The TOEFL iBT® Test: Improving Your Speaking Skills

Advice for Speaking
Skill: Speaking about Academic Course Content
Performance Level: Limited
Score Range: 10–17

1. Record yourself speaking in English.
   • Read a paragraph from an academic course book and practice summarizing the paragraph aloud.
   • Practice several times and then record your summary.
   • Listen to your summary again a week later. Transcribe what you said and review your mistakes.
2. Practice speaking about current events.
   • Read newspaper articles, editorials, cultural events, etc. in English. Share the information that you read with a friend in English.
   • Visit a university class and take notes in the class. Then use your notes to tell a friend about some of the information you heard in English.
   • Develop your academic vocabulary. Write down important new words that you come across while reading or listening and practice pronouncing them.
   • Listen to a weather report and take notes on what you heard. Then give the weather report to a friend in English.
3. Practice speaking for a limited time on academic topics.
   • Write down important words and phrases from a textbook or from a short radio or TV program in English.
   • Write three questions about the material you read or heard.
   • Try to answer the questions by speaking aloud. Begin speaking with a general statement or idea.
   • Support your ideas with details, reasons or examples from the texts. Use appropriate connecting words to make the relationship between ideas clear.
     • first
     • second
     • for example
     • therefore
     • because