IELTS Speaking Preparation Notes: Overview

IELTS Speaking Test

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Overview of the IELTS Speaking Test 1 Talking about the candidate The examiner asks the candidate questions about his / her life, interests and opinions. The candidate answers the questions, speaking as much as possible. The questions are about facts, plans and opinions.

2 The candidate makes a presentation The examiner gives the candidate a topic to talk about. The candidate thinks about the topic in silence for 1 minute. The candidate speaks for more than 1 and less than 2 minutes. Only the candidate talks. The examiner doesn’t say anything.

3 The candidate and the examiner discuss First, the examiner asks the candidate to discuss aspects of the topic used in Part 2 in more depth. The examiner may speak. Then, the examiner asks some more general discussion questions.

Opening Part

1. tell your full name
2. what shall I call you
3. where you are from
4. see your identification

IELTS Speaking Test: Examiner Script

Examiner opens door. Candidate is invited to enter and sit down. Recording is actioned.

Examiner: Good afternoon. My name is [first name and surname]. Can you tell me your full name please? Examiner: Thank you. And what shall I call you? Examiner: And can you tell me where you are from? Examiner: Can I see your identification, please? Examiner Thank you, that’s fine. Examiner: Now in this first part, I’d like to ask you some questions about yourself.

Part 1: 4-5 min

Introduction

questions about yourself & everyday subjects:

• country

• hometown

• family

• studies/work

• things you like & dislike

• free-time activities

• future plan

be natural answer with two to three sentences give details, explain why

1 Let’s talk about your home town or village.

a) Do you like where you live now? (Why / why not?)

b) How long have you lived there?

c) Are you friends with your neighbours in this place? (Why / why not?)

d) Do you think it’s a good place to live? ( Why / why not?)

2 Let’s talk about learning languages.

a) How many languages can you speak?

b) How long have you been learning English?

c) What activity do you find most useful for learning English? (Why?)

d) What do you find most difficult about learning English? (Why?)

Longer answers are always better.

If you can use past, present, future and conditionals in your answers, you will get good marks!

Part 2: 1-2 min

Topic card with subject about you and your personal experience:

• person you know

• palce you have been to

• object you want

• event or thing

1 minute to prepare for your talk, take notes or draw a mind map

speak for at least one minute and thirty seconds or the full two minutes.

relevant & well-structured

ask you one or two questions on your talk

IELTS Speaking Test: Examiner Script

Thank you. In this next section, I’m going to give you a topic and I’d like you to speak about it for 1 to 2 minutes.  Before you speak you will have a minute to think about what you are going to say, and you can make some notes if you wish. 

Do you understand?

Here is a pencil and some paper,  

EXAMINER hands paper and pencil to student

and here is your topic. Please don’t write anything on this card. 

EXAMINER hands topic card to student.

I’d like you to describe an event or situation that made you laugh.

Pause in silence for 60 seconds.

Alright? Remember, you have 1 to 2 minutes for this, so don’t worry if I stop you. I’ll tell you when the time is up. Can you start speaking now?

EXAMINER stays silent for at least 60 seconds, and for no more than 120 seconds.

The topic card has two elements. First, there is a sentence which tells you the topic. This sentence always starts with “I’d like you to describe…”. Then there are additional questions about the topic. 

These additional questions always start with “You should say” and always have three points. 

Don’t forget: you must talk about all the points.

Examples of Topic Cards

First example:

I’d like you to describe a journey that you found particularly memorable.

You should say:

     - where you were going and when
     - how you travelled
     - who else was involved

and explain why you found it so memorable.

Second example:

I’d like you to describe an event or situation that made you laugh.

You should say:

     - what happened and when
     - where you were
     - who else was involved

and explain why you found it so funny.

Part 3: 4-5 min

general questions related to the subject area in part 2 these questions are not about you or your personal experience

speculate or make predictions

give and justify (both your own and other people’s) opinions

First in Task 3, the examiner will ask you to discuss in more depth some aspects of your topic from Task 2. As usual in the Speaking Test, the examiner has a standard script. The examiner will say:

Thank you. Can I have the topic card, the pencil and the piece of paper back, please? Thank you.
Well, we’ve been talking about ……… [ A ] ……… , and now I’d like to discuss one or two more general questions relating to this.
So let’s consider first of all ……… [ B ] ………

In space [ A ], the examiner will say the topic from Part 2, and in space [ B ] the examiner will give you a more general but related topic. For example, if the topic from Part 2 was your favourite films, then in space [B] the examiner could say entertainment and leisure.

