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Hi

In our IELTS seminar this week, an IELTS candidate asked me if it’s OK to talk slowly in the IELTS speaking test.

She wanted to know what her IELTS score would be if her grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation were really good,  but she talked slowly.

As I’m guessing a lot of you may also be wondering the same thing, here’s what it says in the public version of the official IELTS descriptors for speaking:

• IELTS band score 5: “[Candidate] usually maintains flow of speech but uses repetition, self-correction and/or slow speech to keep going”

• IELTS band score 4: “[Candidate] cannot respond without noticeable pauses and may speak slowly“

What these descriptions show is that your IELTS score for fluency will be limited if the only way you can keep going is by speaking slowly.

If one of these descriptions matches your spoken fluency, whether you can get the score you need will depend on your score in the other IELTS speaking criteria: vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

One way to improve your spoken fluency, of course, is to create more opportunities to practice your speaking.

More to come on that later.

Pete

Related Posts:

1. One way to get more spoken fluency practice
2. To self-correct or not to self-correct (that is the question)
3. IELTS Speaking Part 2: Harriet
4. IELTS and the World Cup
5. An example of IELTS-type speaking

Tags: IELTS band scores, IELTS speaking