Where does art/style fit into the TOEFL picture? It doesn't. Why not? Because the writing raters are trained to rate essays objectively. How? Using rubrics. By rating objectively using rubrics, the raters' ratings will be fair, unbiased, and accurate (that is the theory). If the raters rated style, they could give you any score depending on their likes and dislikes. That, in turn, would be a subjective rating and not fair. Think about it: If the raters rated subjectively, you could answer an independent essay prompt with a poem. Why not?
Also, if you have your own writing style, that's means you are a good writer - a very good writer. Why? Because style means you have mastered all levels of English grammar (spelling too!). As a writer with style, you're not worried about the future-perfect-passive progressive, or parallelism, or fragments, or run ons, or where to put the commas in a compound sentence, or the difference between stationery and stationary, or how to use a colon and a semi-colon. In short, you have mastered English grammar and punctuation so well you don't have to think about it when you compose. So why are you taking the TOEFL test? To impress the writing raters with your style? No. You're simply playing the TOEFL game. To play the TOEFL game, leave the style at home. Instead, give the raters what they are trained to rate: typical essays American high school and university students write. And remember: You only have 30 minutes to write the independent essay and 20 minutes to write the integrated essay. Not much time.
Want to know more? It's all in the book.
Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT
Got a TOEFL question? Ask the Pro!
- A Question of Style -
© Bruce Stirling 2010-2011
