IELTS Speaking: How to get a much higher score

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's video, I'm going to talk

about the IELTS exam, so I may speak a little bit faster to help those of you preparing

for the exam get a bit of listening practice as well.

What I want to look at today specifically is the speaking section of the IELTS exam,

and I want to talk about how this particular section of the test is scored, because a lot

of people, when they're preparing for the exam, they're only thinking about, like, vocabulary

and grammar, and they're trying to practice just answering questions they have on, like,

practice tests and all that stuff. But a lot of people forget to understand or to try to

understand what examiners are listening for and how they're creating your score. So, it's

very important to understand the elements of the scoring, and there are four criteria,

four elements of scoring for the speaking section of the IELTS exam. One is fluency

and coherence, and I'm going to talk about each one individually in a moment. Two is

lexical resource, so this is basically how you put everything together and how quickly

you answer and all that. Lexical resource, vocabulary; grammatical range and accuracy,

grammar, and how you, you know, construct your sentences; and of course, pronunciation.

And this is the most misunderstood one, and that's why I'll talk about that last. Now,

before I get into that, it's also very important to remember, when the examiners are listening

to you, when you finish your test, like, let's say 12-15 minutes later, they already have

your score. Sure, somebody else will listen to the recording, because they're recording

you while you're giving your answers, but they already have your score understood. Now,

are they going through each category, like, checking things off as they go? No. In fact,

they're not writing anything. They may make a few notes here and there, but they're not...

They don't have a list of points that they're scoring you on. What they're doing is they

are scoring you holistically, and this is a very important word to remember. Holistic.

What they're doing is they're marking you based on the whole, not the individual parts.

So, they'll give you a whole score, and then later, they will assign scores for each category

based on what they heard and why they gave you the holistic score. So, in other words,

the bottom line is the basic thing you have to remember. All of these things work together.

So, if you're making lexical resource mistakes, like if you're using the wrong vocabulary

or you're forcing some vocabulary in, this will affect your coherence. It may also affect

your fluency. If you're not using the correct part of speech for the vocabulary, you have

a good word, but you're not exactly sure how to form it. Do you need an adjective? Do you

need a verb in this particular case? That's going to affect your GRA score. And, of course,

pronunciation, they have to understand what you're saying first. Okay? So, let's look

at each of these categories in more detail, and then you'll understand how they all work

together.

Okay, so let's start with the first criterion, fluency and coherence. Now, these are sort

of related, but also quite separate. Let's start with fluency. When they talk about fluency

on the IELTS exam, there are two things you need to consider, speed and duration. In terms

of speed, what they're testing is how quickly do you answer the question, right? Because

the quicker you answer it, the more clear it is that you understood the question, and

you're already thinking in English. If you're very slow or very hesitant in answering the

question, they might think, the examiner might think that you are translating the question

in your mind, looking for the words to answer, and then coming out with an answer, right?

So, fluency is about speed, how quickly you do it, because if you're... The more fluent

you are with the language, the less time you need to make that translation. That means

you're already thinking in the language you're using. And duration means how long you're

talking for. So, if you... First of all, right away, one-word answers will lose you points.

Make sure that you expand everything. Make sure you have full sentences. For example,

"Do you like swimming?" "Yes" is not a good answer. "Yes" is not a good answer. "Do you

like swimming?" "Yeah, sure, I like swimming, especially in the summertime, because I live

near the sea and I can go swimming with the waves." Great answer. Why? Because A, you

gave a few details, and B, you actually built a full answer instead of just saying a one-word...

One word that doesn't actually show whether you're fluent or not.

In terms of coherence, this is very similar to the writing section, the coherence and

cohesion part. Coherence, you have to make sure that ideas are connected. So, in terms

of the speaking, this includes both coherence and cohesion. How do your ideas flow? Is your...

Are your answers well organized? Are you making a clear description of your thoughts, your

feelings, your reasonings, your arguments, etc.? Make sure that you're using the correct

connection devices, transitions or linking terms, conjunctions, pronouns, and so on.

So, basically, do it fast, extend it, and make sure that everything works together to

give a complete answer. And that's what they're checking for in this criterion, okay?

