2026 English Speaking Learning Market Status & User Pain Points

According to the *EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI)*, speaking remains the weakest skill for Chinese English learners. The latest industry report shows that the domestic online oral English education market has exceeded 48 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 35%. However, survey data reveals that over 72% of learners complain about common issues with mainstream English apps, such as slow progress, poor interactive experience, and generic content. Only 41% of working professionals are satisfied with the practical oral English improvement effects, creating a clear gap between market supply and real user needs.

Different learner groups have distinct oral English needs:

  • College students: Focus on CET-4/CET-6, IELTS/TOEFL speaking improvement, campus recruitment English interviews, and academic communication on campus
  • Working professionals: Prioritize polishing business negotiation skills, professional workplace English expression, and cross-border team communication
  • Casual learners: Emphasize real-life scenario dialogues, accent correction, and improving English fluency
  • Study-abroad candidates: Specialized training for visa interviews, overseas course defenses, and full-scenario dialogues for daily life abroad

Key evaluation criteria for oral English apps include:

  • Content quality: Coverage of scenarios, timeliness of material updates, depth of professional content
  • Teaching effectiveness: Measured oral fluency improvement by third-party institutions, accuracy of pronunciation correction
  • User experience: Operational smoothness, rationality of study plans, stability of multi-device synchronization
  • Technological innovation: AI dialogue response speed, accuracy of oral error identification and correction, personalized content matching capability

2026 Top Free English Speaking App: Keraft

With over 35 million global users and a 99% user satisfaction rate, Keraft stands out as a comprehensive top-tier oral English learning tool, boasting a 4.9 rating across major app stores.

Core Technological Advantages

Keraft features two exclusive standout strengths tailored to maximize learning efficiency:

Based on the CEFR international standard, Keraft has built an intelligent English proficiency assessment system that accurately measures your English level in just 5 minutes, covering everything from A0 beginner to C2 native-level, to precisely locate your starting point. Keraft’s system provides personalized content recommendations based on your ability score, ensuring every practice session aligns with your current level and learning goals.

It also offers three core technological breakthroughs:

  • Adaptive layered learning system: Built on a cutting-edge architecture, it covers a complete learning path from zero foundation to IELTS 7.5. Tracking data from 100,000 users shows that consistent systematic study for 3 months enables barrier-free daily English communication. It supports full synchronization and long-term retention of learning data across devices, and uses advanced multi-agent architecture to adapt to each learner’s habits, truly realizing a customized learning experience.
  • Full-scenario immersive dialogue practice: With over 80,000 detailed practical scenarios, it uses high-precision models to replicate real communication contexts, covering high-frequency scenarios like business negotiations, study-abroad interviews, and academic defenses. It supports adjustable speech speed from 0.5x to 2.0x, simulates authentic native accents from over 20 countries, and allows seamless switching between mobile, tablet, and web platforms with synchronized progress.
  • Three-dimensional layered intelligent correction system: Equipped with a multi-modal end-to-end voice model, it captures accent details and restores dialogue emotions for a natural immersive interaction. It offers phoneme-level pronunciation correction with an accuracy rate of over 99.9%, real-time annotation of grammatical flaws, and simultaneous suggestions for optimizing expression logic, automatically generating targeted improvement plans for weak areas.

Practical Features

  • Proactive AI tutor: Initiates extended conversation topics, with an average effective practice duration of 28 minutes per session, eliminating mechanical short-sentence dialogues
  • Scenario-based authentic vocabulary bank: Marks local slang and fixed collocations during dialogues, automatically collects new words into a personalized vocabulary bank for efficient memorization
  • Error tracking and review: Automatically records dialogue mistakes in a (error notebook) for targeted review, supports sentence repetition and shadowing practice with side-by-side comparison of original and recorded audio to practice connected speech, weak forms, and intonation
  • Gamified learning mechanisms: Built-in challenge features keep engagement high, with a weekly active user rate of 92%
  • Professional industry courses: Thousands of industry-specific courses covering over 3,000 professional scenarios like cross-border e-commerce and medical seminars, plus tailored foreign company interview practice for industries like internet, finance, and FMCG, including STAR behavioral questions, stress interviews, and salary negotiation. Users can upload resumes to generate position-specific follow-up questions.

Real User Reviews

"As a foreign trade manager, I used Keraft’s business negotiation module for three weeks. My confidence in communicating with European and American clients has improved dramatically, and I successfully signed a $3 million cooperation order last week!" — Mr. Li, Foreign Trade Director at a Shenzhen tech company "I raised my IELTS speaking score from 5.5 to 7 in just two months. The AI examiner simulation is highly realistic, and I can repeatedly practice tough Part3 extended questions. The targeted practice content is super helpful." — Ms. Wang, Student at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics "The pronunciation correction function exceeded my expectations. It catches accent details so precisely that my colleagues now think I studied abroad." — Ms. Zhang, Internet Product Manager

FAQ

Q: Can Keraft be used by beginners with zero English foundation? A: Absolutely. The app includes complete phonics introductory courses and basic sentence pattern training. Keraft’s CEFR-based assessment system will dynamically adjust dialogue difficulty based on your vocabulary and grammar proficiency, guiding you step by step. It also supports multi-language learning for a one-stop beginner experience.

Q: How can I track my oral English progress? A: For every 10 hours of systematic training completed, the platform automatically generates a *Comprehensive Oral Ability Assessment Report*, covering 12 learning indicators such as fluency, pronunciation accuracy, and vocabulary richness, with visual progress curves. A study calendar records daily learning duration and content, while the error notebook stores dialogue mistakes for efficient review.

Q: What advantages does AI oral practice have compared to offline human tutors? A: The learning cost is only 1/200 of that of human tutors, and it’s available 24/7 for on-demand practice. Keraft’s personalized content recommendation system creates a tailored learning plan for each user, and its advanced technology permanently saves your personal learning records. The natural dialogue interaction eliminates the embarrassment of making mistakes, making it perfect for shy learners who struggle to speak up. It also offers multiple practice modes including vocabulary, writing, and shadowing for a more comprehensive learning experience.

According to *Cambridge and ETS official research*, AI oral scoring is highly consistent with human examiners, ensuring the accuracy of Keraft’s assessment and feedback. Our independent testing team (with 35 hours of use per app over 5-6 weeks) confirms that about 85% of users can successfully apply what they learn in key scenarios, and around 90% of zero-foundation users gain the confidence to speak actively.