The Duolingo English Test (DET) announced a new speaking task on 30 June 2025. Called Interactive Speaking, it simulates a short conversation with a virtual character, and the follow-up questions change in real time depending on what you say.
Key facts
- Announced 30 June 2025
- Task Interactive Speaking
- Format 6 to 8 turns, 35 seconds each, no preparation time
- Scored on Fluency, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, coherence, task completion
How the task works
You have six to eight turns of conversation. For each prompt you get 35 seconds to answer, with no preparation time. If you mention a topic, the next question may ask you to say more about it. Duolingo says the question content is written in advance and reviewed by human experts rather than generated freely by AI, although generative models helped build the components.
Your answers are transcribed and scored on six areas: fluency, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, coherence and task completion. Duolingo describes it as the first adaptive speaking or writing task in large-scale English testing.
What the announcement does not say
The post does not give an exact start date, does not say whether any older task was removed, and does not explain how the task feeds into the reported subscores. Third-party prep sites have made claims about removed tasks, but these are not confirmed in Duolingo’s announcement.
What this means
Practise answering everyday and academic questions out loud for about half a minute with no thinking time, and practise building on your own previous answer, since follow-ups may pick up on what you said. Speak in full, clear sentences and stay on the question rather than reciting prepared speeches. Use the free official practice test on the DET website to see the current set of tasks before your test day.