TOEFL iBT SPEAKING SECTION

The TOEFL iBT Speaking section measures your ability to speak English effectively in academic settings. The four questions/tasks resemble real-life situations you might encounter both in and outside of a classroom.

Question 1: Independent Speaking Task — requires you to draw entirely on your own ideas, opinions and experiences when you respond.

Questions 2–4: Integrated Speaking Tasks — require you to combine your English-language skills — listening and speaking, or listening, reading and speaking — just as you would in or out of a classroom.

Prep time: You’ll get 15–30 seconds of preparation time before each response, and your response will be 45 or 60 seconds long.

Speaking response: To respond, you’ll speak into the microphone and your responses will be recorded.

Test time: It should take about 16 minutes to complete the Speaking section.

Scoring: Speaking tasks are scored based on the Speaking Scoring Guides (Rubrics) (PDF) by a combination of AI scoring and certified human raters. Raw scores are converted to a scaled section score of 0–30.

Speaking videos

Watch these videos to learn about the types of questions in the Speaking section, plus helpful tips.

Question 1: Independent Speaking

Express and support your preference between two options.

Hi, I’m Michael from ETS, and welcome to Inside the TOEFL Test. Today, we’re going to go inside the Speaking section of the TOEFL Test, specifically question one, the Independent Speaking question. So, in the next few minutes we’re going to look at how the question is structured, how to approach the question, how your response is scored. We’ll look at a sample response that received a high score, and we’ll give you some tips for improving your speaking skills.

So, here is generally what question one will look like. For this task, you’ll be given a topic to speak about with no additional reading or listening passages. You’ll have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to speak your answer. Now, 15 seconds is actually longer than you think, and if you feel like you need more time, just remember the professors at university aren’t going to give you more time than that to answer questions in class.

Now, let’s look more closely at what the Independent Speaking question will be asking you to do.

In question one, you’ll be presented with two situations or opinions. You’ll be asked which you prefer and you need to explain your choice.

Tips

Now here are some tips for how to approach these kinds of speaking questions.

1. Number one: Use the preparation time to organize your thoughts and maybe jot down some notes. Don’t try to write a full response because you won’t have time, and the raters scoring your response want to hear you speaking, not reading, and they can tell the difference.
2. Number two: Don’t memorize responses before the test, especially ones that you get from the Internet or from test prep instructors who say that’s a good idea. It’s not, and it will lower your score. It’s very easy for ETS raters to identify memorized responses because they sound different and the content is different from responses that are more natural and spontaneous.
3. Number three: It’s not necessary to organize your response into an introduction, a middle and a conclusion like you would with a written essay. Just speak naturally and use common connecting words. Some of those are: because, so, after that, on the other hand, I want to mention, and what this means is.
4. Now, here are some activities that can help you build the skills you need for the Independent Speaking tasks. Most important for these questions is that you need to practice speaking continuously for 45 seconds or more. So, it’s a good idea to have a stopwatch or other timer to use while practicing.
   1. Number one, find a way to practice with native speakers or others who know English well, or join an English club or start one of your own.
   2. Two, collect pictures from magazines, newspapers or the Internet. Look at each picture and describe it in 45 seconds. Try describing the same picture more than once using different adjectives and adding details.
   3. Three, think for 15 seconds about what you did yesterday. Then, talk about it for 45 seconds. Remember to use your connecting words, and use verbs in the past tense. You can do the same thing to talk about what you will do tomorrow using verbs in the future tense.
   4. Four, practice making a recommendation. Find a topic that you’re interested in and explain why your idea is the best way to proceed.

Scoring

Before the test, make sure you understand what the raters are looking for and how the questions are scored. In the speaking section, all responses are scored on a scale from zero to four, and they’re scored holistically, which means the raters listen for various features in your response and then give it an overall score.

Although there are some variations depending on the questions, raters will be looking for three main things.

