Speaking
IELTS Speaking is a one-to-one interaction between the candidate and the examiner. The three parts give the candidate the opportunity to use a range of different speaking skills. IELTS Speaking is recorded. Speaking test varies from 11-14 minutes. Assessment of candidates takes place through their performance in the test.
Nature of Interaction
INTRODUCTION AND INTERVIEW-(4-5 MINUTES): After introductions and identity check, the examiner asks the candidate questions about familiar topics
2 Minute Topic– (3-4 MINUTES): The candidate receives a task card with a topic. She/He then has 1 minute to prepare and make notes before speaking about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes.
DISCUSSION – (4-5 MINUTES): The examiner discusses with the candidate more abstract aspects of the topic in Part 2.
*The candidate’s ability to communicate opinions and information on everyday topics and common experiences or situations by answering a range of questions is assessed.
*The candidate’s ability to speak at length on a given topic (without further prompts from the examiner), using appropriate language and organizing his/her ideas coherently is assessed. It is likely that the candidate will need to draw on his/her own experience to complete the long turn.
*The candidate’s ability to express and justify opinions, analyze, discuss and speculate about issues is assessed.
Scoring system
Marking in Speaking Test is done as per its parts. These are:
- Fluency and Coherence
- Lexical resource
- Grammatical Area
- Pronunciation
First 3 sections are marked out of 9 but pronunciation is marked as 2, 4, 6 and 8.Then an average of bands is constituted to get the final band.
Marking is based on:
- Fluency of the examinee. Is he/ she able to speak English smoothly or not?
- The range of words or the word-stock which the examinee has.
- Grammatical accuracy and tenses etc. are tested but an examinee should not fear from this, as it is only one part of the assessment.
- Clarity in English speaking is tested.
