Welcome to the TOEFL Pronunciation Course! This is your go-to program for improving your accent and speaking clarity so you can score higher on the TOEFL iBT Speaking section.

Table of Contents

Summary: What You Get in this Free TOEFL Pronunciation Course

✅ Free access to all 48 lessons for all visitors
✅ Daily personalized feedback for subscribers
✅ Two pronunciation diagnostic tests
✅ Targeted video lessons to improve your speaking
✅ Final post-test and evaluation
✅ Perfect support for TOEFL iBT Speaking prep

TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Ready to Join?

If you’re serious about speaking clearly and improving your TOEFL score, subscribe today for just $99/month and get access to full feedback support:

Join the TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service now

What Is the TOEFL Pronunciation Course?

The TOEFL Pronunciation Course is a step-by-step, video-based series that helps you improve your:

Vowel and consonant pronunciation
Word stress
Sentence rhythm
Intonation
Thought groups and blending

All visitors can view and practice every lesson on this page. However, only subscribed members of my $99/month TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service will get daily accent reduction feedback on their voice recordings.

What Do Subscribers Get?

As a subscriber, you can submit one recording per day and choose from:

✅ One 60-second voice recording for accent reduction feedback,
OR
✅ One TOEFL Speaking practice test for evaluation,
OR
✅ One TOEFL Writing practice test for feedback.

⭐ TOEFL Speaking Delivery Rubric

For Your Two Pre-Tests and Final Post-Test

This rubric helps you understand how your pronunciation, pacing, and intonation affect your TOEFL Speaking score. I’ll use it to score your two pre-tests and your final post-test.

Score	What It Means	How You Might Sound	Converted TOEFL Score
4.0	Your speech is clear and flows well. You may have a few small pronunciation or intonation mistakes, but they don’t affect understanding.	You sound confident and natural. Even with minor mistakes, it’s easy to understand you.	30 points
3.0	Your speech is mostly clear, but there are some noticeable issues with pronunciation, intonation, or pacing. Listeners may need to concentrate to understand you at times.	You’re understandable, but sometimes your speech feels a bit unnatural or hard to follow.	23 points
2.0	Your speech is sometimes hard to understand. You may speak too fast or too slowly, or your pronunciation and rhythm may confuse the listener.	People can get the general idea, but they really have to work to understand what you’re saying.	16 points
1.0	Your pronunciation, stress, and intonation make it very difficult to understand you. Your delivery is choppy and has lots of pauses or hesitations.	It’s hard to follow your speech, and listeners may not understand your message clearly.	10 points
0.0	You didn’t speak, or what you said wasn’t understandable or wasn’t in English.	Nothing was clear or understandable in English.	0 points

Reminder for You

I will use this rubric to grade your two pre-tests and your final post-test. This way, you can see how much you improve in pronunciation, pacing, and clarity. Aim for progress, not perfection—every step forward counts!

✅ How to Use the TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Follow this simple 5-step process to maximize your progress:

Step 1: Take the First Diagnostic Pre-Test in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Start here to identify your problem vowel and consonant sounds:
This test may be longer than 60 seconds — that's OK for this step!

Important: Only subscribed members of my $99/month TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service will receive feedback on this pre-test.

How to Complete and Submit the Pre-Test in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Record yourself completing Parts A and B of the pronunciation pre-test.
Email your recording to: mbuckhoff@aol.com
Use the subject line:
Pronunciation Pre-Test for Vowel and Consonant Sounds
In the body of your email, include the following message:

Michael,

Please listen to, evaluate, and recommend specific lessons to help me improve my pronunciation.

Thank you,
[Your First and Last Name]

Part A: Word Pairs

Read the following word pairs naturally and clearly. Say them in order without pausing too much.

