
Professors are normally found in university classrooms, offices, and libraries doing research and lecturing to their students. More and more, however, they also appear as guests on television news programs, giving expert commentary on the latest events in the world. These television appearances are of great benefit to the professors themselves as well as to their universities and the general public.
Professors benefit from appearing on television because by doing so they acquire reputations as authorities in their academic fields among a much wider audience than they have on campus. If a professor publishes views in an academic journal, only other scholars will learn about and appreciate those views. But when a professor appears on TV, thousands of people outside the narrow academic community become aware of the professor's ideas. So when professors share their ideas with a television audience, the professors' importance as scholars is enhanced.
Universities also benefit from such appearances. The universities receive positive publicity when their professors appear on TV. When people see a knowledgeable faculty member of a university on television, they think more highly of that university. That then leads to an improved reputation for the university. And that improved reputation in turn leads to more donations for the university and more applications from potential students.
Finally, the public gains from professors' appearing on television. Most television viewers normally have no contact with university professors. When professors appear on television, viewers have a chance to learn from experts and to be exposed to views they might otherwise never hear about. Television is generally a medium for commentary that tends to be superficial, not deep or thoughtful. From professors on television, by contrast, viewers get a taste of real expertise and insight.
Now listen to the passage. On a piece of paper, take notes on the main points of the listening passage.
[audio|src:'\listening\toefl_blue\Test_2_061.mp3?20220415']
Narrator
Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
Professor
Lately, we've been seeing some professors on television. Though it's sometimes claimed to be a good thing, we should question whether anybody really benefits from it. First of all, it's not good for the professors themselves-not from a professional standpoint. Rightly or wrongly, a professor who appears on TV tends to get the reputation among fellow professors of being someone who is not a serious scholar-someone who chooses to entertain rather than to educate. And for that reason, TV professors may not be invited to important conferences-important meetings to discuss their academic work. They may even have difficulty getting money to do research. So for professors, being a TV celebrity has important disadvantages.
A second point is that being on TV can take a lot of a professor's time--not just the time on TV but also time figuring out what to present and time spent rehearsing, travel time, even time getting made up to look good for the cameras. And all this time comes out of the time the professor can spend doing research, meeting with students, and attending to university business. So you can certainly see there are problems for the university and its students when professors are in the TV studio and not on campus.
So who does benefit? The public? Umm ... that's not so clear either. Look, professors do have a lot of knowledge to offer, but TV networks don't want really serious, in-depth academic lectures for after-dinner viewing. What the networks want is the academic title, not the intellectual substance. The material that professors usually present on TV-such as background on current events, or some brief historical introduction to a new movie version of a great literary work--this material is not much different from what viewers would get from a TV reporter who had done a little homework.
Narrator
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they oppose specific points made in the reading passage.
You should understand the reasons presented in the lecture for why it is not necessarily good that professors appear on television. The lecturer questions each of the benefits mentioned in the reading passage: about the professor's reputation, about the professor's time, and about educating the public.
A high-scoring response will include the following points made by the lecturer that address the points made in the reading passage:
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Point made in the reading passage:
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Contrasting point from the lecture:
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| TV appearances improve the professor's reputation. |
- Their reputation suffers, because they are considered entertainers by their peers and not serious scholars.
- As a result, they may get fewer invitations to academic conferences or lose research funding.
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| TV appearances benefit the university and lead to more student applications and more donations. |
Professors spend a lot of time preparing for the TV appearances, which takes away from their true academic work, such as teaching and doing research. |
| TV appearances benefit the public because the public is exposed to more in-depth knowledge about a subject. |
Professors generally do not give in-depth academic lectures on TV. |
Responses with scores of 4 and 5 generally clearly discuss all three of the main points in the table.
Question:
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they oppose specific points made in the reading passage.
Sample Answer:
The question which is asked is to know if the apparition of a professor on television is a good or a bad think? On this point, the text and the lecture completely disagree.
First, we can think that it is a good thing for the professors themselves. It seems to be something logical because today a lot of people want to be known and the television is perhaps the best thing to be known. But what the lecture say is that such a professor don't have a good reputation. People think they are not very serious when they pass on television. The effect is that they are no more invited to important conferences.
In what concerned the students and the university, the text shows the facts that some of these apparitions can bring some donation to the university, what is very good. But in the other hand according to the lecture, this professor spend a lot of time travelling and during that time, he isn't available for the students or for the researches and the university lose therefore some money.
Finally for the public himself, they could learn some interesting things and it could be a very big chance because a lot of these persons haven't had the chance going in the university. But it is true that such intervention isn't often best as something that a journalist could prepare.
Rater Comments
The writer organizes the response fairly well. After a brief introduction, each reading passage point is briefly summarized and then followed by ideas from the related point in the lecture. However, the response earns a mid-level score because the writer's summaries of the lecture suffer from several problems. There is imprecision (the idea that "people" rather than fellow academics think the professor appearing on television is not serious); there is omission (the idea that television networks are not interested in in-depth lectures is missing); and there is poor connection of ideas (the idea that a university loses "some money" is not connected to the idea that television appearances take away from professors' time at the university). Most importantly, there are lapses of clarity due to the writer's poor language control. Errors in word choice ("pass on television," "intervention isn't often best as something") obscure meaning to such an extent that the lecturer's response to the first point is conveyed only vaguely, and the response to the last point is completely unclear. Although the writer of this response may have had a good grasp of many ideas he or she wanted to write about, he or she failed to communicate those ideas clearly to the reader.
The passage introduced three reasons why professors should appear on TV: gaining reputation for the professor, for the college, and to educate the general public. However, the lecture disagrees.
Professors who appear frequently on TV are not generally viewed as a serious scholar. As a result, those professors will receive less invitation to attend academic conferences or less likely to receive research grant. This seriously hinders the professor's opportunity to further grow as a researcher
Professors who frequently appear on TV also has negative effect on students and the university. Appearing on TV takes a lot of time to prepare, including preperation for the material, transportation time, and even time to dress up. This precious time can also be used to teach class, help students, or even do further research. As a result, professors who appear on TV waste a lot of time that they can contribute to teaching and research.
Professors appearing on TV doesn't usually help educating the general public. V network is not interested in having the professor explaining the bstances of their researches. Rather, they are interested in having the some basic background information or history. This type of information can be eas- ily presented by a serious reporter who has done his work properly.
Because of the above reasons, it is highly questionable whether professors ap- pearing on TV has any advantage. In fact, it could bring negative consequence both to the professors themselves and the universities they teach.
Rater Comments
This response successFully conveys all three of the main points from the lecture. The response is well organized and developed. Explicit connection between the reading passage and the lecture is explained in the first and final paragraphs. In each body paragraph, the writer opens with a topic sentence that captures how the lecture point opposes the point made in the reading passage in general, and the writer proceeds to develop the lecturer's point using relevant details and examplcs. The language used by the writer is not perfect; there are minor grammatical errors in subject-verb agreement and preposition use ("Professors ... has negative effect," "preperation for the material," "the universities they teach"). However, note that the Scoring Guide for the integrated task allows even level 5 responses to contain occasional minor errors that do not result in inaccurate or imprecise presentation of content or connections. The errors in this response do not interfere with meaning or disrupt the flow of the response.
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