SPEAK Test Preparation, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Resources for SPEAK Test Preparation


Resources For Practice

The SPEAK practice test

A list of approved SPEAK tutors is available at CTE and in 3070 Foreign Languages Building.

Campus resources for improving oral English

Speechcraft: Discourse Pronunciation for Advanced Learners by Laura D. Hahn and Wayne B. Dickerson.  1999, University of Michigan Press.

Speechcraft: Workbook for International Teaching Assistants by Laura D. Hahn and Wayne B. Dickerson.  2005, University of Michigan Press.

Toward Speaking Excellence: The Michigan Guide to Maximizing Your Performance on the TSE and SPEAK Test, by Dean Papajohn.  1998, University of Michigan Press.

Five Tips for Taking the SPEAK Test

  • Arrive early, but not too early.
  • Take a deep breath and relax.
  • When you take the SPEAK test, you will be in a language-lab environment, speaking into a microphone, in front of a computer. There will be other people in the room taking the test at the same time.  Try not to let the other voices distract you.
  • Try to sound as natural as possible.  Do not produce speech that you have memorized; instead give authentic, spontaneous-sounding responses.
  • Say as much as you can in the time allotted, but don’t worry if you don’t finish your answer completely.