TOEFL iBT®

Independent Speaking Rubric
SCORE

GENERALDESCRIPTION

43210TOPICDEVELOPMENT

DELIVERYLANGUAGE USE

The response fulfills thedemands of the task, withat most minor lapses incompleteness. It is highly
intelligible and exhibits
sustained, coherent discourse.
A response at this level ischaracterized by all of
the following:

Generally well-paced flow
(fluid expression). Speech isclear. It may include minor
lapses, or minor difficulties withpronunciation or intonation
patterns, which do not affectoverall intelligibility.

The response demonstrates
effective use of grammar andvocabulary. It exhibits a fairly
high degree of automaticity
with good control of basic
and complex structures (asappropriate). Some minor (orsystematic) errors are noticeable
but do not obscure meaning.

Response is sustained andsufficient to the task. It is
generally well developed andcoherent; relationships
between ideas are clear (orthere is a clear progressionof ideas).

The response addresses thetask appropriately but may fallshort of being fully developed.
It is generally intelligible andcoherent, with some fluidity ofexpression, though it exhibits
some noticeable lapses in theexpression of ideas. A responseat this level is characterized byat least two of the following:

Speech is generally clear, withsome fluidity of expression,
though minor difficulties withpronunciation, intonation, or
pacing are noticeable and may
require listener effort at times(though overall intelligibility is
not significantly affected).

The response demonstrates
fairly automatic and effective
use of grammar and vocabulary,and fairly coherent expressionof relevant ideas. Response
may exhibit some imprecise orinaccurate use of vocabulary or
grammatical structures or besomewhat limited in the rangeof structures used. This may
affect overall fluency, but it does
not seriously interfere with thecommunication of the message.

Response is mostly coherent
and sustained and conveys
relevant ideas/information.
Overall development issomewhat limited, usuallylacks elaboration orspecificity. Relationships
between ideas may at times
not be immediately clear.

The response addresses thetask, but development of thetopic is limited. It contains
intelligible speech, althoughproblems with delivery and/or overall coherence occur;
meaning may be obscured inplaces. A response at this levelis characterized by at least twoof the following:

Speech is basically intelligible,
though listener effort is needed
because of unclear articulation,
awkward intonation, or choppy
rhythm/pace; meaning may beobscured in places.

The response demonstrates
limited range and control ofgrammar and vocabulary. Theselimitations often prevent full
expression of ideas. For themost part, only basic sentence
structures are used successfully
and spoken with fluidity.
Structures and vocabulary may
express mainly simple (short)and/or general propositions,with simple or unclear
connections made among them(serial listing, conjunction,juxtaposition).

The response is connectedto the task, though thenumber of ideas presented
or the development of ideas
is limited. Mostly basic ideas
are expressed with limited
elaboration (details andsupport). At times relevant
substance may be vaguely
expressed or repetitious.
Connections of ideas may
be unclear.

The response is very limited incontent and/or coherence oris only minimally connectedto the task, or speech is largely
unintelligible. A response at
this level is characterized by atleast two of the following:Consistent pronunciation, stressand intonation difficulties cause
considerable listener effort;
delivery is choppy, fragmented,
or telegraphic; frequent pauses
and hesitations.

Range and control of grammar
and vocabulary severely limit
or prevent expression of ideas
and connections among ideas.
Some low-level responses may
rely heavily on practiced orformulaic expressions.

Limited relevant content
is expressed. The response
generally lacks substancebeyond expression of very basic
ideas. Speaker may be unable
to sustain speech to complete
the task and may rely heavily on
repetition of the prompt.

Speaker makes no attempt to respond OR response is unrelated to the topic.

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TOEFL iBT®

Integrated Speaking Rubric
SCORE

4

3

2

10

GENERALDESCRIPTIONTOPICDEVELOPMENT

DELIVERYLANGUAGE USE

The response fulfills thedemands of the task, withat most minor lapses incompleteness. It is highly
intelligible and exhibits
sustained, coherent discourse.
A response at this level ischaracterized by all of thefollowing:

Speech is generally clear,fluid and sustained. It may
include minor lapses or minordifficulties with pronunciation
or intonation. Pace may vary attimes as the speaker attempts
to recall information. Overall
intelligibility remains high.

The response demonstrates
good control of basic andcomplex grammatical structuresthat allow for coherent,efficient (automatic) expressionof relevant ideas. Contains
generally effective word
choice. Though some minor (orsystematic) errors or imprecise
use may be noticeable, they do
not require listener effort (orobscure meaning).

The response presents aclear progression of ideas
and conveys the relevant
information required by the task.
It includes appropriate detail,though it may have minor errors
or minor omissions.

The response addresses thetask appropriately, but may fallshort of being fully developed.
It is generally intelligible andcoherent, with some fluidity ofexpression, though it exhibits
some noticeable lapses in theexpression of ideas. A responseat this level is characterized byat least two of the following:

Speech is generally clear, withsome fluidity of expression, butit exhibits minor difficulties withpronunciation, intonation, orpacing and may require somelistener effort at times. Overall
intelligibility remains good,
however.

The response demonstrates
fairly automatic and effective
use of grammar and vocabulary,and fairly coherent expressionof relevant ideas. Response
may exhibit some imprecise orinaccurate use of vocabulary
or grammatical structures
or be somewhat limited in
the range of structures used.
Such limitations do notseriously interfere with thecommunication of the message.

The response is sustained andconveys relevant informationrequired by the task. However,it exhibits some incompleteness,
inaccuracy, lack of specificity
with respect to content, orchoppiness in the progressionof ideas.

The response is connectedto the task, though it may
be missing some relevant
information or containinaccuracies. It contains someintelligible speech, but at times
problems with intelligibility
and/or overall coherence may
obscure meaning. A response at
this level is characterized by atleast two of the following:

Speech is clear at times, though
it exhibits problems withpronunciation, intonation, orpacing and so may requiresignificant listener effort.
Speech may not be sustained ata consistent level throughout.
Problems with intelligibility
may obscure meaning in places(but not throughout).

The response is limited in therange and control of vocabulary
and grammar demonstrated(some complex structures
may be used, but typicallycontain errors). This results inlimited or vague expression ofrelevant ideas and imprecise
or inaccurate connections.
Automaticity of expression
may only be evident at thephrasal level.

The response conveys somerelevant information but isclearly incomplete or inaccurate.
It is incomplete if it omits keyideas, makes vague reference
to key ideas, or demonstrates
limited development ofimportant information. An
inaccurate response demonstrates
misunderstanding of key ideas
from the stimulus. Typically,
ideas expressed may not bewell-connected or cohesive sothat familiarity with the stimulus
is necessary to follow what isbeing discussed.

The response is very limitedin content or coherence or isonly minimally connected tothe task. Speech may be largely
unintelligible. A response at thislevel is characterized by at least
two of the following:Consistent pronunciation andintonation problems cause
considerable listener effort
and frequently obscure
meaning. Delivery is choppy,
fragmented, or telegraphic.
Speech contains frequent pauses
and hesitations.

Range and control of grammar
and vocabulary severely limit (orprevent) expression of ideas andconnections among ideas. Somevery low-level responses may
rely on isolated words or shortutterances to communicate
ideas.

The response fails to provide
much relevant content. Ideas
that are expressed are often
inaccurate, limited to vague
utterances, or repetitions(including repetition ofprompt).

Speaker makes no attempt to respond OR response is unrelated to the topic.

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