TELPAS Speaking Test: Rubric, Prompts and Examples

Speaking is one of the four TELPAS domains, and it counts for 25 percent of the TELPAS composite rating, the same as listening, reading and writing. In grades 2–12 it is part of the online listening and speaking test. In kindergarten and grade 1 there is no speaking test; teachers rate speaking holistically from what they observe in class, as described in TELPAS in kindergarten and first grade.

Speaking is the domain students are often least prepared for. A student can read and listen comfortably and still struggle to produce a long spoken answer on demand, alone, to a computer. That is a skill, and like any skill it improves with practice.

TELPAS speaking items are speech capture items. The student sees and hears a prompt, then records their answer through a headset microphone. Depending on the item, the student has 45 or 90 seconds to respond. For items that ask the student to retell a story from a video, the student may watch the video again before speaking.

The TELPAS listening and speaking test is grouped into grade clusters: grades 2–3, 4–5, 6–8 and 9–12. Students in the same cluster take the same test form.

The speaking items together are worth 36 points, split between two reporting categories.

TEA does not publish official names for TELPAS speaking tasks, but the released tests show the kinds of things students are asked to do. Released prompts for grades 4–5, for example, include:

The reporting categories are the same in every cluster, and the prompts become more demanding in the older clusters. Whatever the cluster, the directions tell the student to tell as much as they can.

• Watching a short video of a story and retelling it.
• Describing what is happening in a picture and predicting what will happen next.
• Imagining a situation, such as switching places with the teacher for a day, and explaining what they would do.
• Comparing two pictures and explaining how they are alike and different.

Each speaking response is scored against a rubric. TELPAS uses two speaking rubrics: a 4-point rubric and a 2-point rubric. Which rubric applies depends on the item. The official rubrics, and scoring guides with real student responses at each score point, are published by TEA with the TELPAS released tests.

Both rubrics look at the same features of the response:

• Completeness of response: does the answer address the whole prompt, with relevant detail?
• Syntax and grammar: are sentences put together correctly, and does the student use a range of sentence structures?
• Vocabulary and word choice: does the student use precise, varied words, including academic ones where they fit?
• Pronunciation and fluency: can a listener understand the speech, and does it flow rather than stopping word by word?
• Use of the first language: how much the student relies on words from their home language to communicate.

Read the criteria together and a clear picture emerges. A high-scoring response answers the full prompt, in connected sentences, with good word choices, in speech a listener can follow. The aim is to be understood, not to sound like a native speaker.

The rubrics do not ask for perfect English. What lowers a score is an answer that is too short to show much English, that leaves part of the prompt unanswered, or where errors make the meaning hard to follow.

That is why 'tell as much as you can' matters so much. A brief, correct answer often scores lower than a longer answer with a few mistakes, because the longer answer gives the scorer far more evidence of what the student can do.

Here is a simple illustration, not an official scored sample. Asked to describe a picture of a park, a student who says 'A park' has answered, but has shown very little English. A student who says 'There are three kids in a park. One is on the swing and two are playing soccer. It looks like it might rain soon because the sky is dark' has shown sentences, describing words and a reason. For official examples at each score point, use TEA's speaking scoring guides.

Speaking uses a hybrid scoring model. Every response is first scored by an automated scoring engine. At least 25 percent of responses are also scored by trained human scorers, and responses the engine is not confident about are sent to human scorers.

A district can request a rescore of a student's responses. There is a fee, which is waived if the score changes. If you have concerns about a speaking result, raise them with the school.

Because the recording is what gets scored, technical problems matter. A microphone that is muted, too far from the mouth or picking up a noisy room can affect a result. Teachers can help by checking headsets and making sure students know to speak at a normal volume, clearly, close to the microphone.

First, use TEA's official practice tests at txpt.cambiumtds.com/student. They include the real recording screen, so students learn how to start recording, how the time works and how to move on. This removes a great deal of test-day nerves.

Then practice the kinds of thinking the prompts ask for. Short, regular practice is better than long sessions. The guide on how to prepare for TELPAS covers the other three domains too.

• Picture talk: give the student a photo and ask them to describe who, what, where, and what might happen next. Push gently for more: what else do you see?
• Story retelling: watch a short clip together and have the student retell it in order, using first, next, then, after that and finally.
• Opinions with reasons: ask questions with no right answer (summer or winter, cats or dogs, a field trip to a museum or a zoo) and expect a reason and an example.
• Imagine-if questions: what would you do if you were the principal for a day? Encourage would and could.
• Comparisons: two pictures, two places, two games. How are they alike? How are they different?
• Timed recordings: set a timer for 45 or 90 seconds, record on a phone or computer, and listen back together. Ask: did you answer everything? Could you have said more?
• Rubric conversations with older students: listen to their recording, then look at the rubric criteria together and decide what would make the answer stronger.

The speaking practice on this site, such as TELPAS speaking practice for grade 2 and TELPAS speaking practice for grades 4–5, gives original prompts with a rubric and a sample answer, and lets students record themselves and play it back. It does not score speaking. Real TELPAS speaking is scored against an official rubric, and the practice here cannot honestly reproduce that. Use the rubric and the sample answer to talk through a response with a student instead. With the live transcript turned on, students can also get AI practice feedback on what they said. It reads only the transcript, so it does not judge pronunciation or pace, and it is not a TELPAS score.