TCF Canada speaking task 3: giving your point of view

What task 3 asks you to do

The TCF Canada speaking test lasts 12 minutes, including 2 minutes of preparation, and has three tasks. According to France Éducation international, task 3 is giving a point of view, with no preparation (« expression d’un point de vue »): you answer a question chosen by the examiner in a spontaneous, continuous and convincing way, for 4 min 30 s.

• Time: 4 min 30 s, no preparation.
• Starting point: a question chosen by the examiner.
• What you do: give your point of view and defend it.

Each of the three adjectives in the description tells you something about what to do:

• spontaneous: no preparation, so no memorised text; you build your answer as you speak, from a structure you know by heart;
• continuous: one connected, organised piece of speech, not a few separate sentences;
• convincing: a clear position, backed by arguments and examples.

The questions in our practice prompts are about social issues: phones at school, social media, foreign languages from kindergarten, student volunteering. They are original and never reuse exam questions.

How task 3 is marked

France Éducation international assesses speaking with three families of criteria: linguistic (vocabulary range and control, grammatical accuracy, fluency, pronunciation, overall flow), pragmatic (interaction, discourse structure, coherence and cohesion, topic development) and sociolinguistic (fit to the communication situation). The examiner assesses you live, then a second grader assesses the recording, independently and double-blind. The three tasks get a single score out of 20.

For a spoken argument, that means very concrete questions:

• Is your position clear? The examiner should know it within your first few sentences, and hear it again in your conclusion.
• Is your speech structured? An introduction, arguments that are announced and linked, a conclusion: discourse structure is one of the pragmatic criteria.
• Do you develop your arguments? An argument is an idea, an explanation and an example; a list of one-sentence reasons stays thin.
• Do you add nuance? Acknowledging the opposing argument, then answering it, makes a position more convincing.
• Does your French keep up? Varied linking words, precise topic vocabulary, complex sentences (conditional, subjunctive, relative clauses), delivered with ease.
• Is the register right? You are defending an idea in front of an examiner: standard French, nothing too casual. Fluency and pronunciation count too; our tool does not score them.

A 5-step structure

1. Rephrase the question and take a position

Rephrasing the question buys you a few seconds to think and shows you have understood it: « La question est de savoir si l’on doit interdire les téléphones à l’école. Je crois qu’il faut distinguer deux choses… » (The question is whether phones should be banned at school. I think we need to distinguish two things…) Then state your position, with a nuance if needed: « Pendant les cours, oui ; dans tout l’établissement, non. » (During lessons, yes; in the whole school, no.)

2. Find ideas in a few seconds

With no preparation, a simple grid helps you find arguments. Ask yourself four questions:

• Who is affected? Pupils, parents, teachers, employers…
• Why? The advantages, what people gain.
• At what cost? The drawbacks, the risks, what it costs.
• What about where I live? Something you have experienced, your city, your country.

3. Follow a structure that lasts 4 min 30 s

These timings are guidelines, not an official rule: what matters is having enough material to speak continuously for the whole task.

4. If you run out of ideas

• add a concrete example to the argument you have just made;
• compare with the situation in your country or another city;
• think about long-term consequences (« Dans dix ans, … », in ten years’ time…);
• suggest a middle-ground solution, or say what could change your mind.

What to avoid: repeating word for word what you have already said.

5. Practise on varied questions

The structure stays the same from one question to the next; what changes is the topic vocabulary. Practise on a range of social topics (school, work, the environment, technology, city life) with our TCF Canada vocabulary by topic, and time yourself: 4 min 30 s feels long the first time.

One question, two answers: B1 then C1

This question was written for this site, like all our practice prompts: it is not a real exam question. So were the two answers: same candidate, same starting opinion, two levels of French.

Answer 1 — estimated B1 (156 words)

The answer has a structure: a position, two arguments, a personal example, a concession and a solution. What keeps it at B1:

• each part is two or three simple sentences, with no explanation: « Ce n’est pas bon pour apprendre » (“It’s not good for learning”);
• list-style linking words (« D’abord », « Ensuite », « Mais », « Donc ») and the same words coming back (« problème », « regarder », « téléphone »);
• a position that is a little vague at first (« mais pas complètement », “but not completely”) and only becomes clear at the end;
• two mistakes: « quand j’étais petite, on n’a pas de téléphone » → « on n’avait pas de téléphone » (imperfect, like the rest of the sentence); « si il y a » → « s’il y a »;
• above all, the answer stops well before the time is up: as it stands, it would not last 4 min 30 s.

Estimate: B1, roughly NCLC 6 if the other two tasks are at the same level (a speaking score of about 7/20).

Answer 2 — estimated C1 (extract, 277 words)

Extract: at a natural pace, this passage does not fill the 4 min 30 s. The full answer would go on with one more example or argument, then a conclusion that returns to the opening position. Key words: perdre le fil (to lose the thread), se reconcentrer (to refocus), joindre (to reach someone), faire respecter (to enforce), en cachette (on the sly), un casier (a locker), les yeux rivés sur leur écran (eyes glued to their screens).

Same question, same starting opinion, but a constructed argument:

Estimate: C1, roughly NCLC 9 if the other two tasks are at the same level (a speaking score of about 15/20). These estimates are based on the text of the answers: in the exam, fluency and pronunciation count too. To convert scores, see our NCLC score chart.

Linking words and useful phrases

For more ways to link your ideas, see our guide to French linking words. And if you are preparing the writing test too, TCF Canada writing task 3 (120–180 words) calls for the same way of arguing, after comparing two points of view.

Costly mistakes

• Starting without a position. « C’est une question intéressante… il y a des avantages et des inconvénients… »: after a minute, the examiner still does not know what you think.
• Listing without developing. Five one-sentence reasons weigh less than two arguments that are explained and illustrated.
• Delivering a ready-made speech. A memorised introduction that does not answer the question asked is obvious straight away.
• Stopping too early. Keep an example, a comparison or a consequence in reserve to last the distance.
• Ignoring the other side. A position that sees no objection convinces less than one that answers them.
• Staying vague. « C’est bien », « c’est important », « c’est un problème »: say for whom, why, with what example.
• Slipping into casual French. « Genre », « c’est trop bien », « franchement, ça me saoule »: defending an idea in front of an examiner calls for standard French.
• Calques from English. « Dans mon opinion » (in my opinion) → « à mon avis » or « selon moi »; « Je suis d’accord avec interdire » (I agree with banning) → « Je suis pour l’interdiction ».

To practise with our tool, read the question, then start recording with no preparation, as in the exam, and speak in one go: the recording is limited to 4 min 30 s and stops automatically. The assessment is based on the transcript: pronunciation is not assessed, and the recording is deleted after transcription. The level shown is an estimate; the preview is free and the full report comes with a pack or a pass (see pricing).

Task 3 FAQ