Basics: practice types · pipelines · scenarios
How practice types, pipelines, and scenarios work together—and how they relate to the five student Speaking tabs.
Audience: Teachers / Organization admins · Applies to: SaaS / private
Goal: Distinguish three configuration concepts that are often confused, and understand how they map to the five tabs under Speaking in the student App.
The five student tabs—Self practice, To-do, Speaking tasks, Multi-party dialogue, and Speaking exam—are entry points. Practice type, scenario, and pipeline describe how a practice session is configured. To-do is not a practice type. Free speaking is a practice mode available in Self practice.
If you already know the student tabs, skip to “Three concepts.” If you only need to know where students practice, start with Speaking tabs overview.
Three concepts
| Concept | What students notice | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Practice type (practice mode) | “What kind of practice am I doing?” | Conversation format: free speaking, scenario practice, dialogue, exam, and more |
| Scenario | “What topic am I practicing?” | Goal, situation, and suggested language, such as self-introduction or ordering at a restaurant |
| Practice pipeline | Normally not selected directly | Capabilities behind the session, such as correction, scoring, pronunciation feedback, or exam proctoring rules |
End users mainly select a practice type + scenario and, where relevant, a role or persona. Platform defaults and organization policy determine the pipeline; users do not select individual Agents.
How these concepts map to the five Speaking tabs
The five tabs under Student App → Speaking are entry surfaces. They are not another set of practice types.
| Student tab | What it is | Relationship to practice types |
|---|---|---|
| Self practice | Student-directed practice | Students select a practice type + scenario within organization policy |
| To-do | Teacher-assigned task inbox | Does not correspond to a practice type; opening a task routes to its task page |
| Speaking tasks | Everyday teacher-assigned speaking work | Hosts free-speaking, scenario, dialogue, role-play, pronunciation, and similar task types |
| Multi-party dialogue | Multi-role conversation surface | Mainly hosts the Multi-party dialogue practice type |
| Speaking exam | Formal assessment surface | Hosts the Speaking exam practice type, usually with a formal-exam pipeline |
Important distinctions:
- Entries and practice types are separate: Free speaking is a practice type, not a student tab name.
- A teacher selects a practice type and scenario. The student opens the task from To-do and is routed to the matching entry.
- Pipelines are configured by the organization or platform and are normally hidden from students.
Common practice types
Practice types without their own tab run in Self practice or Speaking tasks.
| Practice type | Best for | Typical student entry |
|---|---|---|
| Free speaking | Open topics and self-directed speaking | Speaking → Self practice or a routed to-do |
| Scenario practice | A fixed situation and target language | Speaking → Self practice |
| Voice dialogue | Multi-turn conversation with AI | Speaking → Self practice |
| Role play | Scenario plus a stronger role or persona | Speaking → Self practice |
| Pronunciation drill | Repetition and pronunciation feedback | Speaking → Self practice |
| Pre-exam mini practice | Everyday practice aligned with an exam format, with corrections allowed | Speaking → Self practice or a routed to-do |
| Multi-party dialogue | Multiple roles taking turns | Speaking → Multi-party dialogue |
| Speaking exam | Formal assessment with stricter rules | Speaking → Speaking exam |
The actual list is the intersection of organization practice policy ∩ platform capabilities. If an option is missing, see Roles and boundaries.
How scenarios work
- The platform maintains the global scenario catalog.
- The organization selects scenarios that its users may access.
- The teacher selects a scenario when assigning a task and may set a class default.
- Students may select scenarios during free practice only when the organization allows self-directed practice.
How to think about pipelines
Teachers normally do not select a pipeline when assigning a task, and students normally do not see one. Pipelines are primarily for organization and platform configuration.
| Typical pipeline | Approximate capabilities | Common surface |
|---|---|---|
| Standard practice | Dialogue + correction + scoring | Self practice / Speaking tasks |
| Pronunciation-enabled | Standard practice + pronunciation feedback | Pronunciation-focused work, mostly in Self practice / Speaking tasks |
| Formal exam | Dialogue + scoring, with correction prompts normally disabled | Speaking exam |
Organizations may set a default pipeline and an allowed set within the platform's enabled capabilities. See Organization practice policy.
When assigning a task
- Confirm that the organization has enabled the required practice type.
- Select a scenario when the task needs a specific situation.
- For an exam, complete the exam fields such as time limit and passing score.
- Do not select low-level Agents individually.
- After publication, students see the task under Speaking → To-do and open the matching surface.
See Assign speaking tasks and Assign speaking exams.