Let's look at the... Oh, sorry. One other thing I want to mention, here. There are three parts

to the speaking test. Parts one and three are direct questions. Parts one is just short

questions, short answers, random, everyday topics. Part three is a more focused topic

and more extensive questions, and therefore, more extensive answers. And by extensive,

I mean a little bit deeper discussion of whatever the topic is. So, for example, part one, do

you prefer pens... Do you prefer to write in pen or pencil? Right? So, that's one thing.

Now, a quick little tip about fluency. If you're... If you don't really have ideas about

how to answer, start by rephrasing the question. Don't repeat the question, because that shows

you're taking time to translate. Rephrase it, paraphrase it. So, do you prefer pens

or pencils? Oh, my preference for writing tools would be pencils. So, while you're making

that paraphrase, you have time to think about why you chose pencils, and then give more

examples. So, in other words, parts one and three, what you want to do in terms of fluency

and coherence, don't try to give an essay answer. Think about the essay, but think only

thesis and examples. Thesis means answer the question directly. Answer the question, and

then go right away to give your support. Like, why do you prefer pencils? Because they're

easier to erase if you make mistakes. Boom, done. Next question. And, again, the more

you speak, the less they speak. So, you want to extend these answers. Part two, on the

other hand, they're going to give you that card, and they're going to give you a few

questions on a topic, and you have to... You have one minute to prepare to create an answer...

To answer all of these little questions. This one, think of like a mini-essay. Have an introduction,

a body, and a conclusion. Right? So, lead into the topic, get into all the detailed

questions, and then close it off to give the listener, the examiner, an idea that you're

done. And that's how you're going to get the high fluency and coherence score. Okay?

Okay, so now we're going to look at lexical resource, which is, again, vocabulary, and

grammatical range and accuracy, which, again, is the grammar. So, what we're looking at

is the mechanics of the language. And this is, again, same as writing section, a lot

of people focus too much on these categories, on these criteria, and they think that because

it's an English exam, it's all about the English, it's all about vocab and grammar. But remember,

it's an English exam in terms of English for communication. Always remember that this is

an exam of your ability to communicate, not your ability to memorize English textbooks

or vocabulary lists, etc. So, the main things you want to keep in mind here, and it's same

as the writing section, make sure you have a good variety of not only vocabulary, but

also grammar. So, in other words, don't use the same word often, if you can help it, if

there are clear synonyms. For example, if you're going to use the word "parents", sure,

you're going to use "parents" a few times because it's better than saying "mother" and

"father", "mother" and "father", "mother" and "father" so many times. "Parents" doesn't

have any other synonyms, so use it. But any other word that has plenty of synonyms, try

to use those as well. And in terms of the grammar, don't use only adjective clauses.

"Blah, blah, blah", "which", "blah, blah, blah", "blah, blah, blah", "which", "blah,

blah, blah", "blah, blah, blah", "that", "blah, blah, blah". Don't only use one type

of clause. Try to have a variety of different sentence structures, try to use inversion,

try to use the subjunctive, the causative, all kinds of different things, which will

also help your complexity.

Now, complexity in terms of grammar means not using only simple sentences. Make sure

you have some compound sentences, some complex sentences, make sure you have some irregular

structures and all of this stuff as well. And in terms of vocabulary, it's not... Complexity

doesn't mean big words that you found in some academic word list. Complexity means using

the right word for the right context or the right situation. And as much as possible,

use secondary meanings of words. So, for example, everybody knows the word "shoulder", "this

is my shoulder", but not many people who are taking this exam know that "shoulder" is also

a verb which means to basically carry or hold something heavy, like responsibility. So,

if I'm the oldest in my family, the oldest child in my family, I shoulder the responsibility

of carrying after my elderly parents, for example. Right? Try to use secondary meanings.

Usage, and I've seen this so many times, people are trying to impress with their big words

and they don't realize that the way they are using this particular word doesn't actually

work in terms of what they're trying to say. If you're not 100% sure of the meaning and

usage of a word, don't use it, and certainly don't memorize lists. And the same thing goes

with accuracy. Accuracy in terms of both grammar and vocab, and again, usage in terms of both

grammar and vocab, means using it very correctly for the situation it is in. Sometimes you're

using the right word, you're not using it in the right form, for example, like the part

of speech, or sometimes you have... The word is somewhat related to your topic, but it

doesn't fit the sentence you're trying to use it in. Right? So, be very careful about

that.