Marking Criteria

Fluency and Coherence

General advice: In the IELTS test, 25% of your marks come from the criterion ‘Fluency and Coherence’. This criterion focuses on how easy it is for the examiner to understand your ideas. Generally, if you speak naturally and connect your ideas well, you will get a better score.

For ‘Fluency’, think about how quickly and naturally you speak. It should be neither too fast nor too slow. Also, ask yourself: how well do you manage what you’re saying? Does your speech have a lot of long pauses? Do you repeat words?
For ‘Coherence’, think about how easy it is for the examiner to follow and understand what you’re saying. Do you present your ideas in a logical way? Do you connect your sentences with linking words such as ‘because’, ‘but’ and ‘so’?

When you study for the IELTS test, learn how to use linking words to explain your ideas clearly. Learn phrases that can give you time to think about what to say next, such as “That’s an interesting question”, or “well”.

Fluency:

• repetition

• self-correction

• hesitation

Coherence:

• develop ideas logically

• use cohesive devices

How to improve your

• Fluency

  • no quick solution

  • practice speaking every day

  • especially speak a lot in English the day before the exam

• Coherence

  • use explanations and examples to develop your ideas

  • use a variety of cohesive devices

Developing your Answers

Where do you live?

I live in a town called Schwarzenberg in Switzerland. It’s about 40 minutes from Lucerne. It’s quite a small town but it’s got some stunning views.

What is the biggest environmental problem in your country?

Air pollution is a big problem. So many people drive cars to work instead of taking public transport so the air becomes really polluted. I cycled to work last week and it was really hard to breathe because of all the exhaust fumes. I think it’s awful and the government should build more cycle lanes or introduce restrictions on drivers.

Ways of developing your answer:

• describe or explain

• give an example

• talk about your opinion or feelings

Using Cohesive Devices

What are cohesive devices?

• pronouns - he / she / it / us / them / etc

• articles - a / an / the

• demonstratives - this / that / these / those

• linking words - and / but / so

• quantifiers - some of them / all of them / many of which / a few of which

• synonyms - big $\to$ large / company $\to$ business

Different types of linking words:

	and	but	so
Formal	Furthermore / Moreover / In addition	Nevertheless / Conversely	As a result / Consequently, / Therefore,
Neutral	What’s more / As well as	However / On the other hand / whereas / although / while	-
Informal	Plus / Also / On top of that / And what’s more	Still / Having said that / That being said	That means / which means

Where can you use them?

• connect two parts of one sentence

• connect two sentences

Pronunciation

General advice: In the IELTS test, 25% of your marks come from the criterion ‘Pronunciation’. This criterion focuses on how easy it is for the examiner to understand the words you say. Generally, if you speak clearly and naturally, you will get a better score.

The ‘Pronunciation’ criterion includes how you say individual sounds, words, sentences and more. Are you able to clearly form the sounds in a word? Do you stress the correct syllables in words? Do you connect your words correctly in your phrases and sentences? Do you break longer sentences into the correct chunks? Do you speak with the correct rhythm, sentence stress and intonation?

Pronunciation does not include accent. You are not expected to speak with a British, American, Australian or other native accent. Your own accent is perfectly fine - as long as you are using correct elements of English pronunciation.

When you study for the IELTS test, learn which syllable is stressed in a word, and which words are typically stressed in a sentence. Find examples of native or advanced speech and pay attention to the speaker’s pronunciation. Record yourself speaking, and compare your recording to that of a native or advanced speaker.

Pronunciation

• pronunciation features

• intelligibility

Pronunciation Features

What are pronunciation features?

• phonemes - hat / hot // hit / heat // bat / pat // very / berry // etc

• word stress - We made good PROgress(noun) with techNOlogy / I’m proGRESSing(verb) well.

