ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the test takers' perceptions of a specific high-stakes speaking test and compares their views of speaking during the test as compared to speaking in real-life academic contexts. It provides a space for students' voices by addressing the research question as to whether the students feel there are differences in their speaking activities and their own performances in the contexts of the Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT) and in their real-life academic studies, both in class and out of class. The speaking section of the TOEFL iBT provided sufficient evidence of their speaking skills, our participants commented on some of the limitations, with the highest percentage of the students saying that the test did not provide a complete picture of their speaking. Among the challenges are the constraints imposed by the test context itself, both in terms of the representation of the speaking construct and the attempt to simulate real-life speaking.
