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TOEFL® Speaking 4 Practice 1

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In this question the TOEFL Speaking Task 4, you'll listen to part of a lecture. You will then be asked a question about what you have heard. Your response will be scored on your ability to speak clearly and coherently and on your ability to accurately convey information about what you heard. You'll have 20 seconds to prepare your answer and 60 seconds to speak.

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Today's Topic:

topic: 
Redwood trees
Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two types of adaptations that trees have that allow them to survive in the environment.
Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two types of adaptations that trees have that allow them to survive in the environment.
You have 20 seconds to prepare your answer.
Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two types of adaptations that trees have that allow them to survive in the environment.

You have 60 seconds to record your answer. Click the record button to begin.

Step 1: Listen to part of a lecture

Okay! Let’s continue! Here’s a thought: have you ever wondered why trees are capable of living for long periods of time, despite local bad weather conditions, or even global environmental changes? Well, they’re able to do that, because they have special adaptations that allow them to survive and change with the environment.

One adaptation is their ability to release chemicals that can prevent damage from insects. Now, we all know that insects need to eat the trees' leaves and branches to survive, causing damage. Trees can limit this damage by releasing a chemical substance that insects can't live with. This makes the trees less vulnerable to these attacks. For example, redwood trees release gallotannic acid from their leaves and branches to scare off hungry insects.

Another adaptation is their complex root system that helps them to survive during a storm. You see, trees have many roots and the roots can grow in all directions, even tangling with other trees’ roots. So during a big storm, trees can survive by “holding each other up”! Take redwood trees as an example, they have the strongest root system found in trees. Their root system often extends as much as 100 feet around the tree. This is a very long distance compared to other trees' root systems. In addition to that, these underground root networks often end up growing in circular clusters. These circular clusters give them tremendous strength against the forces of nature. This way they can withstand high winds and even floods.

Step 2: Prepare your answer

Question: Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two types of adaptations that trees have that allow them to survive in the environment.


You have 20 seconds to prepare you answer


00:20
Step 3: Record your answer

Question: Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two types of adaptations that trees have that allow them to survive in the environment.


You have 60 seconds to speak

Sample Response 4/4

The professor talks about trees and their ability to survive. One of their abilities is releasing a chemical substance that prevents insects from eating the trees. One specific tree the professor talks about is the redwood tree. This tree releases gallotannic acid in their leaves and branches, in an attempt to protect themselves from insects. The second ability trees have to survive is their complex root system. Again, using the redwood tree, the professor explains that their complex root system is among the strongest of trees. They bind with each other in the ground even under the strongest storm because the roots stretch in every direction and can actually group with the roots of other trees. Adaptations like those two keep trees growing strong and protected.


Key Words Found in this practice

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Take a closer look at the sample speaking review below.

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SAMPLE TOEFL Speaking Report

SAMPLE Score Summary
2.1 / 4
Task Fulfillment
Pronunciation & Intonation
Flow & Speech
Correct Grammar Usage
Vocabulary Usage (Appropriacy and Range)
Support & Development
SAMPLE Audio Feedback

Listen carefully to your audio feedback. The reviewer will correct your pronunciation, intonation, and flow of speech. We recommend you listen to it several times to fully understand each point and correction made by the reviewer.
SAMPLE Criteria Score Reports

Task Fulfillment   2/4

The response is mostly connected to the given task/question, but has limited ideas and explanation or some ideas that are not directly related to the task/question

Task Fulfillment is about how well you respond to the question you are given. TOEFL raters are looking for...

How to Improve

To do well on Task Fulfillment for Speaking Task 1, you first need to understand...

Pronunciation & Intonation   3/4

The response may require effort by listener at times, though speech is generally clear, with: some sound and cluster pronunciation mistakes occasional unnatural word and sentence stress occasional unnatural intonation

Pronunciation and intonation is about how you form English sounds and how you use natural English intonation. Your pronunciation and intonation can damage your score if...

How to Improve

Watch the following pronunciation video lessons to improve your pronunciation.

Vowel Video Lesson
Vowel ɪ and i ...
Vowel ɛ and æ ...
Vowel ə and ʌ ...
Vowel ɔ and ɑ ...
Vowel ʊ and u ...

Consonants Video Lesson
Consonant b and p ...
Consonant d and t ...
Consonant g and k ...
Consonant dʒ and tʃ ...
Consonant v and f ...
Consonant ð and θ ...
Consonant s and z ...
Consonant ʃ and ʒ ...
Consonant m, n and ŋ ...
Consonant l and r ...
Consonant h, w and y ...
...
...

Flow & Speech   3/4

Sustains mostly natural rhythm, though at times breaks it with unnatural linking or stress has some unnatural pausing and hesitation

Flow and speech is about how quickly you can speak and how much pausing and hesitation you use. You don’t have to speak quickly, but...

How to Improve

To improve your speech flow...

Unnatural Pauses and Hesitations Reduction Exercise

Practice any TOEFL question and record your answer. Then listen to your recording and...

Speech Pacing Exercise

An important key to earning a high score on Speech delivery is pacing in your speech. A good pacing means using proper pauses and word stresses. Here is a step-by-step exercise that can help you improve the pacing in your speech:

  1. ...
  2. ...
  3. ...

Correct Grammar Usage   1/4

Meaning is often difficult to understand because of significant and frequent errors with:nouns verb tenses adverbs and adjectives, including some phrases word order articles, pronouns, quantifiers, prepositions gerunds, infinitives

Correct grammar usage is about how you use English grammar and sentence structure. Raters want to see...

How to Improve

Using right tenses is important in TOEFL speaking. Every time you are not sure about what tense you should use, refer to our sample answer and...

Grammar topic Lesson
All past tenses ...
Present perfect tense ...
How to talk about future using right tenses ...
Mixed Verb Tenses in English: Conditionals and IF clauses ...

Vocabulary Usage (Appropriacy and Range)   4/4

Uses generally correct word forms with only minimal errors effectively uses a wide range of words and phrases, which may include phrasal verbs and idioms includes generally accurate word choice and at times demonstrates sophistication in vocabulary

Vocabulary usage is about how you use English words. Raters are looking for responses that use...

How to Improve

To improve your vocabulary usage for task 1, practice...

We suggest you complete the following speaking tasks 1 and 2 lessons...

Support & Development   2/4

Has some relevant main ideas but not enough to be fully developed has some but not enough explanation of reasons to support the main ideas, or the explanation does not always relate directly to main ideas has some but not enough details and examples to help the listener understand the main ideas

Support and development is about...

How to Improve

To improve your support and development you have to...

A great exercise to improve note-taking is...

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