Academic Discussion: Templates
Next Lesson
Writing Section (2026 Version)
Summary
The essence of leveraging templates in TOEFL's academic discussion task is to streamline the writing process, ensuring clarity, structure, and focus on the generation of ideas rather than on the formulation of responses.
- Templates are organized sets of ready-made phrases designed to assist in various aspects of response construction, including stating opinions, agreeing or disagreeing, supporting claims, and connecting ideas.
- The primary function of templates is to reduce planning time, provide clear structure, and allow the test-taker to concentrate on the content of their ideas.
- Templates handle the structural aspect of responses but require the test-taker to supply the substantive content based on skills such as organizing responses, making clear arguments, and supporting opinions with reasons and examples.
- A downloadable guide with phrase menus for different functions and a response skeleton is available to aid in practice and application.
- Effective use of templates involves selecting phrases that feel natural, practicing with these phrases to internalize the structural language, and eventually writing without reliance on the guide.
Chapters
00:00
The Role of Templates in Structuring Responses
01:00
The Substance Behind the Structure
01:45
Practical Application of Templates
02:50
Building a Response with Templates