Learning the new sounds, rhythm, and intonation of a language is separate from acquiring vocabulary and grammar. An individual’s native language speech patterns, which become extremely resistant to change in adulthood, cause the difficulty. Therefore, the interference created by these native language speech habits can rarely be overcome without specialized training and practice. This is why many TOEFL IBT students are stuck at 24, and they need to understand the delivery scoring criteria very well.
The act of normal speaking requires a connection between “what the mouth does and what the ear hears.” In other words, the ears are the “steering wheel” of speaking. Changing the way we speak (reducing your accent) requires changing the habits of your native language. How are the habits changed? There is only one way. As with all skill developments like tennis, piano, golf, or speaking, the more you practice, the greater the progress.
Practice, but not just any practice. The practice must be appropriate to the skill being learned.
• Listen to the practice material (words, phrases, sentences).
• Then record your attempt to repeat what you just heard.
• Compare your recording with the speakers’ production in the practice exercise.
SO LISTEN, REPEAT AND COMPARE.
Shadowing is another technique I use to improve speaking fluency and delivery criteria in my classes. My students repeat after me in the recordings, imitating my pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation very closely. Remember, in the shadowing practice, the most important thing you should do is set an intention. Don’t just repeat and become a parrot of someone else. Focus on specific elements of their speech and practice them to improve your weaknesses. When you practice and shadow repetitively, you build up your confidence muscles, which is the key to getting 26 in Speaking!
When you work with me, I target the main areas of accented speech specific to Spanish, Arabic, or other languages. I systematically analyze the accented features of non-American English pronunciation. As you practice with my guidance, you will better train your ears to control your mouth to speak English with a neutral, clear accent. As you practice more and more, your speaking habits in English will become stronger and stronger. Slowly, you will become more automatic and habituated to speaking English in line with the delivery scoring criteria of speaking for 26+.
If you have a very unclear-sounding accent, you will never get 26+ even if you mastered topic development and language use. A very reasonable goal for this program would be one hour every day for 3-4 months. Then you can expect a 70-80% reduction in your heavy accent.
Unfortunately, many pharmacists, physical therapists, or some dental students who need 26+ are very unrealistic about the TOEFL IBT exam’s speaking section. They need to stop treating this exam like the lottery!
“ I will take the exam one more time, and maybe this time I will get lucky!”
“ Let me learn what the other people did when they got 26+.”
Every student has different ears to absorb the information and time to practice every day. Don’t compare yourself with others! Find your way and time to reduce the habits of your native language’s effects on speaking another language; in this case, it is English. Changing your native language speaking habits is a gradual process that can only be accomplished through practice. The more you practice, the faster you will change your new speech habits to sound the way TOEFL graders want for a speaking score of 26+.