Open-ended/record-only

Open-ended questions and record-only questions have the exact same flow. They both capture audio or video of a test taker providing spontaneous answers to open-ended questions such as "Who is your best friend and why?" No specific answer is expected in either case.

The only difference is that with record-only, the test taker isn't scored by Speechace.

Open-ended questions

With this question type, Speechace assesses the student's pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and grammar. Additionally, when used in conjunction with the relevance setting, this question type can also assess whether the test taker's response was relevant to the question.

Record-only questions

Record-only questions, Speechace only records, but doesn't grade. This is useful, for example, for async screens/interviews, where you want to do one of the following:

• Use warm up questions that get the candidate in speaking mode without affecting their scores.

• Manually evaluate language skills for languages that are currently not supported by the speaking test.

• Evaluate a skillset other than language skills (empathy, teamwork etc.).

Getting started

To get started, do the following:

• Select the appropriate question type for your question to display the associated configuration panel (either Open-ended or Record-only)

• Type the instructions for the test taker either in the Question field on the left or the Instruction field on the right.

Some examples of open-ended questions:

• "What is your favorite ice cream, and why?"

• "Please tell me about a cultural celebration or tradition in your country."

Configuration panel

The configuration panel for Open-ended question type is composed of the following elements:

Question field

The first field in the configuration panel is where you issue the instructions to the test taker, here in the form of an open-ended question.

Cue cards upload section

The "Cue cards" field is optional, but it allows you to provide additional context to the test taker by uploading 1-2 cue card images, one at a time.

You can upload a screenshot of text with more instructions, or a photo/illustration, or both.

For example, your cue cards might look like this:

What the test taker sees

If you fill out only the Question field, it appears to the test taker as follows, with the question/instructions under the avatar:

If you fill out the Question field and also upload a text cue card, this appears to the test taker as follows (with the instructions under the avatar):

If you upload two cue cards (one text, one photo), they appear to the test taker as follows: