Introduction to the speaking section
- 1. Introduction to the Speaking Section
- 2. In the Speaking section you will be asked to speak on a variety of topics that draw on personal experience, campus-based situations, and academic-type content material. There are six questions. The first two questions are called Independent Speaking Tasks because they require you to draw entirely on your own ideas, opinions, and experiences when responding.
- 3. The other four questions are Integrated Speaking Tasks. In these tasks you will listen to a conversation or to an excerpt from a lecture, or read a passage and then listen to a brief discussion or lecture excerpt, before you are asked the question. These questions are called Integrated Tasks because they require that you integrate your English language skills— listening and speaking, or listening, reading, and speaking. In responding to these questions, you will be asked to base your spoken response on the information in the listening passage or on both the listening passage and the reading passage together.
- 4. Tip For all the questions in the test you are given between 45 to 60 seconds to respond. So when practicing, time your speech accordingly.
- 5. The Speaking section takes approximately 20 minutes. Response time allowed for each question ranges from 45 to 60 seconds. For Speaking questions that involve listening, you will hear short spoken passages or conversations on headphones. For Speaking questions that involve reading, you will read short written passages on your computer screen. You can take notes throughout the Speaking
- 6. Your responses will be scored holistically. This means that the rater will listen for various features in your response and assign a single score based on the overall skill you display in your answer. Although scoring criteria vary somewhat depending on the question, the raters will generally be listening for the following features in your answer:
- 7. Delivery: How clear your speech is. Good responses are those in which the speech is fluid and clear, with good pronunciation, natural pacing, and natural-sounding intonation patterns. Language Use: How effectively you use grammar and vocabulary to convey your ideas. Raters will be listening for how well you can control both basic and more complex language structures and use appropriate vocabulary. Topic Development: How fully you answer the question and how coherently you present your ideas. Good responses generally use all or most of the time allotted, and the relationship between ideas and the progression from one idea to the next is clear and easy to follow.
- 8. It is important to note that raters do not expect your response to be perfect, and high scoring responses may contain occasional errors and minor lapses in any of the three areas described above.
- 9. Speaking Question Types Independent: Questions 1 and 2 Question 1 For this task, you will be asked to speak about a person, place, object, or event that is familiar to you. You will be given 45 seconds to speak your response. The topics for this question will vary, but you will always be asked to base your response on personal experience or a familiar topic. You might, for example, be asked about a place you like to visit, an important event in your life, a person who influenced you, or an activity that you enjoy.
- 10. Tip Make a list of familiar topics, and practice speaking about them. You may want to begin by describing a familiar place or recounting a personal experience.
- 11. This question will always ask you both to describe something (for example, an important event, a favorite activity, an influential person) and to give reasons— to explain why the event was important, why the activity is one of your favorites, how the person influenced you, etc. Be sure to respond to all parts of the question. Your response should include specific details and/or examples because
- 12. Tip When giving descriptions, try to avoid presenting long lists since this will reduce the time you have available to elaborate on the rest of your response.
- 13. After you are presented with the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You may want to jot down a few brief notes about what you will want to say, but you should not try to write out a full and complete answer. There will not be enough time for you to do that, and raters want to know how well you can speak in response to a question, not how well you can read aloud from something you have written. If you do jot down notes during the preparation time, you should not rely on them too much in giving your answer. The question will be read aloud by a narrator and will remain on the screen throughout the time you are giving your response.
- 14. Example 1. Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.
- 15. Tip Record your own voice to make sure that your pronunciation and fluency of speech are clear. Then take the recording to an English teacher or tutor who can evaluate your response using the TOEFL iBT Speaking rubric.
- 16. To answer a question like the one above, you would probably begin by briefly identifying the teacher you are going to speak about—not necessarily by name, of course, but by giving just enough relevant information so that someone listening to your response can make sense of your explanation. For example, what subject did the teacher teach? How old were you when you had him or her as a teacher? After briefly describing the teacher in whatever way is useful, you could then proceed to explain what it was about the teacher that made you admire him or her.