Which also all comes together to natural use. And it's very, very important that everybody

understands. Examiners know when you've memorized words, when you've memorized expressions,

when you've memorized a sentence structure. I've seen so many times, and I've heard so

many times, especially for some reason, people always try to force in the not only blah,

blah, blah, but something blah, blah, blah, that inverted sentence. For some reason, people

think it's going to get them extra points. If it has a use in what you're saying, use

it. If you're putting it in there just to put it in there, the examiners will know this,

and you will actually lose points, not gain points. Make sure you're using things naturally,

and if natural use means being simple, then be simple. Better to be simple and correct

than trying to force language in and not making any sense at all, and the whole... Your whole

answer falls apart, and your whole test falls apart. Keep that in mind. Okay? So, that's

these two.

Let's look at the last one, pronunciation, which is everybody's most feared criterion.

Okay, so now we're going to look at pronunciation. Now, the first thing that I have to make very,

very clear to you is that pronunciation does not mean accent. Pronunciation is one thing;

your accent is another thing. First of all, you're not going to lose your accent before

the exam. You will probably not lose your accent after the exam, or ever for most people.

If you're starting to learn English and speak English at an older age, you will probably

always have some accent from your mother tongue, so don't worry about your accent. Pronunciation

means saying words in a way that I, or the examiner, can understand what you're saying.

Right? So, the key is to be understood, not to sound like a native speaker of whatever

country you're in. Right? For example, the word "height". If you say "height", then in

the context of the sentence, depending on the sentence, I might not understand the whole

sentence because you mispronounced one word. If you say "height", right away I know that

you don't actually know this word. You just... You saw it somewhere, and you're saying it

like it looks. You don't actually know what this word is. So, again, make sure that you're

saying the words the way they're supposed to be said. That's one part of it.

The other part is the use of certain techniques. They want to know that you can speak, not

necessarily like a native speaker, but that you at least are aware of the things that

native speakers do, and you probably do in your own language, in your home... In your

mother tongue. So, for example, things like elision or assimilation. So, for example,

you don't say "black coffee". You say "black coffee". You drop that first "ck". And you

don't say "at it". You say "at it". You blend that consonant and vowel. These are all parts

of the pronunciation. So, there's pronunciation for individual words, and then there's pronunciation

for words in a sentence, how they work together. This is what they're testing you in terms

of the scoring, and this is what you have to pay a little bit of attention to.

So, now, when you're preparing to take the exam, when you're doing your practice at home,

it's very, very important that you record yourself. Right? Record yourself, like just

take an article, take a paragraph from a newspaper article, and just read it out loud while recording

yourself. Ideally, if you can find someone speaking, like a native speaker, speaking

in English, and you have a transcript, watch it, listen, read along with the transcript,

and then record yourself reading the transcript. And then compare your speaking to the native

speaker's. Now, you're not going to be like the native speaker, but you can figure out

where you're making pronunciation mistakes in terms of how a word is spoken, or stressed,

or enunciated, etc. Those are the things you can do to help yourself practice, because

the examiners are listening for it.

So, now, going back to that whole idea of holistic scoring, if you can't say this word,

you're already losing a pronunciation point, possibly. If because you can't say this word,

I don't understand that sentence that you used it in, then you're already losing, like,

fluency and coherence score, because I'm not actually sure what you're saying, and I'm

not sure if you're, like, got caught translating, etc. And because maybe I don't get the word,

maybe you put the wrong word in there, so your lexical resource score and your grammar

score all go down, because that sentence doesn't work mechanically, structurally. So, this

one mistake can cost you points in all the criteria, right? And that's what holistic

reading is. So, don't focus on any one score.

And another thing to remember, all four criteria are worth a complete score. Each one is worth

25%. So, pronunciation is as important as lexical resource. Both are as important as

fluency and etc. Every category, every criterion is equal. Make sure you're focusing on the

whole package, not just one or two. Not just grammar, just vocabulary. Okay? It's a communications

test. Make sure you can communicate. Okay? So, that's basically all you need to know

here. If you have any questions, please go to www.engvid.com, and you can ask in the

comments section there. And there is a quiz. Go take the quiz, review all of this information,

make sure you're ready for the IELTS speaking test. Okay?

Now, if you like this video, give me a like. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel, and

come back next time, I'll give you some more IELTS tips, and TOEFL tips, and English, general

English tips to help you improve. See you then. Bye-bye.