• weak forms - articles / prepositions / auxiliary verbs

• sentence stress - I hardly ever take the bus to school.

• intonation - You’re James, aren’t you?

• catenation - Have you got it all?

• intrusion - /w/ go (w)on / /j/ I (y)am / /r/ tuna (r)and mayo

• assimilation - Have you seen(seem) Bob?

• elision - He lives next door.

Intelligibility

What does intelligibility mean?

Intelligibility is a word which means how well another person can understand what you are saying.

What can affect intelligibility?

• NOT a slight accent

• a strong accent

• mistakes with the features of pronunciation, particularly word and sentence stress, and weak forms.

How can you improve pronunciation?

• listen to lots of English - TV, podcasts, online practice

• copy, record yourself and listen again

• watch people’s mouths

• look at and feel your mouth

• learn your own common mistakes

• repetition is essential

• be patient

Vocabulary and Grammar

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

General advice: In the IELTS test, 25% of your marks come from the criterion ‘Grammatical Range and Accuracy’. This criterion focuses on your range of grammar and how accurately you use it. Generally, if you have accurate use of a wide range of grammatical structures, you will get a better score.

‘Range’ means the variety of grammatical structures you use. Make sure you use a combination of different tenses and structures. Try to use more complex sentences with more than one clause. To get a better range, you should also include a variety of structures, such as comparatives, conditional forms, modal verbs or passive forms.

‘Accuracy’ means how well you use these structures. For example, make sure you use the correct verb tense (present simple, past simple, present perfect, and so on) and word order in your sentences.

When you study for the IELTS test, learn which tenses (present simple, present continuous, etc.) are used for what reasons. Think about how you can use a range of grammar structures in the test. For example, if the examiner asks you about your hobbies, you can use both present tenses (to explain what the hobbies are and how often you do them) and past tenses (to explain when you started doing the hobbies) in your answer.

• complex structures

• flexibility

• number of mistakes

Complex sentence: A sentence made from two or more clauses connected by a linking word.

Clause: Part of a sentence containing a subject and a verb.

Complex linking words

Linking words - while / where / when / who / which / because / so / therefore / and / but / if / that / etc

Common complex grammatical structures

• conditionals

• relative clauses

• participle clauses

• sentences with ‘that’

• reported speech

Grammatical Range

• tenses - present / past

• aspects - perfect / continuous

• future forms

• passives

• conditionals - if clauses

• participle clauses - -ing clauses

• inversions

• relative clauses - which / who / where / etc

• modal structures - may / might / could / may have / might have / could have

• emphatic structures / cleft sentences

• reported speech

Lexical Resource

General advice: In the IELTS test, 25% of your marks come from the criterion ‘Lexical Resource’. This criterion focuses on the range of vocabulary you use and the level of accuracy. Generally, if you have a wider range of vocabulary and you use it correctly, you will get a better score.

To improve your range, try to use synonyms to avoid repeating the same words. Learn different forms of words; for example, ‘decide’ the verb and ‘decision’ the noun. To improve your accuracy, make sure you use the correct form of the word in your sentences. Learn collocation: words which are commonly used together, for example “cause” and “damage”; or “leave” and “school”. Revise dependent prepositions: what preposition is needed after certain words, for example “depend on”.

When you study for the IELTS test, it is a good idea to use your notebook or vocabulary record to write down common collocations, or words that belong in a particular topic such as ‘the environment’. In part 3 of the speaking test, you have to answer questions about the world in general, so learn words and phrases to talk about topics such as education, technology, and so on. Try creating mind maps with your vocabulary. This will make it easier to remember the vocabulary in your exam.

• less common vocabulary

  • idiomatic vocabulary and phrases

  • less known collocations

• make meaning clear

• paraphrase well

Examples:

1. I enjoyed it a lot.

   I had a whale of a time!

2. I felt very happy.

   I was absolutely over-the-moon!

3. I’m very busy at work.

   I’m completely snowed under.

4. It’s hard to earn enough money to survive.

   It’s tricky to make ends meet.

5. I sometimes go swimming in the sea.

   I go for a dip every now and then/again.

Paraphrasing

• Synonyms

• Word families