Fast fact: I lived and worked in Korea between 2003 and 2018, 15 of the greatest years of my life. I met my wife, we had a daughter. Korea will always have a big place in my heart.
If you are a Korean speaker preparing for TOEFL Speaking, here is something the data shows that most prep ignores: you probably start ahead. In my scored Listen and Repeat data, Korean speakers average 4.04, well above the all-group average of 3.62. So this post is not about fixing a weak section. It is about closing the small, specific gaps that separate a 4 from a 5, because for Korean speakers those gaps are remarkably consistent.
I looked at 126 scored Listen and Repeat responses from Korean speakers on My Speaking Score. The errors are not random. They cluster in a handful of places that come straight from the differences between Korean and English. Once you know where they are, you can train them out fast.
Quick answer: where Korean speakers lose TOEFL Speaking points
Korean speakers rarely fail a sentence outright. They leak single points through five predictable habits: dropping articles like "a" and "the," dropping or softening final consonants and plural endings, adding a small vowel to English consonant clusters, and confusing a few sound pairs that Korean does not separate, mainly /f/ and /p/, /v/ and /b/, and /l/ and /r/. None of these is about grammar knowledge. They are automatic pronunciation and listening habits, and each one costs you accuracy or intelligibility on the test.
You start ahead: what the data shows
It is worth seeing the numbers, because they change how you should train. Korean speakers are one of the stronger first-language groups on this task.
MeasureKorean speakersAll groupsAverage Listen and Repeat score4.043.62Responses repeated word-perfect24%29%Scored responses analyzed1262,639
Read that carefully. Your average is high, but only about one response in four comes back word-perfect. That gap between a strong average and a low word-perfect rate is the whole story: you are losing fractions of a point on small details, not whole points on comprehension. Fix the details and the fours become fives.
The five patterns that leak points
The table below maps the Korean-to-English interference patterns I see most, why each one costs points, and the drill that fixes it.
PatternWhat it sounds likeWhy it costs pointsThe fixDropped articles"ask a librarian" becomes "ask librarian"Korean has no articles, so "a" and "the" vanish and the response no longer matches the targetShadow sentences with your attention on every "a" and "the." Say them, even when they feel unnecessary.Dropped final consonants and clusters"asked" becomes "ask,""desk" gains a vowel and becomes "des(uh)"Korean syllables rarely end in hard clusters, so the ending drops or a vowel sneaks in, lowering intelligibilityDrill cluster endings slowly: -sk, -kt, -ld. Clip the final sound and do not add a vowel after it./f/ and /p/, /v/ and /b/"coffee" drifts toward "copy,""very" toward "berry"Korean does not have /f/ or /v/, so the nearest stop replaces them and the word shiftsFor /f/ and /v/, put your top teeth on your bottom lip. Drill fan/pan, vote/boat./l/ and /r/"light" and "right" blur togetherKorean has one liquid sound, so the listener, and the AI, has to guess which word you meantMinimal-pair drills: light/right, glass/grass, collect/correct. Record and check on replay.Dropped plural and possessive endings"doors" becomes "door,""libraries" becomes "library"The final -s carries information the target sentence had, and dropping it is a repeat-accuracy errorExaggerate every final -s until it feels like too much, then dial it back to natural.
In my Korean data, the single most dropped word was "the." It disappeared more than any content word. That tells you the article habit is the highest-frequency leak, and the easiest one to fix, because it costs you nothing to pronounce once you are paying attention to it.
Why these specific things drop
There is a reason it is the articles and the endings that go, and not the big content words. On Listen and Repeat you hold a sentence in memory for a few seconds and reproduce it. Under that memory load, the lowest-information pieces fall out first, and for a Korean speaker the article and the final -s are both low-information and unnatural to produce. Your brain does not flag them as missing, because Korean never trained your ear to expect them. So they slip, quietly, and you do not hear it.
This is why awareness alone moves your score. The moment you know that "a," "the," and final -s are your leak points, you start hearing them, and once you hear them, you keep them.
A focused drill plan for Korean speakers
You do not need a general speaking course. You need targeted reps on five things.
- Article shadowing, three minutes. Read short sentences aloud and deliberately stress every "a" and "the." Overdo it on purpose.
- Final-consonant clipping, three minutes. Practice words ending in clusters: asked, desks, world, helped. Cut the ending clean, no extra vowel.
- Sound pairs, three minutes. Pick one pair a day: f/p, v/b, or l/r. Say five minimal pairs five times and record them.
- Plural endings, two minutes. Take five sentences with plurals and exaggerate every final -s.
- One scored Listen and Repeat set. Record it, then check which articles and endings you dropped without noticing.
Do one pattern at a time for a few days before moving on. For a group that already scores well, this kind of narrow, repeated practice is what converts a high four into a five.
See your own leaks in the data
The hard part is that you cannot hear your own dropped articles and endings in the moment, because your first language trained your ear to skip them. If you want to see exactly which words you drop, take a practice test on My Speaking Score at toefl.myspeakingscore.com, or try the free Chicago test, and read your Listen and Repeat responses scored word by word against the target. The dropped "the" and the missing -s show up immediately, which is the fastest way to start keeping them.
Frequently asked questions
Do Korean speakers struggle with TOEFL Speaking?
Less than most groups, actually. In scored Listen and Repeat data, Korean speakers average above the overall average. The challenge is not comprehension, it is a small set of pronunciation and ending habits that cost fractions of a point.
What is the hardest TOEFL Speaking sound for Korean speakers?
The most common issues are the /f/ and /v/ sounds, which Korean does not have, and the /l/ and /r/ distinction, which Korean collapses into one. Final consonant clusters are also difficult, since Korean syllables rarely end that way.
Why do I keep dropping "a" and "the"?
Korean has no articles, so your ear was never trained to expect them and your mouth is not used to producing them. Under the memory load of repeating a sentence, they are the first thing to fall out. Deliberate shadowing with attention on articles fixes it quickly.
Does my Korean accent lower my TOEFL Speaking score?
A Korean accent itself is fine. The scoring technology checks whether your words are recognizable and accurate, not whether you sound native. Points are lost when a sound shift changes the word, like /f/ becoming /p/, or when an ending is dropped, not from the accent itself.
How can Korean speakers raise a TOEFL Speaking score that is already good?
Target the specific leaks: articles, final consonants and clusters, the f/p, v/b, and l/r pairs, and plural endings. Narrow, repeated drills on these convert a strong four into a five faster than general practice.
One clear takeaway: as a Korean speaker, you are not fighting to understand the test, you are fighting to keep the small pieces, the articles, the endings, and a few sounds Korean does not use. Those are trainable in days, and they are exactly what stands between your score and the top band.