Lesson 7:
Pot...boat / wrong....grow / honor....over / father....though

Lesson 8:
Pat....pot / map...mop / tack...tock / an...on / mack....mock

Lesson 9:
Bright....brown / broil...lie / loud ...loyal / pie...pound

Lesson 10:
Gate...get / late...let / mate...met / blade...bled / dane...den

Lesson 11:
Meet....mit / Pete...pit / leap...lip / seat...sit / heat...hit

Lesson 12:
Look...Luke / luck...took / tool...tough / could...cool

Lesson 13:
Match...mash / cheap...sheep / feature...fissure / chafed...shaft / cheer...sheer

Lesson 14:
Off...of / half...have / fine...vine / fan...van / wafer...waiver

Lesson 15:
How...habit / who...rehash / behavior...hate / batman...bitten / important...brightening / hatrack...threatened

Lesson 16:
Major...measure / fragile...Frazier / legend...lesion / engine...azure / large...Asia

Lesson 17:
Cake...keg / sink...sag / came...game / cap...gap / lake...lag

Lesson 18:
Lean...rear...better / luggage...rugged...udder / right....light...committed

Lesson 19: Pace...base / flap...flab / cap...cab / lap...lab / pay...bay

Lesson 20:
Lice...lies / sip...zip / Sue...zoo / mace...maze / Elisa...Eliza

Lesson 21:
Multiple...Robert / example...pressure / principle...number / people...philosopher

Lesson 22:
Volcanism...written / maximum...question / summer...reason / chasm...often

Lesson 23:
Tip...dip / cart...card / tight...tide / train...drain / fat...fad / team...dream

Lesson 24:
Thigh...thy / breath...breathe / teeth...teethe / through...though / worth...worthy

️ Part B: Answer ONE of the Questions Below in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Speak naturally and clearly. Do not write or practice your response in advance.

What is your educational background and your work history?
Why is it important for you to improve your speaking and pronunciation abilities in American English?
What do you hope to achieve in this course?

✅ Ready to get started? Subscribe here to get access to expert feedback on your TOEFL speaking and pronunciation.

Step 2: Review Targeted Lessons Based on My Feedback

I’ll tell you which lessons to focus on after your pre-test. ️

Step 3: Take the Second Diagnostic Pre-Test

This pronunciation pre-test helps you improve rhythm, grammatical word endings, stress, intonation, and overall clarity for the TOEFL iBT Speaking section. This test may be longer than 60 seconds — that's OK for this step!

Reminder: Only subscribed members of my $99/month TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service will receive personalized feedback on this test.

How to Complete and Submit Pre-Test 2 in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Record yourself completing Parts A and B below.
Email your recording to: mbuckhoff@aol.com
Use the following format:

Email Subject:
Pronunciation Pre-Test for Syllable Division and Grammatical Word Endings

Email Body:

Michael,

Please listen to, evaluate, and recommend specific lessons to help me improve my pronunciation.

Thank you,
[Your First and Last Name]
[Your Username] (sent to you when you joined "The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT")

Part A: Practice Material by Lesson in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Lesson 26

Act...active...actively...activity
Compete...competed...competitive...competitively
Humid...humidify...humidifier...dehumidifier
Budget...budgeted...budgetary

Lesson 27

Read aloud the following sentence:

Marriage patterns in rural Turkey are noticeably influenced by endogamous preferences within both villages and kinship groups.

Lesson 28

Pay...pays / pot...pots / run...runs / cough...coughed / pass...passed
Saved / judged / sorted / sifted / planted / circumstances

Lesson 29

Conditioning / associate / techniques / discussion / resurrected
Consecutive / dysfunctional / retreat / positive / classical / religious

Lesson 30

Harmony / provide / air conditioner / glass cleaner / myself / themselves
13–30 / 14–40 / 15–50 / 16–60 / 17–70 / 18–80 / 19–90

Lesson 31

Downwind / outdoors / break into / take out
The conduct of the conductor was inappropriate.
She objected to being an object of his affection.
Disrespect / interlock / outpace

Lesson 32

USA / GPA / CEO / academic / analytical / diversity / fortify / cardiology
Discussion / geography / cautious / Canadian / chronological / absentee
Overseer / Vietnamese / picturesque / technique / Corvette
Educate...education / motivate...motivation / operate...operation

Lesson 33

Overrated...He ate it. / Position...He fixed it. / Assume...A broom.
Cool bike...cool biker...coolest biker.

Lesson 34

The player left the game in the fourth quarter.
Mr. Jones is grading his papers today.
Can you give me a burger with cheese?

Lesson 35

She spoke with you. / How's your homework coming along?
Sue can go to the store. / Sue can't go to the store.
She can run the whole distance. / She can't run the whole distance.
She was at his house yesterday. / She wasn't at his house yesterday.
Jane could talk to the other workers. / Jane couldn't talk to the other workers.

Lesson 36

Speaker A: Did John go to the game last week?
Speaker B: John went to the game yesterday.
Speaker A: What do you want to do?
Speaker B: What do you want to do?

