The “Listen and Repeat” task on the new TOEFL attracted much attention soon after ETS published sample test forms. Some commentators pointed to it as evidence that the test would be “easier” than the old TOEFL. I suppose ETS didn’t do themselves any favors by selecting a list of sentences about visiting a zoo for inclusion in the first sample form. I certainly snickered when I first saw it.
In light of this, it is interesting to note that chatter on social media by actual test takers now paints this task as one of the most challenging parts of the new test. While working through practice sets on my own, I’ve enjoyed examining the mental processes involved in repeating longer sentences (~25 syllables) with two clauses. I find myself mentally replaying the first clause while the second is still being played aloud. And mentally repeating the whole thing once again before speaking. A lot goes on in my brain in the 15 seconds it takes to complete all this. Imagine doing it in an L2.
One could therefore argue that this sort of task, while of limited utility overall, can provide insights that we don’t get from a traditional constructed response item or an in-person interview. And since it only takes two minutes to administer, perhaps it can be included without taking time away from more traditional tasks. We could say that this is using the technology of 2026 to our advantage.
Notably, the PTE test also includes a “listen and repeat” task… but the PTE Express does not. I think the Duolingo English Test included one until about 2023, though alcohol consumption has made my memory of that period somewhat foggy. To me, this suggests that if a testmaker has 90 or 120 minutes to play with, they can go ahead and include some shorter items that poke and prod at narrow aspects of language use… even if they don’t exactly resemble real life encounters.
On the other hand, the TOEFL deep dive recently published by the IELTS partners examined the task and noted that:
“…the ‘Listen and Repeat’ task type appears to tap only minimally into higher-level cognitive processing and is weakly aligned with meaning-oriented, authentic oral communication.”
This mirrors comments in a review of the Versant English Speaking and Listening Test (from Pearson) published in Language Assessment Quarterly last month. Regarding the L & R task in that test, it notes that:
“[a]lthough the ‘Repeat the sentence’ task appears to measure some elements of the operational Listening and Speaking sub-constructs, it appears to have minimal relevance to the widely accepted oral communication construct.”
In a response, Pearson’s Bill Bonk and Jooyoung Lee said that:
“…the ability to accurately comprehend and reproduce sentence-level utterances is a foundational prerequisite for communication. Without reliable sentence-level processing – encompassing phonological decoding, lexical access, syntactic parsing, and short-term retention – higher-level discourse processing cannot occur.”
Food for thought.