What style of speaking should you use?

Your style of speaking should be:

relaxed

natural never memorise an answer beforehand

appropriate for an interview.

It should also show that:

you are confident

you are interested in the topic

and that you are enjoying speaking to the examiner.

How is your interview

assessed?
Your IELTS Speaking test is assessed by a qualified examiner using four specific categories:

fluency and coherence

lexical resource (vocabulary)

grammatical range and accuracy

pronunciation

1 Fluency and coherence

Fluency is determined by:

your rate of speech

the smoothness and continuity of your speech.

Your aim is to:
speak at a relaxed, natural pace
speak quickly to impress the examiner

Yes

No

pause frequently to prepare the next part

of your answer

Coherence is determined by:

sequencing your sentences logically

using signposts (first, next, on the other hand, similarly etc.) to mark each stage of
your discussion, narration or argument

using cohesive devices (and, or, but, so, because) within and between sentences.
Your aim is to:

Yes

No

organise what you say clearly

present your ideas and information in a
logical sequence that can easily be
followed by the examiner.

2 Lexical resource
Lexical resource refers to your use of vocabulary.
This is determined by:

the variety of words you use

how accurate and appropriate your vocabulary is

your ability to paraphrase, that is, to find another way of saying what you mean
when you do not know the word in English
Your aim is to:
repeat the same words or phrases to
show you know them
use words correctly to make your
meaning clear
ignore the style of vocabulary appropriate
for an interview
use words of similar meaning, if you

Yes

No

cannot think of a specific word in English

3 Grammatical range and accuracy

Grammatical range is determined by:

the length and complexity of your sentences

how appropriately you use complex sentences

the variety of sentence structures you use.

Your aim is to:

Yes

No

try to use only simple sentence

structures
Grammatical accuracy is determined by:

how many grammatical errors you make

how much your errors interfere with communicating your ideas.

Your aim is to:

Yes

No

be as accurate as possible

4 Pronunciation
This is the ability to produce speech (sounds) that can be understood.
This is determined by:

how easy it is for the examiner to understand what you are saying

how much of your speech is not understood

how much your own language influences your speech.

Your aim is to:
speak with clear English intonation and
pronunciation.

Yes

No

The interview: General questions about

yourself
1)

During this part of the Speaking test you will be asked some general questions about
yourself. These questions relate to your personal background and should be familiar to you.
Here are a few topic areas that you might be asked questions about.

home

country

family, friends and relationships

job

studies

interests or hobbies

daily routine

music

the Internet

advertising

media

reading

food

cooking