TOEFL Speaking practice with an AI partner

TOEFL Speaking is short and fast. According to ETS, since January 2026 the section has two tasks: you repeat seven sentences exactly as you hear them, then answer four interview questions out loud, all in about eight minutes. Neither task gives you time to prepare, so what carries you through is listening closely and starting to talk at once.

Airi is a voice AI partner you can rehearse both tasks with. Ask her to say a sentence for you to repeat, or to interview you about campus life, and she answers out loud, reacts to what you said and shows one small fix at a time. She does not score you. She gives you practice saying your answers out loud, which reading about the test cannot.

A quick example with Airi

Thanks for joining our campus survey on study habits. First, where do you usually study, and how often?

I usually study in library, three or four times in a week.

Small fix: "in the library, three or four times a week." Thanks! Can you describe a time when studying there really helped you?

Last semester I had a statistics exam, and the quiet room helped me focus for hours.

A clear example. Last one: some people say libraries matter less now that everything is online. Do you agree?

I disagree, mainly because a library gives you a place with no distractions.

Try a conversation like this, free600 free credits, about 8 minutes of speaking. No card.

The TOEFL Speaking format since January 2026: 11 items in about 8 minutes

According to ETS (ets.org), the TOEFL iBT changed on January 21, 2026. Speaking now has two task types and 11 items, takes about eight minutes, and comes last in the test, after Reading, Listening and Writing. Prep material about independent and integrated tasks describes the older test.

Task	Items	What you do	What the scoring looks at
Listen and Repeat	7	You hear a sentence and, after a pause, repeat it exactly. The sentences get longer and more complex.	Fluency, intelligibility, and how accurately you repeated
Take an Interview	4	A prerecorded interviewer asks about your own experience first, then asks for an opinion you have to support.	Fluency, intelligibility, vocabulary and grammar, and organization

Neither task gives you preparation time, and a clock on the screen shows how long you have to speak. ETS's test overview lists 45 seconds for each interview answer. Each of the 11 responses is rated from 0 to 5, and the Speaking score is reported on a scale of 1 to 6 in half-point steps.

TOEFL Take an Interview: practice questions and how a strong answer begins

The ETS scoring guide describes a top-rated interview answer, a 5 out of 5, as on topic and well elaborated, at a good conversational pace with natural pauses, easy to understand, with a range of accurate grammar and vocabulary. One step down, a 4 is still on topic but "may lack effective sentence-level connectors", so words like because, for example and so are doing real work. The practice questions below are our own, not real test questions. They follow the order ETS describes: facts and personal experience first, then opinions on a broader issue that you have to support.

The interviewer asks	Type	A strong answer begins
Do you currently have a part-time job? If so, how many hours a week do you work?	A fact about you	Yes, I work at a café near campus, about ten hours a week ...
What has that job taught you? Can you give an example?	Your experience	The main thing is patience. For example, when a customer ...
Some people believe students should not work during the semester because it takes time away from their studies. Do you agree? Why or why not?	An opinion to support	I disagree, because working a few hours a week teaches you ...
Do you think universities should create more paid jobs on campus for students? Why or why not?	An opinion on a broader issue	I think they should, mainly because a campus job is easier to fit around classes ...

How to practice TOEFL Listen and Repeat

In the ETS scoring guide for Listen and Repeat, only an exact, fully intelligible repetition earns the top rating of 5. One or two missing small words, or a wrong tense ending, bring it down to a 4, and a full sentence is rated above a fragment. So train like this:

Listen in chunks. Hold the sentence as groups of meaning: "The writing center / is on the second floor / of the library."
Say it once. The directions in ETS's practice test say "Repeat only once", so practice getting the sentence out in a single pass instead of starting over.
Copy the rhythm. Stress the words the speaker stressed. Natural rhythm and stress are part of what ETS lists under intelligibility, and they can make a long sentence easier to hold in mind.
Always finish. If a word escapes you, keep going and end the sentence. A complete sentence that keeps most of the key words is rated above one that stops halfway.
Add length slowly. In the practice test ETS publishes, the seven sentences run from 6 words in the first to 13 in the last. Move from one clause to sentences with "if" or "because": "If you need a quiet room, you can book one at the front desk."

