TCF Canada speaking test: the 3 tasks, scoring and NCLC

Speaking: record your answer

TCF Canada TEF Canada

Task Task 1 · Guided interviewTask 2 · InteractionTask 3 · Point of view

Réseaux sociaux et relations

« Les réseaux sociaux rapprochent-ils les gens ou les éloignent-ils ? » Donnez votre point de vue et justifiez-le.

Another prompt · I have my own prompt

Ready 00:00

Record my answer

The recording is transcribed and then deleted: only the transcript is kept with the report.

No microphone? Type what you would say

Your answer, as you would say it (in French)

0 words · Without a recording, speech rate and hesitations are not measured.

Correct my spoken answer

Free preview: estimated level and the first 2 corrections. Full report with a pack or a pass (1 correction per answer).

Answer a speaking task out loud, within the exam time. Your recording is transcribed and corrected: estimated NCLC level, mistakes, useful phrases and a model answer. Pronunciation is not assessed and the recording is not kept.

TCF Canada

Task 1 · Guided interview

2 min

Guided interview with no preparation (2 minutes): talk with the examiner, whom you do not know, about yourself.

TCF Canada

Task 2 · Interaction

3 min 30 s + 2 min preparation

Interaction with preparation (5 minutes 30, including 2 minutes of preparation): get information in an everyday situation.

TCF Canada

Task 3 · Point of view

4 min 30 s

Giving a point of view with no preparation (4 minutes 30): answer a question in a spontaneous, continuous and convincing way.

TEF Canada

Section A · Getting information

5 min

Section A (5 minutes): from an advert, phone to get information by asking about ten questions.

TEF Canada

Section B · Convincing

10 min

Section B (10 minutes): present an advert to a friend and argue to convince them.

The TCF Canada speaking test (expression orale) is taken face to face with an examiner and lasts 12 minutes, including 2 minutes of preparation. It has three tasks: a guided interview about yourself (2 minutes), an interaction to get information in an everyday situation (5 min 30 s, preparation included) and giving your point of view on a question (4 min 30 s). Only task 2 has preparation time; the whole test gets one score out of 20, which IRCC’s chart converts to an NCLC level.

The three tasks

The TCF Canada speaking test, designed by France Éducation international, has three very different speaking tasks: answering questions about yourself, leading an exchange to get information, and defending an opinion. Each task has its own page with a method, useful French phrases and two annotated sample answers.

The 2 minutes of preparation belong to task 2: it is the only task where you have time to think before you speak, since tasks 1 and 3 have no preparation. And while TCF Canada can be taken on paper or on computer, the speaking test is always face to face with an examiner.

Task 1: the guided interview (entretien dirigé, 2 minutes)

With no preparation, you talk with the examiner, someone you do not know, about yourself. The challenge is to develop answers that could fit in one sentence, in a polite register. Method, phrases and two annotated interviews: TCF Canada speaking task 1.

Task 2: the interaction exercise (exercice en interaction, 5 min 30 s)

After 2 minutes of preparation, you talk with the examiner to get information in an everyday situation; the instructions say who you are and who you are talking to. You lead the exchange with your questions. Preparation, French question forms and two annotated dialogues: TCF Canada speaking task 2.

Task 3: giving your point of view (expression d’un point de vue, 4 min 30 s)

With no preparation, you answer a question chosen by the examiner and defend your point of view in a spontaneous, continuous and convincing way. Structure, linking phrases and two annotated answers: TCF Canada speaking task 3.

What the graders assess

France Éducation international groups its speaking criteria into three families:

Compared with how the 3 writing tasks are scored, two families change: on the linguistic side, fluency, pronunciation and overall flow take the place of spelling; on the pragmatic side, interaction and discourse structure join coherence and topic development. For each task, here is what we suggest you focus on:

• Task 1: developing your answers about yourself, with several tenses and a register that suits someone you do not know (« vous »).
• Task 2: keeping the exchange alive, with varied, well-formed questions, reactions to the answers and requests for clarification.
• Task 3: building a continuous argument, with a clear position, developed and illustrated arguments, a nuance and a conclusion.

One score out of 20, marked twice

The speaking test gets a single score out of 20 for all three tasks. It is assessed twice:

• Live, by the examiner, during the test.
• From the recording, by another grader, independently and double-blind.

Results are published in your TCF-Candidat space within 15 working days of France Éducation international receiving the session materials. The certificate is valid for 2 years from the results date.

