Hi
If you notice that you make a grammatical mistake in your IELTS speaking test, should you correct yourself or not?
When I’m asked this question by IELTS candidates, which I often am, my answer always depends on how many mistakes they make and how easy it is for them to speak fluently.
To show you why, here’s what it says in the in the public version of the official IELTS descriptors for speaking band score 7:
- “[Candidate] speaks at length without noticeable effort… [but] may demonstrate some repetition and/or self-correction”
- “[Candidate] frequently produces error free sentences, though some grammatical mistakes persist”
What these descriptions show is that…
- if you can speak fluently but make a lot of grammar mistakes, it would probably be a good idea to correct any mistakes you notice
- if you generally use grammar correctly when you speak but are not very fluent, it would probably be better if you just keep going rather than self-correct
Of course, to be able to correct your mistakes, you have to recognise the mistakes you make.
More to come on that later.
Pete
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