Skip to main content

English Conversation Practice - TOEFL Speaking Tips




TOEFL Speaking | How To Improve Your Performance

The best way to practice your speaking is with native English speakers. If you are not living in an English-speaking country, finding native speakers of English to speak with can be quite challenging You should try to find an English-speaking tutor or coach to help you with your preparation.

  • pracice speaking English as often as possible
  • join an English conversation practice group in your area or online

TOEFL Independent Speaking Tasks

Begin by describing a familiar place or talking about a personal experience. A more advanced exercise would be to state an opinion or a preference and then present reasons why you feel or think like that.

  • Record yourself speaking
  • Listen to yourself
  • What do you notice about your fluency and pronunciation?
  • Do you speak clearly?
  • Practice giving 1-minute presentations on differerent subjects

TOEFL Integrated Speaking Tasks

Read a short article (100–200 words). Make an outline that includes only the major points of the article.

Use the outline to orally summarize the information. Then add detail to the outline and orally summarize again. Find listening and reading material on the same topic. The material can provide similar or different views. The Internet is a good place to find information.

Take notes on the listening and reading material and do the following:

  1. Orally summarize the information in both. Be sure to paraphrase using different words and grammatical structures.
  2. Orally synthesize by combining information from the reading and listening material and explain how they relate.

The activity described above will help you prepare for the academic environment you plan to enter. Also, if you can do well with this kind of activity, you will most likely succeed on the integrated speaking tasks on the TOEFL test.

  • Present and support an opinion about the ideas and information contained in the reading and listening material.
  • If the reading and/or listening material describes a problem, suggest and explain a solution to the problem.
  • Recognize the attitude of the speaker or the writer of the original material through intonation, stress, and word choice. This helps you understand his/her point of view and plan an appropriate response.

TOEFL Speaking Integrated Speaking Questions


TOEFL All Speaking Tasks

Increase your vocabulary and learn to use idiomatic speech appropriately.

Learn grammatical structures so well that you can use them naturally when speaking.

Work on pronunciation, including word stress, intonation patterns, and pauses.

When practicing for the TOEFL test using the tips above, take around 15 seconds to plan before beginning to speak.

Write down a few key words and ideas, but do not attempt to write down exactly what you are going to say.

Use signal words and phrases to introduce new information or ideas, to connect ideas, and to mark important words or ideas. This will help the listener easily follow what you are saying. For example:

  • “on one hand...”
  • “but on the other hand...”
  • “what that means is...”
  • “The first reason is...”
  • “another difference is...”

Record yourself while doing the above activities and listen to make sure the pronunciation and fluency are clear and easy to understand. Check with others in your English conversation practice group or your English tutor/coach can evaluate your speech using the appropriate TOEFL speaking rubric.


Popular posts from this blog

Cambridge IELTS 11 Test 1 Writing Task 1 Question and Answer

Task 1 Question How to Answer Task 1 Questions Sample Answer Cambridge 11 Writing Task 1 IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic) tests your written communication skills - how well you can report/describe information. Cambridge IELTS Book 11 Test 1 Writing Task 1 IELTS Writing Test Task 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The charts below show the percentage of water used for different purposes in six areas of the world. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant Write at least 150 words. International English Language Testing System How would you answer this IELTS 11 Writing Task 1 question about water used for different purposes? IELTS 11 Writing Test 1, Task 1 Answer (useful vocabulary is highlighted ) The pie charts illustrates water usage in six different regions around the world. Notably , Europe consumes the greatest quantity of water for in
Read more

How To Answer Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1

Content Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1 How to give your opinion in English Here are some questions from Cambridge IELTS Practice Tests Book 8 Speaking Test 1. They include the IELTS Cue Card Describe a time when you were asked to give your opinion in a questionnaire . A native English speaker gave these sample answers to show you what someone might say. Remember, you can answer these questions in many different ways. Cambridge IELTS 8 Speaking Test 1 IELTS Speaking Tip Do NOT try to memorize full answers - this is unnatural and IELTS examiners are trained to identify memorized answers. Cambridge IELTS 8 Test 1 Speaking Questions & Answers Part 1 Topic | Neighbours How well do you know the people who live next door to you? I know them quite well because we’ve lived beside each other for a couple of years now. The people who live to the right of me, wel
Read more

Computers Speaking Part 1 Questions & Answers

How would you answer these example questions about computers from Part 1 of the IELTS speaking test? What examples would you give? What details would you need to describe? What vocabulary would you need to express yourself well? Tips for IELTS Speaking | IELTS Speaking Part 1 | Computers, computer skills, children and computers, how important are computers? Computer Speaking Part 1 Questions You can use these questions in your IELTS preparation to help you think about what you would say in response to them. Computers Speaking Part 1 Do you often use computers? Yes, I do, very often, in fact every day I use my laptop. I use it for studying, researching, entertainment and also for shopping sometimes. Do you often use a computer? Not very often, I guess I just don't really need one in my day-to-day life. I have a smartphone for email and social media, and I can do most of the things I need to do on my phone. Plus, I like having some time away from screen
Read more