Unit 5: Speaking

The speaking test takes 11-14 minutes and consists of an interview with an examiner.

The interview is recorded.

The speaking test has three parts:

Examiner introduces him/herself and checks your

Part 1 name.
Introduction and 4–5 minutes
interview The examiner then asks you questions on general
topics.
Examiner gives you a written task card. You have 1
minute to think (take notes) before you will have to
Part 2 3–4 minutes
speak for 1–2 minutes.
Individual long (including 1 minute
turn preparation time)
Examiner asks some questions at the end of your
talk.
Part 3 Discuss with the examiner more abstract issues and
Two-way concepts which are thematically linked to the topic 4–5 minutes
discussion of your talk in Part 2.

How is the speaking component assessed?

Marking and Assessment:

IELTS examiners all hold relevant teaching qualifications and are recruited as examiners
by the test centres and approved by the British Council or IDP: IELTS Australia. Detailed
performance descriptors have been developed which describe spoken performance at
the nine IELTS bands, based on the following criteria.

Fluency and Coherence refers to the ability to talk with normal levels of continuity,
rate and effort and to link ideas and language together to form coherent, connected
speech. The key indicators of fluency are speech rate and speech continuity. The key
indicators of coherence are logical sequencing of sentences; clear marking of stages in
a discussion, narration or argument; and the use of cohesive devices (e.g. connectors,
pronouns and conjunctions) within and between sentences.

Lexical Resource refers to the range of vocabulary the candidate can use and the
precision with which meanings and attitudes can be expressed. The key indicators are
the variety of words used, the adequacy and appropriacy of the words used and the
ability to circumlocute (get round a vocabulary gap by using other words) with or
without noticeable hesitation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy refers to the range and the accurate and
appropriate use of the candidate’s grammatical resource. The key indicators of
grammatical range are the length and complexity of the spoken sentences, the
appropriate use of subordinate clauses, and the range of sentence structures, especially
to move elements around for information focus. The key indicators of grammatical
accuracy are the number of grammatical errors in a given amount of speech and the
communicative effect of error.

Pronunciation refers to the ability to produce comprehensible speech to fulfill the

speaking test requirements. The key indicators will be the amount of strain caused to
the listener, the amount of speech which is unintelligible and the noticeability of L1 (the
candidates first language) influence.

Each contributes 25% of your total IELTS speaking score.

You will be awarded bands 0-9 in full and halves. E.g. 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5… This is calculated as an
average of your scores in all four assessment criteria, to the nearest score.

For example, if you score:

FC LR GRA P Total speaking score

6 7 7 7 6.5

Useful links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2SI0twnNEN8

https://www.britishcouncil.in/blog/top-tips-get-better-ielts-speaking-score#:~:text=IELTS%20speaking%20band
%20descriptor&text=The%20band%20descriptors%20explain%20how,Grammatical%20Range%20and%20Accuracy

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/test-format

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/assessing-learning/articles/evaluating-
speaking-ielts-speaking

https://ielts.idp.com/results/scores/speaking

Question types and common IELTS speaking topics

 Part In this part, the examiner will ask questions related to your life. This
1 section includes familiar topics and the questions are factual in nature.
You are expected to answer giving more information related to the topic.
For example, give reasons for your choice and actions. Take care not to
over-stretch your responses. Common topics in this section are related
to: family, friends, work/study, holidays, lifestyle, habits, likes & dislikes,
hobbies & interests, etc.

Part In this part, you are given a topic, or a task card, and you need to give a
2 talk, or a monologue, for 1 to 2 minutes. Before beginning to speak, you
are given one minute to plan your speech. Make sure you utilise this one
minute judiciously and plan what you want to talk about. Topics in these
task cards usually focus on familiar or personal areas, such as your
experience of something, such as - vacation, memorable incident / event
/ person, meeting an ideal person, milestone life event, etc.

Part In this part, the examiner will ask you questions which are more abstract
3 in nature. These questions are thematically and broadly linked to the
topic given in part 2. You are expected to respond on the basis of your
knowledge and experience. Example of how the topic could be linked to
task card: Task 2: Your favourite holiday destination Task 3: Why are
holidays important? How can tourism help a country's economy? Etc

Make sure the length of the answers is longer than those in part 1. This
is also your last chance to display the range of your language; make the
most of this opportunity to give evidence of your language proficiency.

Unit 6: Listening
Timing

Allow approximately 30 minutes for the IELTS Listening test. An additional 10 minutes is
allowed for answers to be transferred from the question booklet to an answer sheet.

Four sections

The IELTS Listening test contains four sections listed below with a brief description of
each section.

Section Description

Listen to an everyday conversation between two people engaged in a social situation.

1
Ex: A conversation at a hotel.

Listen to a monologue recounted in a typical social situation. Ex: A speech at a public

2
event.

Listen to a conversation between four people in an educational or training situation. Ex

3
A university tutor and students discussing an assignment.

4 Listen to a monologue of an academic topic. Ex: A university lecture.

Testing procedure will follow these steps for each section:

 Listen to recorded instructions.

 A sample question for a section will be given.
 Read the questions for the section.
 Listen to the section.
 Answer the questions.
 Final 10 minutes to transfer answers onto your answer sheet.

NOTE: You will only hear each section one time.

Questions

There will be 40 questions on the test in a variety of formats, such as:

 multiple choice
 plan, map or diagram labelling
 form, table or flow-chart completion
 short answers

Marking
Each correct answer receives one mark.

Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS 9-band scale. Scores are reported in whole
and half bands.

Now it's your turn. You will of course be tested on all areas of this specialism so we
suggest you get familiar with the exam! Have a go yourself.

Click on this link and press play. This is an example of the first part of the listening
component. There are four sections (on the right of the page) which usually increase in
difficulty. Have a go yourself and try to fill in the answers in the chart below.

http://www.examenglish.com/IELTS/IELTS_listening.htm

How did you do? How difficult did you find it?

[Sourced from www.examsenglish.com]

[Sourced from http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/understand-test-format/

listening-test]

Unit 7: Reading
https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/free-ielts-practice-tests/reading/
academic