以口語第二題為例，我們先來看一下ETS考官對于一個response的點評。

“This response is sustained and the speech is generally understandable. At times, though, the speaker’s pronunciation makes it difficult to understand the meaning of her ideas. She really gives only reason why she likes shopping. This reason is used repetitively without much elaboration. Shopping is something she likes very much and makes her feel better. She could have added complexity to her ideas by saying something like “when I go shopping, I usually go with friends and we have a good time together without thinking about jobs, or schoolwork.” She also makes some basic grammatical errors and uses a limited range of vocabulary.”

這是對于一篇Middle level的口語回答的評價。從中我們不難發(fā)現(xiàn)以下幾個問題：

發(fā)音：事實上，托福口語考試在發(fā)音方面僅僅是要求考生的發(fā)音是準(zhǔn)確的即可，不論對于某個單詞的發(fā)音是不是有濃重的口音，只要這個單詞的元音發(fā)準(zhǔn)確，重音不說錯即可，因為只要滿足了這兩條就可以達(dá)到“makes one’s ideas/meaning understandable” 的要求。這一條成為影響我們?nèi)》值氖滓蛩亍?br />
內(nèi)容：文中評價該考生的口語是僅僅提出了自己為什么喜歡購物的原因，但也只是在簡單地重復(fù)說自己喜歡購物，卻沒有用更多的闡述對這一原因進(jìn)行闡述。我們認(rèn)為這是導(dǎo)致中國考生失分最核心的因素?？忌毡閺?qiáng)于說理卻疏于舉例，而ETS考官，或者西方人的一個固有觀念就是“口說無憑，舉例為證”。因此，在回答的過程中，要求speaker用相當(dāng)?shù)钠ㄟ^一個具體的事例來證明或解釋自己之前提出的觀點。

語法：語法問題并不是一個主要的失分點。也就是說口語是靠內(nèi)容取勝的，而不是華麗的句子。內(nèi)容出彩的情況下，語法上的失誤是可以被原諒的；但是內(nèi)容部完整或者說得不對的時候，語法便會成為考官扣分的又一理由。