Difference in IELTS and TOEFL speaking

IELTS and TOEFL are the two major English language proficiency tests accepted by thousands of academic institutions across the globe. The candidates are awarded with the proficiency certificate after the declaration of their results. These certificates are accepted as the proof of how well the candidate can understand the English language.

Both the tests are divided into four sections reading, listening, writing and speaking. Among these four, speaking section is always challenging for the candidates whose native or first language is not English. Although both the tests have designed their speaking tests with precision to make sure the English speaking ability of the candidate is carefully tested.

However, there is significant difference in between the test pattern of speaking skills conducted during both of these exams.

In case of IELTS the speaking test is conducted by the English teachers and professionals of the British Council in person, whereas, TOEFL conducts its speaking test on a microphone. The other difference lies in the duration, with a subtle difference of 5 minutes(TOEFL- 20 MIN and IELTS-15 MIN).

The IELTS speaking test consist three tasks, the first task consist of general introduction of candidate as well as the test taker. Following the introduction the examiner asks the questions related to candidate’s personal life such as describing childhood, hobbies, describing their hometown and much more.

The description given by the candidate then converts to general discussion between examiner and candidate where examiner can ask followed questions regarding candidate’s point of views.

This task can last for 2-3 minutes. The task two of the speaking test is where candidate is provided with a cue card containing a topic on which candidate has to speak for at least 4-5 minutes. The candidate gets time for 1-2 minutes to prepare for the topic, where he or she can also write down the bullet points so as to improve the speaking coherency.

After candidate has successfully conveyed the examiner his or her own views regarding the topic, the task three of IELTS speaking test begins.

The task three is the long turn, where examiner and candidate have a short discussion regarding the topic for 2-3 minutes. However, the candidate is not allowed to ask the views of examiner only the examiner can ask questions. Although the candidate can ask to repeat the question there is no deduction in the scores for doing the same.

The candidate is tested for his or her clarity with words, coherency and fluency, use of wide range vocabulary and ability to easily convey his or her thoughts in English language. The scores are awarded as bands ranging from 0-9. By most of the institutions in countries like UK or Ireland the minimum band score required is 6.5.

On the other hand, the TOEFL speaking test lasts for 20 minutes and contains six sections instead. The candidate does not have real time discussion with the examiner but speaks on the microphone. The speaking test has three different types of questions each type divided in two tasks.

The first type of question is designed to gain candidate’s own ideas, views and thoughts. The response time is of 15 minutes and candidate gets 45 seconds to speak.

The remaining four tasks are integrated tasks.Tasks 3 and 4 require candidates to read, listen, then speak. Candidates are given with 45 seconds to read a short passage, then listen to a short lecture (about a minute in length). After that, they have 30 seconds to prepare, and then need to speak for 60 seconds.

The final two TOEFL speaking tasks require candidates to listen then speak. For these two tasks, they will first listen to a short audio clip. Then candidates have 20 seconds to prepare, and need to speak for 60 seconds.

The most important tip for these questions is to take good notes while reading and listening.  The candidates are then graded by the TOEFL graders and are scored on the scale of 0-4. The scores are added from each task and combined score is given on the scale of 0-30