- 17. Perhaps it was something specific that he or she did. If so, you should describe what the teacher did and provide details that illustrate why the action was admirable. Maybe the teacher displayed a special personal quality or had a special character trait. If so, you would want to describe it and give details that provide evidence of it—occasions when you noticed it, the effect it had on you, and so forth. There are many, many ways to answer this question, and of course there is no “right” or “wrong” answer. The important thing, if you were to receive this particular question, is that you communicate enough information about the person to help the rater understand why you find that person admirable.
- 18. Question 2 In this second Independent Speaking Task, you will be presented with two possible actions, situations, or opinions. Then you will be asked to say which of the actions or situations you think is preferable or which opinion you think is more justified and then explain your choice by providing reasons and details. As with question 1, you will have 45 seconds to give your response.
- 19. Topics for this question include everyday issues of general interest to a student. You may be asked, for example, whether you think it is better to study at home or at the library, or whether you think students should take courses from a wide variety of fields or else focus on a single subject area, or whether first-year college students should be required to live in the dormitory or be allowed to live off campus in apartments of their own. You could also be presented with two opposing opinions about a familiar topic—for example, about whether or not television has been a benefit to humanity—and you would then be asked which of the two opinions you agree with.
- 20. This question will always ask you to state what your choice or preference or opinion is and to explain why— in other words, to support your answer with reasons, explanations, details, and/or examples. It is important that you respond to all parts of the question, and that you are clear about what your opinion is and give reasons that will communicate why you have made the choice you did. It does not matter which of the two actions, situations, or opinions you choose, and, as with Question 1, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer. Your response will be rated not on which of the alternatives you choose, but rather on how well you explain your choice by supporting it with reasons and details.
- 21. Tip One good exercise would be to state an opinion or a preference and then present supporting reasons clearly and with detail.
- 22. Like Question 1, this question will appear on your computer screen and be read aloud at the same time by the narrator, and you will be given 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You should use this time to think about what you want to say, organize your thoughts, and jot down some notes if you feel this will be helpful. But remember, you should not try to write out a full answer—just a few words or phrases that may help remind you of the direction you want to take in giving your response.
- 23. Tip Study and practice words and expressions commonly used to express opinions, such as: In my opinion . . . I believe . . .
- 24. Example 2. Some students study for classes individually. Others study in groups. Which method of studying do you think is better for students and why?
- 25. After you hear the question, you will be told when to begin to prepare your response and when to begin speaking. As with question 1, a “Preparation Time” clock will appear below the question and begin to count down from 15 seconds (00:00:15). At the end of 15 seconds you will hear a short beep. After the beep, the clock will change to read “Response Time” and will begin to count down from 45 seconds (00:00:45). When the response time has ended, recording will stop and a new screen will appear alerting you that the response time has ended.
- 26. In answering a question like this one, it is important that you begin by clearly stating what your opinion is: do you think it is better for students to study for classes individually, or do you think it is better for them to study in groups? If you do not begin by stating your opinion, it may be difficult for someone listening to your response to understand your reasons for holding that opinion. As for the reasons you give in support of your opinion, they can vary widely and may be based on your own experience and observations. For example, if the position you take is that it is better for students to study alone, you might say that when students meet to study in groups, they often waste time discussing matters that have nothing to do with their class work.
- 27. You might continue this explanation by contrasting the inefficiency of studying in a group with the kind of productivity a student can achieve when studying alone. If you have personal experiences that help illustrate your point, you might want to include them in your explanation. If so, you should be clear about how they illustrate your point. Or perhaps you want to take the opposite position, that it is better for students to study in groups. In that case, you would explain the advantages of group study and the disadvantages of studying alone.
- 28. Perhaps you think that the more capable students can help the less capable students when students study together. Or perhaps you have found that students who study in groups often share each other’s lecture notes, and this way they can make sure everyone understands all the material that has been covered in a course. There are many good reasons for either choice. In fact, it may be your opinion that in some cases it is better to study in groups and in other cases it is better to study alone.
- 29. If that is the opinion you would like to express, you should explain—with reasons, examples, and/or specific details—why group study is better in some cases and individual study is better in others. Here again, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer to a question like this. The important thing is to clearly communicate to the person who will be listening to your response what your opinion is and explain the reasons you have for holding it.
- 30. Tip Practice making a recommendation and explaining why it is your preferred course of action.