TOEFL Speaking

TOEFL Speaking Overview

 

Before you can excel, it's important that you understand how you're graded and the basics of the TOEFL speaking section (though you probably know this already, I must make sure). The TOEFL speaking section contains 6 questions that you answer with recorded speech and the maximum possible score on this section is a 30. With that out of the way, let's get down to the details.

Each of your 6 questions are evaluated by two separate graders. Graders are trained to rate your recordings according to strict requirements and will assign each of your answers either a 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on the quality and strength of your answer.

A 1 is uncommunicative; students who earn this score may have survival English but nothing more. A 2 is limited; this is for students who can survive comfortably with English but cannot express themselves very well. A 3 is communicative; students with this score are comfortable with English and have next to no limitation with the language. A 4 is nearly fluent; this is awarded to students who display a fluent command of the language. Why does this matter and why am I telling you this? Read on.

Most students struggle to earn high scores on this section, such as a 26, because they don't understand that the difference between a 3 and a 4 is significant: there's a big difference between communicating well and communicating fluently. So, you must understand that achieving a 4 means that you hit certain requirements that the graders are listening for and you need to earn 4s to earn higher scores in the TOEFL speaking section.