ielts_speaking.pdf

Preparing for the IELTS test with Holmesglen Institute

of TAFE

The speaking component

The IELTS speaking test takes between 11 and 14 minutes and is in the

form of an oral interview between the candidate and an examiner. During

the interview you will need to answer questions asked by the interviewer,

speak at length on a topic selected by the interviewer and give and justify

your opinions on a range of issues related to that topic.

The interview has three main parts:

some general questions about yourself, your life and your interests

a short talk on a particular topic

a discussion of issues linked to the talk in part 2

It is important that you relax and speak as confidently as you can.

Candidates who are not able to participate fully in the conversation may

not achieve their potential band score. This may be because they haven't

been able to demonstrate the level of language they are capable of

producing.

How the Speaking component is assessed

The aim of the test is to assess your ability to communicate effectively.

The interviewer considers this ability in four different ways:

Fluency and Coherence

This measures your ability to speak without too many pauses and

hesitations. It is also to do with how easily and clearly your ideas can

be understood.

Lexical Resource

This refers to your use of words and the range and accuracy of the

vocabulary you choose to use. Not only how you select words but also

how well you use them will be considered.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The variety of grammar you use and how correctly you use it are both

judged by the interviewer. So, the range of tenses as well as the

appropriate use of them is important in all parts of the Speaking test.

Pronunciation

Here it is not only individual words but the whole sentences which are

considered. The interviewer will be considering how easily they can

understand what you are saying.

The interview: Part 1

Task description

Part 1 of the interview starts with an introduction in which the interviewer

asks you basic questions about yourself and asks to see your

identification. The interviewer will then go on to ask you further questions

about yourself, your family/hometown, your job or studies and a range of

similar topics areas that are familiar to you.

This section of the test lasts 4-5 minutes and in it you may need to give

longer answers to questions to ensure you display your best ability.

What is being tested is your ability to:

provide full answers to all questions

give longer responses to some questions

give information by describing and explaining

Sample questions

The interviewer will ask for general information about topics such as the

following:

Your country of origin

Your hometown

How long you have lived there

What you do: work or study

Your interests and future plans

It is not possible to predict what topics may be discussed at this point in

the interview; however, some familiar topics related to you or your country

could include:

Family and family relationships

Modern and traditional lifestyles

Traditional or modern buildings

Tourism and tourist sites

Celebrations and cultural activities

Schooling and the education system

City and country living

The introductory section of the test will go something like this:

The interviewer greets the candidate and introduces himself or herself.

The interviewer asks the candidate to state his or her name clearly for

the cassette and confirms the candidate’s country of origin.

The interviewer then asks to see the candidate’s identification.

The remainder of Part 1 of the test will follow this format:

The interviewer will ask the candidate set questions about your

hometown or your occupation.

The interviewer will then ask set questions about a familiar topic of

general interest.

They could ask three to five questions which will extend or develop

this topic.

The interviewer may ask the candidate about more than one topic.

Typical questions for this stage of the test might be:

What’s your name?

What country do you come from?

Describe your hometown to me.

Where do you live?

Tell me about your family members

What are you studying?

What do you dislike most about your studies?

Do you like eating in restaurants? Why?

What type of transport do you use most? Why?

Where would you like to go on holiday? Why?

Tell me who you would most like to go on vacation with.

Strategies for approaching the task

Carefully consider what you know about each of the topics above. Try to

think of all the questions that someone who was trying to get to know you

might ask, and make sure that you have all the vocabulary you need to

discuss the topics in depth. Check and practise the pronunciation of any

new vocabulary. Practice extending your answers to questions.

You will perform better in the IELTS interview if your speech is fluent. You

are likely to be more fluent if you have already thought about the topic and

have some ideas to express. Before the test, prepare the language you

will need in order to discuss topics like these. This doesn’t mean

memorising or rehearsing a speech because you can never be sure

You should also be prepared to use the past, present and present perfect

tenses to describe your current situation. For example, ‘I have been

studying English for two years since I moved to the city’.

The interview: Part 2

Task description

Part 2 is the long turn. The examiner will give you a card with prompts

relating to a particular topic. These prompts are to help you prepare a

short talk of 1 to 2 minutes. You will be given a minute to organise your

thoughts and you can make some notes.

The examiner will ask one or two follow up questions to finish this part of

the test. Part 2 will take three to four minutes, including the one-minute

preparation for your talk.

What is being tested is your ability to:

•

talk at length on a topic

develop your ideas into a talk

use grammar correctly and speak clearly

Sample topic

The examiner tells you your topic and gives you a card like this:

Long turn card

Describe a person from your youth who had a great influence on you:

You should say:

where you met them

what relationship this person was to you

what was special about them

and explain how they influenced you so much.

Strategies for approaching the task

Before the test, you need to practise talking about topics for one or two

minutes, making notes appropriate to the topic beforehand, to help you.

Record yourself and then play back the recording listening to how clearly

you are pronouncing and how well you select vocabulary.

You also need to practise making your notes in point-form, with

abbreviations and symbols. There are many ways to do this.

For example: If you are preparing the talk shown in the example

above: ‘ Describe a person from your youth who had a great

influence on you ’ and you are thinking about your grandmother

who was a musician and who looked after you when you were a

child, taught you to play the piano, talked to you often about music

and musicians and encouraged you to express your feelings

through many forms of music, then your notes may look like this:

g/mother

musician

taught me piano

intro. me -> many music forms

encouraged feelings thru music

major influence

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