Starting in July, the Duolingo English Test will include a new speaking task that seems like an attempt to simulate a back-and-forth conversation. In this task, test takers will receive a series of short questions on a given topic followed by a series of short questions on some other topic. They must quickly respond to each question.
Interested parties can demo the new task by taking the free practice test via the DET website. When I took the test, I received four questions about staying focused at work and four about family and growing up. I was given six seconds to prepare each response and 35 seconds to speak each time, so quick thinking was mandatory. I suppose this task is a good measure of one’s ability to produce spoken English fairly spontaneously. Note that a few people have reported getting just three questions about each topic.
I suppose there is a discussion to be had about how regular test revisions reduce the impact of cramming and test prep strategies on scores in general. Perhaps this will be a feature of more tests, as we move forward. I would love to see it as part of the HOELT, for one.
Below are a few screenshots from the practice test. A new article from The Koala News references this task. The article includes a link to an information session you can sign up for to learn more.
