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Speaking can be one of the most terrifying experiences for a student learning a foreign language, especially when it is being recorded! Here is part one of a selection of quality tips to help you beat your nerves - and smash your score. Practice Easier said than done, perhaps. If you have a busy schedule or don't live in an English speaking country, finding people to socialize with and practice your speaking skills on can be difficult. Online TOEFL Course tutors or pen pals are always an option, as is finding a club or society that uses English and is built around one of your personal interests. Try listening to native speakers on a headset and repeating aloud or reading texts aloud. It is important to be conscious of stress, intonation patterns and pauses if you want to make yourself sound as natural as possible. It is also worth trying to think in English as much as possible and, even better, think out loud in English. Talk to yourself! This way you will grow in confidence and avoid translating from your native language into English. It should go without saying that you should actually practice the preparation questions provided. The TOEFL speaking section follows a consistent pattern. Use this to your advantage and make sure you understand the format (usually 20 minutes and 6 tasks) and, if you can, actually practice speaking into a microphone as well. Make a list of familiar TOEFL speaking topics and practice speaking on each of them - support all opinions or preferences with examples or evidence. Basically, the more familiar you are with the format, the less stressed you will feel on the day. Similarly, always time yourself. The TOEFL speaking section is timed and the more pressure you expose yourself to while practicing, the more comfortable you will feel with the pressure on the day. Speaking of pressure - try to organize a few practice sessions with you speaking in front of a group of friends or family. On the day, you will most likely be in a room with a number of other candidates and examiners so it is important to feel comfortable speaking in front of groups of people. Try getting some of them to talk whilst you practice so that you can learn to disregard the background noise. Develop Build your vocabulary systematically by developing word lists and committing blocks of time to learning those words on a weekly or even daily basis. Remember to actually use them too! Idioms are an impressive and important indicator of fluency. But be careful when learning and using them - when native speakers hear an idiom used in the wrong way it often has a particularly negative effect. Try reading short articles in English on a topic relevant to your TOEFL syllabus and then challenging yourself to summarize the key points orally. Next try listening to audio material on the same topic and synthesize the key points of both the written and audio sources as well as how they differ. Finally, give yourself one minute to state your opinion or preference regarding that topic. Record yourself whilst you are practicing, then listen back to it and ask yourself the following questions: " Was I speaking clearly? " Was I speaking too fast/slowly? " Did I use the time effectively? " How often did I pause? " What grammatical errors did I make? " Did I use all words correctly? " Are there other words that are more appropriate? " How could I organize and structure my points better? It may also help to keep a kind of audio journal of your TOEFL speaking practice that will assist you in monitoring your own progress overtime and allow you to clearly identify which areas of your speech you have improved upon and which still require work. It may also help to listen to high scoring TOEFL speaking sample responses. Remember that being confident and expressive will always trump complexity and vagueness. Always try and make sure you are answering the topic or question at hand, avoid going off on tangents or using complex words that you aren't fully comfortable with and, most of all, make sure you have practiced enough/have enough material to ensure that you don't start making vague statements just to fill time! Article Resources: http://toeflscholar.com/preparing-for-the-toefl-speaking-section/
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