From the /20 score to CEFR and NCLC

The same speaking score can be read two ways: as a CEFR level, with the grid published by France Éducation international (« Grilles de niveaux du TCF »), and as an NCLC level, with IRCC’s Express Entry chart (page modified on 16 October 2026). In that chart, speaking and writing share the same bands out of 20.

Score out of 20 and CEFR level

Score out of 20 and NCLC level

Below 4/20, the level is below NCLC 4. Two things worth remembering:

• One point can change your level. 9/20 is NCLC 6; 10/20 is NCLC 7.
• NCLC 7 starts at 10/20, which is already B2 on France Éducation international’s grid. What that level looks like in practice: our guide to reaching NCLC 7. If your target is NCLC 5 (6/20 in speaking), see our NCLC 5 guide.

The reading and listening tests, scored out of 699, have their own charts: see the full NCLC score chart, with a calculator.

On this site, scores and levels are always estimates. Only France Éducation international issues TCF Canada results.

Re-marking suspended since September 2026

France Éducation international has suspended re-mark requests (« recorrection ») for the speaking and writing tests from the 1 September 2026 sessions, for about a year; the service is planned to resume in autumn 2027. During that period, a disappointing speaking score cannot be challenged with a re-mark. You can retake the test as many times as you like, leaving at least 20 days between two TCF Canada sessions.

TCF Canada oral practice: how to train

France Éducation international advises getting familiar with the format and timing of each test, working through the official sample tests and using French as much as possible. For speaking, a few habits make the difference:

• Practise with the official timings. Speaking for 4 min 30 s on a social question, or really using the 2 minutes of preparation in task 2, is something you learn with a timer.
• Prepare ideas, not scripts. A memorised text sounds memorised, and it rarely fits the exact question. Prepare topic vocabulary instead (our TCF Canada vocabulary by topic helps) and phrases you know how to reuse.
• Act out tasks 1 and 2 with a partner. Someone playing the examiner forces you to listen, react and follow up.
• Record yourself and listen back. It is the simplest way to catch hesitations, filler words and pronunciation problems: pronunciation is an official criterion, but our tool does not assess it.
• Get what you say corrected. Mistakes you can hear (« à le parc », « je suis 33 ans », « si il y a ») easily slip by when you speak.

English speakers, watch out for calques. “I am 33” is « j’ai 33 ans », not « je suis 33 ans »; “I have lived here for two years” (and still do) is « j’habite ici depuis deux ans », with the present tense and « depuis ».

To plan your weeks across writing and speaking, follow our free 4-week TCF Canada preparation plan.

Our practice tool: what it assesses, and what it doesn’t

The recording block at the top of this page lets you answer an original prompt written for this site, for any of the three tasks, or a prompt of your own. Here is exactly what it does.

• You record your answer, or type it. Recording happens in your browser and is limited to the task time; in task 2, a 2 minutes preparation countdown comes first. Without a microphone, you can type what you would say.
• The examiner is not simulated. In task 1, the prompt’s questions are shown and you answer them one after another. In task 2, you record your questions and reactions, pausing briefly after each question as if the examiner were answering. The tool gives you a guide for the length of your own lines: about 1 min 30 s in task 1 and 1 min 45 s in task 2. In task 3, you speak in one go.
• The recording is transcribed, then deleted. Only the transcript is kept, with the report.
• The assessment is based on the transcript. It covers what you say: content, organisation, interaction, register, vocabulary and grammar. Pronunciation and intonation are not assessed, and neither are the examiner’s lines. Speech rate and transcribed hesitations are shown for information only, not scored.
• The level is an estimate. The tool estimates a score out of 20, then derives the NCLC level from IRCC’s chart and the CEFR level from France Éducation international’s grid. It is an estimate based on a single answer, not an exam score.
• Very short answers are capped. A few sentences cannot show a high level: the estimate is then limited, and the report says so.
• Free preview, full report. The preview shows your estimated NCLC level and your 2 most important corrections. The full report, with a correction pack or a pass (see pricing), adds every correction with an explanation, a score for each of the 6 criteria (task completion; developing the topic; coherence and structure; vocabulary range and control; grammatical accuracy; interaction and appropriateness), the task-requirements check, your top 3 priorities, useful phrases and a model answer on the same prompt. Each corrected answer uses 1 correction.

Our tool is independent of France Éducation international and IRCC. Its levels are estimates for practice: only France Éducation international issues TCF Canada results.

TCF Canada speaking FAQ