TOEFL iBT Speaking
READ THIS CHAPTER TO FIND OUT
the format of the six TOEFL iBT Speaking questions
how your spoken responses are evaluated
tips for answering each Speaking question type
strategies for raising your TOEFL Speaking score
Introduction to the Speaking Section
The TOEFL iBT Speaking section is designed to evaluate the English speaking proficiency of students like you whose native language is not English but who want to pursue undergraduate or graduate study in an English-speaking context. Like all the other sections of the TOEFL iBT, the Speaking section is delivered via computer.
In the Speaking section you will be asked to speak on a variety of topics that draw on(吸收，利用，戴上，引诱，向…提取，招来，临近) personal experience, campus-based situations, and academic-type content mate¬rial. 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. The other four questions are Integrated Speaking Tasks. In these tasks you will listen to a conversation or to an excerpt(摘录，引用n, vt )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 listening passage or on both the listening passage and the reading passage together.
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 head¬phones. For Speaking questions that involve reading, you will read short written pas¬sages on your computer screen. You can take notes throughout the Speaking section and use your notes when responding to the Speaking questions. For each of the six questions, you will be given a short time to prepare a response. You will answer each of the ques¬tions by speaking into a microphone. Your spoken responses will be recorded and sent to a scoring cen¬ter, and they will be scored by experienced raters. Your responses will be scored holistically(整体地). This means that the rater(评分者) will listen for various features in your response and assign a single score based on the overall skill you display in your answer. Although the scoring criteria vary somewhat depending on the question, the raters will generally be listening for the following features in your answer:
•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 looking to see 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(分配), and the relationship between ideas and the progression(行进) from one idea to the next is clear and easy to follow.
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 (失误，下降)in any of the three areas described above.
Use the sample Independent and Integrated Speaking rubrics on pages 242 to 248 to see how responses are scored.
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.
TIP:
Familiarize yourself with the scoring rubric; it will help you understand how responses are evaluated.
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 for 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.
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 ques¬tion. Your response should include specific details and/or examples because they will make your descrip¬tion informative and your reasons comprehensible.
After you are presented with the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare an answer. You may want to jot down(草草记下) 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.
TIP:
Make a list of familiar topics, and practice speaking about them. You may want to begin by describing a familiar place or recounting(叙述) a personal experience.
TIP:
When giving descriptions, try to avoid presenting long lists since this will reduce the time you have available to elaborate on(详细说明) the rest of your response.
Example
The following example shows how a question of this type will appear on your computer screen.
1. Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include
specific examples and details in your explanation.
Preparation Time: 15 Seconds
Response Time: 45 Seconds
You will be told when to begin to prepare your response and when to begin speaking. After the question is read, 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.
To answer a question like the one above, you would probably begin by briefly identifying(识别，把…看成一样，确定) 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(搞清楚) 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 pro¬ceed to explain what it was about the teacher that made you admire him or her. 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.