Types of questions

You can create an assessment with up to 10 questions, selecting from six speaking question types. Each type is designed to evaluate different aspects of a test taker’s language skills.

Open-ended questions are the most common question type, so they are set as the default in the dropdown menu. You can select a different question type for each question using this dropdown.

Once you select a question type, the configuration panel (below the question type dropdown) will show specific configuration options for that type. These options let you customize how the question appears to the test taker. Each question type has different settings, which are explained in the next sections.

Quick overview of question types

Here’s how each question type is used to assess different skills:

Open-ended

Ask the test taker an open-ended question about a particular topic, so they speak off-the-cuff, with no expected answer.

Assesses: pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar

Read-aloud (Pronunciation)

Ask the test taker to read some text.

Assesses: pronunciation

Read-aloud (Fluency)

Ask the test taker to read some text.

Assesses: pronunciation, fluency

Short Task Achievement (Fluency)

Ask the test taker to follow some instructions (including, but not limited to answering any questions, as in Open-ended).

Example 1: "Who was your hero when you were a kid?

Example 2: "Ask a question based on this timetable."

Assesses: pronunciation, fluency, task achievement

Long Task Achievement

Ask the test taker to follow some instructions (including, but not limited to answering a free-form question).

Example: "Describe the story in the following image."

Assesses: pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, task achievement

Record only

Capture audio or video of a candidate, not for grading. Useful for async screens/interviews.