In TOEFL Speaking Integrated Task 3, you are given a reading passage, which is usually about an academic topic, followed by a lecture on the same topic.
If you’re new to the TOEFL, make sure to check out the previous TOEFL Speaking tips and Writing tips.
The reading passage will just show a general definition of the topic, while the lecture will delve deeper and often provide an example related to the topic. Remember, DO NOT include your own opinion or something that is not related to the given topic. Your job here is to summarize what is mentioned, not state your opinion.
Here is the lecture script that the model answer is based on:
Reading Passage
Creating Shared Value
Creating Shared Value refers to the corporate’s activity that benefits the surrounding community and the corporate itself at the same time. It is based on the perception that the competitiveness of a company and the prosperity of its surrounding communities are mutually dependent. Corporations try to improve the conditions of local workers by teaching better skills and techniques.
Lecture
Many of you won’t be familiar with the concept of “Creating Shared Value”. This is because the term, creating shared value, is completely different from the previous business models. It is a method that brings benefit to the firm naturally by helping the local community. For example, large firms can benefit the community and themselves at the same time by reducing the distribution process or production costs. A real life example of creating shared value is the case of Nestle, the largest food company in the world! Many of you may be familiar with Nestle for their famous chocolate bar “Kit Kat.” In this case, Nestle conducted a field program for local farmers that improves upon their techniques and proficiency in growing cocoa beans. As the farmers benefit from the program, the firm can also improve the quality of their chocolates by speeding up the process of cocoa production and reducing commission fees. In this way, the company creates a virtuous cycle that helps local farmers and the company. Nestle is regarded as one of the exemplary companies that succeeded in creating shared value.
Model Answer:
Creating Shared Value can be defined as a corporate activity that benefits both the company and the local community. According to the concept, there is a close relation between the success of companies and the growth of local communities.
The professor states that this concept can be useful for companies as it can reduce the distribution process and production costs. The professor further explains this concept by giving a real-life example of Nestle, a food company that is famous for producing chocolate bars. Nestle conducted a field program that helped local farmers improve the techniques they used to grow cocoa beans. By implementing this program, the company was able to produce high-quality chocolate and speed up the production process while helping the farmers at the same time.
For Task 3, your answer should consist of two parts:
The first part should summarize the reading passage, while the second part should summarize the lecture.
Let’s take a look at the first part of the model answer:
Here the speaker gives a summary of the reading passage. The first sentence defines what creating shared value is, while the second sentence gives a bit more detail about the concept.
Next is summarizing the lecture. This should comprise most of your answer, and to do this, you need to take good, detailed notes.
Make sure you note down all the key information correctly, especially focusing on the example that the professor mentions in the lecture. To give you an understanding of the notes, I will include the actual notes I took while answering this question:
Let’s take a look at the second part of the model answer:
The second part of the model answer includes all the key information and nicely summarizes the lecture. The information is provided in the same order as the lecture, and you can also notice how this part is much longer than the first part.
For TOEFL speaking task 3, the most important thing is to take good notes because that is what decides how detailed your answer is.
Make sure to practice taking notes and compare your notes with the model note-taking provided here at TestGlider so that you get a sense of what the key points are and how to take notes during the test. 🙂
See you in the next post!