Hi
In a recent IELTS seminar on speaking, 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
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Hi Pete,
I have a question in regard to the speaking speed of your speech. I’m a candidate who tends to make rapid-fire speeches, especially part 1 and 3 and everyone says I talk too fast. That’s only because I’m a opinionated person and quite keen to communicate, but if I slow down the pace of my speech, I won’t sound as fluent as when I talk relatively fast. So how do I strike a balance between fluency and slowing down the rate of my talk?
Thanx
Christina
Thanks for your question, Christina.
If you speak so fast that your examiner cannot follow what you’re saying, it will certainly affect your IELTS Speaking band score. To get a score of 6.0 or above for your pronunciation, the examiner must be able to generally understand you throughout your test; to get a band score of 8.0 or above, the examiner must be able to easily understand you.
Rather than slowing down the speed of your actual speech, what you could do is just pause for a second between each of your spoken sentences. In this way, it will make it easier for people (including your IELTS examiner) to keep up with what you’re saying.
I hope that helps,
Pete