The speaking section of TOEFL is one of the toughest sections of TOEFL as it has different kinds of tasks with a distinct score calculation process. Let’s understand this section in detail:
TOEFL iBT Speaking Section Details
The TOEFL speaking section consists of 4 tasks where the candidates have to complete 1 independent task and 3 integrated tasks. Topics of TOEFL speaking tasks are academic and generic.
The independent tasks are based on opinions and it calls for the candidates’ subjective ideas, contexts, thoughts, opinions, expressions, and reactions to form the sentences. TOEFL independent task is the easy ones and TOEFL integrated tasks are difficult compared to the independent tasks.
The TOEFL integrated tasks are from questions 2 – 4. TOEFL integrated tasks are based on either listening or reading materials or both. While answering these questions, the candidate has to connect their listening, reading, and writing skills to form the answer, as they would normally do during their lectures in universities. Therefore, this task needs juxtaposing all the skills together to bring out the answer.
The candidates would be allotted a 15 to 30 second for preparing the answers, which would be 45 – 60 seconds long.
TOEFL iBT Speaking Score
The TOEFL iBT speaking score is marked differently from the other sections. ETS marks the section based on raw scores. What exactly are these raw scores?
The examiners provide the marks of the TOEFL speaking section for each task and this is the raw score of TOEFL speaking. Each task of TOEFL speaking carries equal points and the raw score range of this section is 0-16. It indicates that each question or task of TOEFL carries 4 points. Check what the points signify:
| Raw TOEFL score | What it denotes |
|---|---|
| 3.5-4 | Good |
| 2.5-3 | Fair |
| 1.5-2 | Limited |
| 0-1 | Weak |
Based on raw scores, the scaled scores are obtained. Just like other sections of TOEFL, the scaled score range of TOEFL speaking section is 0 to 30. As per TOEFL speaking scoring, TOEFL speaking score 30 is the full mark or highest score of TOEFL speaking. Average TOEFL speaking score is 20-25 as this section appears difficult to the test-takers – candidates from non-English speaking countries generally feel uncomfortable in speaking in English and score low in this section.
The scaled score is the sectional score for TOEFL speaking, which some universities ask for. This sectional score is used to calculate the overall TOEFL score.
TOEFL iBT Speaking: Marking Rubrics
The marking rubrics for the TOEFL speaking integrated and independent tasks are mostly the same. The TOEFL iBT speaking rubrics measure the competency of the candidate based on three vital phenomena. Here is TOEFL IBT independent speaking rubrics as well as TOEFL IBT integrated speaking rubrics:
TOEFL iBT Speaking Score Calculation: TOEFL iBT speaking Raw Score to Scaled Score Conversion
TOEFL raw score is the total points scored in 4 questions. To get the scaled score from this, the average score of the tasks is needed. Next, the average task score is converted to get the percentage score.
This percentile score is then converted to get the scaled score. The process is simple: TOEFL sections have a scale of 0-30. So, the approximate scaled score for speaking section will be a percentage of 30. To get the scaled score of speaking section, multiply the decimal form of your percentage score.
For example, a candidate has scored 3.5, 3, 3, and 2.5 in the respective tasks. The average is 3.5+3+3+2.5=12/4=3. The percentage of 3 is 75%. 75% of 30 is 22.5.
This score calculation process is a bit complex, so we have tried to find out the equivalent scaled score of total raw scores. The total raw score is the sum raw score obtained from each speaking task. For example, the raw scores of speaking tasks 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 4, 3, 4, and 3 respectively. So the total raw score of speaking section is 14 (sum of 4, 3, 4, and 3).
In the following table find out the equivalent scaled scores:
| TOEFL Speaking: Raw Total Score | TOEFL Speaking: Scaled Score |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 9 |
| 6 | 11 |
| 7 | 13 |
| 8 | 15 |
| 9 | 17 |
| 10 | 19 |
| 11 | 21 |
| 12 | 23 |
| 13 | 24 |
| 14 | 26 |
| 15 | 28 |
| 16 | 30 |
TOEFL Speaking Score Descriptors
| Score | Description |
|---|---|
| 4 | The response is filled with fluency, brevity, significance. Hardly any lapses are found, highly functioning |
| 3 | The response is slightly less functioning than the previous one but is still fluent with general intelligible points. There might be few lapses in expressing but overall the response is orderly |
| 2 | The candidate is able to respond correctly but the expression is restrained. The speech is rational though there are overall lapses in order which creates ambiguity |
| 1 | Here the candidate is not capable enough to place a proper response to the question and thus the response becomes irrational. |
| 0 | Either the speaker doesn’t reply or the reply is disconnected to the topic |
Free TOEFL speaking evaluation can give the candidates the same report. From the above score descriptors, it can be evaluated that score 4 states that it has brevity, coherency, rationality, and everything that an answer needs to be proficient. 1 or 2 states that the response was filled with incoherency, major lapses, lack of connection in ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Thus, proper preparation for TOEFL Speaking is mandatory. The marking criteria and score descriptors are the same for Integrated and integrated speaking tasks.
This is all about TOEFL iBT speaking score, calculation, and marking rubrics. Now, to obtain a good score in TOEFL speaking, practicing for TOEFL Speaking is much needed.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, which will be updated soon subject to the notification issued by the University/College.
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