Lesson 37

Speaker A: What are you working on?
Speaker B: I am working on a composition.
Speaker A: What kind of composition?
Speaker B: It’s a history composition.
Speaker A: When is it due?
Speaker B: It is due Friday morning.

Lesson 38

There is an advantage and a disadvantage to your idea.
Did she go on a vacation in the summer? → It was the winter.
That was a great movie. → I’ll say. It was good.
Why didn’t you return the book? → You’re wrong. I did.

Lesson 39

I like apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, and grapes.
She has twelve members in her family. (with surprise)
888-9002 → Did you say 888-9002?

Lesson 40

I want to leave Johnny. / I want to leave, Johnny.
Where are you going? → To the United States.
Where? → What city in the United States?

Lesson 41

Twenty-three foot-long sticks
Twenty / three foot-long sticks
Where are you going? → I am going to Los Angeles... (add context)

Lesson 42

Bobby Thompson, who lives in my neighborhood, is coming to visit tomorrow.
Vampire bats weigh about one ounce and have a thumb-sized body.

Lesson 43

Sir Francis Galton, cousin of Darwin, studied intelligence to increase it through selective breeding.

Lesson 44

Can you hold up the painting?
I wore a light sweater to the football game.
Maybe you should ask Kenneth. He may know.

️ Part B: Answer ONE of the Following Questions in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Speak naturally without planning your answer in advance.

Tell me about a recent vacation. What did you do? What did you like and dislike?
What is your favorite hobby? Why do you enjoy it?
What is one thing you would like to change about your country? Give examples.

Ready for expert feedback?
Subscribe now to get daily evaluations on your pronunciation, speaking, or writing practice.

Step 4: Review Advanced Accent Reduction Lessons in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Focus on the recommended lessons based on my feedback.

Step 5: Take the Final Post-Test in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

This Pronunciation Post-Test is designed to measure your overall progress in mastering American English pronunciation, including stress, intonation, rhythm, and clarity. It’s the final step in the TOEFL Pronunciation Course.

Important: Only subscribed members of my $99/month TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service will receive feedback on this post-test.

How to Complete and Submit Your Post-Test in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Record yourself completing Parts A and B below.
Email your recording to: mbuckhoff@aol.com
Use the following format for your email:

Email Subject:
Pronunciation Post-Test

Email Body:

Michael,

Please listen to, evaluate, and recommend any final lessons I should review to improve my pronunciation.

Thank you,
[Your First and Last Name]

Part A: Reading Passages in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Read the following passages aloud, clearly and naturally:

Reading Passage One

When two people are talking to each other, they tend to stand a specific distance apart. Each person has an invisible boundary around his or her body into which other people may not come. If someone pierces this boundary, they will feel uncomfortable and move away to increase the distance between them. (The major exception is family members and other loved ones.) This personal distance is not due to body odor or bad breath, but because closeness lends a sense of intimacy that may not match the nature of the relationship.

Reading Passage Two

Interestingly, the average personal distance varies from culture to culture. Americans tend to require more personal space than people in other cultures. Therefore, if you try to get too close to an American during conversation, he or she may feel that you are "in their face" and will likely step back. Be aware of this. If someone steps back while speaking with you, do not close the gap again.

Reading Passage Three

Also, try to avoid physical contact while speaking, as this may lead to discomfort. Touching can feel too intimate for casual acquaintances. Avoid putting your arm around the person's shoulder, touching their face, or holding their hand. A quick handshake when meeting or parting is acceptable, but even that should be brief.

️ Part B: Interview Questions in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course

Answer one of the following questions. Speak naturally and spontaneously—do not write or rehearse your response.

Who is your best friend? Why is this person important to you? Give specific examples.
Where do you see yourself five years from now? What will you be doing? Use supporting details.
What is your favorite season—fall, winter, spring, or summer? Why? Be as specific as possible.

✅ What Does This Post-Test Show You in this TOEFL Pronunciation Course?

This post-test will help determine whether you’ve mastered English pronunciation after completing the TOEFL Pronunciation Course. Based on your performance, I’ll let you know if:

You’re ready to move forward with TOEFL speaking practice,
Or if there are still specific areas you need to review.

Ready to get evaluated?
Subscribe now to receive detailed, daily feedback on your pronunciation, speaking, or writing skills.

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