• First, delivery: Your speech needs to be clear and fluid with good pronunciation. The pace or speed of your speech should be natural, and you should have good sounding intonation patterns.
• Second, language use: This is mainly how you use grammar and vocabulary to express your ideas.
• And third, topic development: This is mainly how fully you answer the question, how clearly you express your ideas, and how you can connect one idea to the next in a way that is easy to follow.

Question 2: Integrated Speaking

Show your understanding of a campus-related topic.

So, in the next few minutes, we’re going to look at how the question is structured, how to approach the question, how your response is scored. We’ll look at a sample response that received a high score, and we’ll give you some tips for improving your speaking skills.

So, here is generally what question two will look like. You will read a passage about a campus-related topic. Then, you will listen to a conversation about that topic. Then, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak your answer.

Tips

Michael: Now here are some tips for how to approach these kinds of Speaking questions.

1. Number one: Be careful not to speak too quickly because this might make it difficult for the rater to understand you. The questions are designed so that if you speak at a normal pace, you will have enough time to give a complete response. You’ll get better at this if you time yourself when you practice.
2. Number two: In question two, where you have the reading passage then the conversation between two speakers, listen carefully to the speaker’s reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with points made in the reading. Then, make sure you summarize the opinion of the speaker in your answer.
3. Now, here are some activities that can help you build your skills for the Integrated Speaking tasks.
   1. One, find an online newspaper from an English-speaking university. This would be a good source of practice topics for question two. Look for topics like admissions, housing, student activities, registering for classes, school improvement plans, sports and more. Then, choose an article to discuss with your speaking partner or study group.
   2. Two, record yourself when you practice and listen to how you speak. When you listen to yourself, you’ll be able to hear some of your mistakes as well as your tone and pacing.
   3. Three, find listening and reading material that are both about the same topic. The material can contain similar or different views. Then, prepare an outline of a one-minute response that includes your opinion, two points to support your opinion, and one detail or reason to support each point.
   4. Four, practice improving your fluency. Take that one-minute presentation and deliver it a few times, and each time try to improve it a little bit, smooth out your phrasing, use different wording for the same ideas, avoid unnecessary pauses, use transition words, those kinds of things.

Scoring

Before the test, make sure you understand what the raters are looking for and how the questions are scored. In the Speaking section, all responses are scored on a scale from zero to four, and they’re scored holistically, which means the raters listen for various features in your response and then give it an overall score.

Although there are some variations depending on the question, raters will be looking for three main things.

1. First, delivery: Your speech needs to be clear and fluid with good pronunciation. The pace or speed of your speech should be natural, and you should have good-sounding intonation patterns.
2. Second, language use: This is mainly how you use grammar and vocabulary to express your ideas.
3. Third, topic development: This is mainly how fully you answer the question, how clearly you express your ideas and how you can connect one idea to the next in a way that it is easy to follow.

Example

Questions 3 and 4: Integrated Speaking

Show your understanding of an academic topic.

So, in the next few minutes, we’re going to look at how the questions are structured and what they’re asking, how to approach the questions, how your responses are scored. We’ll look at a sample response that received a high score, and we’ll give you some tips for improving your speaking skills.

So, here is generally what the questions will look like and how they’re structured.

• In question three, you will read a passage about an academic subject. Then, you will listen to part of a lecture on that same subject. You’ll have 30 seconds to prepare your response, and 60 seconds to speak your answer.
• In question four, you’ll listen to part of a lecture. Then, you will have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak your answer, which will always be a summary of the lecture. Now, let’s look more closely at what these academic-courses questions look like and what they will be asking you to do.
• For question three, the reading passage will always be about an important academic term or concept that might be found in a first-year college textbook. For example, a science reading might explain what a Keystone Species is. A reading from Psychology might describe what it meant by emotional intelligence. In this example, the passage is about flow.

Tips

Michael: Now, here are some tips for how to approach these kinds of Speaking questions.