Phrases for specific moments in the TOEFL interview task

The moment	Say
Giving your opinion	I'd say ..., mainly because ...
Disagreeing with "Some people believe ..."	I can see why people think that, but in my experience ...
Moving to an example	For instance, last semester I ...
You have no experience of the topic	I haven't tried that myself, but I imagine ...
You said the wrong word	Sorry, I mean ...
You have made your point and the clock is still running	Another reason is ...
Finishing your answer	So that's why I ...

The interviewer is prerecorded, so you cannot ask for a question again, and the official directions tell you to say as much as you can in the time allowed. An opening phrase buys you a moment to think while you are already speaking.

Mistakes that cost points in TOEFL Speaking

Instead of	Say	Why
I don't know.	I haven't thought about it much, but I'd probably say ...	In the ETS scoring guide, a response that consists only of phrases such as "I don't know" is rated 0.
Yes, I agree that students should not work during the semester.	Yes, I agree. With a job, I'd have no time for lab reports.	A response that "consists mainly of language from the question" is part of the scoring guide's description of a 2 out of 5.
Um ... I think ... like ... it is good ... um ...	I think it's useful, because you learn to manage money.	Frequent or lengthy pauses and frequent filler words are part of the scoring guide's description of a 3 out of 5.
When I was child, I am very shy.	When I was a child, I was very shy.	Two fixes: "child" needs "a", and a story about the past stays in the past tense. The top rating asks for accurate grammar.
The lab is closed at nine in weekdays.	The lab closes at nine on weekdays.	Listen and Repeat: if the second sentence is what you heard, say those exact words. Swapping "closes" for "is closed" or "on" for "in" means it is no longer an exact repetition.

An eight-minute TOEFL Speaking rehearsal with Airi

The real section takes about eight minutes and your free credits cover about eight minutes of speaking, so one sitting is roughly one run-through. Airi does not rate your answers or tell you a TOEFL score, and she does not run a clock, so keep a timer beside you.

Say: "Let's practice TOEFL Listen and Repeat. Say one sentence about a campus library, then wait while I repeat it. Make each sentence a little longer." Do seven. Give each one a single try before you ask Airi to say it again.
Then say: "Be a TOEFL interviewer running a campus study about part-time jobs. Ask me four questions, one at a time. Start with my own experience and end with two opinion questions."
Set your timer to 45 seconds for each answer and keep talking until it runs out.
When a small fix appears, say the corrected sentence once before the next question.

How to get the most from it

Repeat every word

In Listen and Repeat, small words count. Practice until "the", "of" and verb endings come out exactly as you heard them.

Answer first, then add

Open with a direct answer, then give a reason and one example. Rehearse that shape until it is automatic.

Speak, don't script

The interview is spontaneous, so a memorized answer will not fit the question. Practice thinking and speaking at the same time.

Start speaking today

Your first 600 credits are free — no credit card. Sign in and have your first conversation with Airi.

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Frequently asked questions

Does Airi follow TOEFL task types?

Yes, as a role-play. Ask for Listen and Repeat and she will say a sentence for you to repeat; ask for Take an Interview and she will ask questions one at a time and respond to your answers. She is a practice partner, not the test software, so keep your own timer.

Is this official TOEFL prep?

No. Airi is an independent AI speaking partner for practice, not affiliated with or endorsed by TOEFL or ETS.

Can it help my fluency score?

Airi does not score your speaking or tell you a TOEFL score, and no practice tool can promise a result. What she gives you is time spent answering out loud without stopping to translate, with one small fix at a time while the conversation keeps moving.

Did the TOEFL Speaking section change in 2026?

Yes. According to ETS, since January 21, 2026 the Speaking section has two task types, Listen and Repeat and Take an Interview, with 11 items in about eight minutes. Scores are reported on a 1 to 6 scale in half-point steps, and for a two-year transition period score reports also show a comparable overall score on the old 0 to 120 scale.

Is TOEFL Speaking scored by AI or by people?

Both. The ETS technical manual says speaking responses are evaluated by ETS's AI scoring engines as well as human scoring: human raters step in when the automated scoring lacks confidence, and they regularly review a random sample of responses.

Is it free to try?

Yes. You get 600 free credits when you sign up with Google, about eight minutes of speaking. After that there are one-off credit packs, with no subscription.

Last updated: 2026-10-03