1. Number one, the topics for these questions can be from a variety of fields — life science, social science, physical science, history, art, literature. And although it’s important that you practice with academic texts, the questions are designed so that you don’t need any prior knowledge in a specific field to answer the question. In other words, even though a question is about an academic topic, ultimately, it’s not testing your knowledge of that topic. It’s testing your English.
2. Number two: You’re allowed to take notes during the test. So, during the Listening passages, write down a few key words or ideas on your scratch paper. Then, use the preparation time to review your notes and prepare your response.
3. Number three: If you finish your response before time runs out, don’t just repeat yourself to fill the remaining time. Say something that clarifies, develops or elaborates on your response. Practice timing yourself so that you get used to the amount of time you have to answer a question.

Here are some activities that can help you build your skills for the Integrated Speaking tasks.

1. One, develop your academic vocabulary. You should be reading academic texts for practice. So, keep a list of important new words that you find and practice pronouncing them.
2. Two, read a short news article. Then, record yourself summarizing it. Then, create a transcript of the recording by writing down exactly what you said. Then, review the transcript and think of other ways of saying the same thing.
3. Three, find textbooks in English that include study questions at the end of each chapter, and practice answering the questions out loud. Start with subjects you’re familiar with, and then move on to less-familiar subjects.
4. Four, if you’re recording yourself, collect your recordings in an audio journal. Ask your English teacher to evaluate your recordings using the TOEFL Speaking rubrics.

Scoring

Before the test, make sure you understand what the raters are looking for and how the questions are scored. In the Speaking section, all responses are scored on a scale from zero to four. And they’re scored holistically, which means the raters listen for various features in your response and then give it an overall score.

Although there are some variations depending on the question, raters will be looking for three main things.

• First, delivery: Your speech needs to be clear and fluid with good pronunciation. The pace or speed of your speech should be natural, and you should have good-sounding intonation patterns.
• Second, language use: This is mainly how you use grammar and vocabulary to express your ideas.
• Third, topic development: This is mainly how fully you answer the question, how clearly you express your ideas and how you can connect one idea to the next in a way that is easy to follow.

The listening passage will be from part of a lecture about the same topic as the reading passage.

Speaker: I think this will help you get a picture of what your textbook is describing.

Michael: In the lecture, you will hear details about an example of the term or concept.

Speaker: I remember passing by a classroom early one morning just as he was leaving, and he looked terrible. His clothes were all rumpled and he looked like he hadn’t slept all night, and I asked if he was okay. I was surprised when he said that he never felt better, that he was totally happy. He had spent the entire night in the classroom working on a mathematics puzzle. He didn’t stop to eat dinner. He didn’t stop to sleep. So, he worked furiously all night and covered the blackboards in the classroom with equations and numbers and never realized that time was passing by.

Michael: Then, when you answer the question, you will speak about how the example supports or illustrates the term or concept, like in this question about flow.

Speaker: Explain flow and how the example used by the professor illustrates the concept.

Michael: For question four, the listening passage is an excerpt from an academic lecture on a single topic. Usually, it starts with the professor either defining a concept or highlighting an issue.

Speaker: Human beings aren’t the only animals that use tools. It’s generally…

Michael: Then, it will have examples that help explain or clarify the issue.

Speaker: And, in fact there are two competing definitions, a narrow definition…

Michael: The question will ask you to explain the main concept or issue using the points and examples that were given in the lecture. So, basically, it’s a very straightforward summary. Here’s the example of question four about tools.

Speaker: Using points and examples from the talk, describe the two different definitions of tools given by the professor.

Accents

The Speaking section includes native-speaker English accents from North America, the U.K., New Zealand or Australia to better reflect the variety of accents you might encounter while studying abroad. Only the first of the four items may have this accented speech.

Below are two examples, both of which use accents from the U.K. In each instance, the example is 15 seconds long, and you would have 45 seconds to respond.