12 IELTS Speaking Tips

Learn 12 important ways to get a higher score on the IELTS Speaking section. Find out what to do and what NOT to do from an experienced IELTS trainer and understand how to increase your IELTS Speaking score, easily and immediately. You're guaranteed to learn something new here -- and that can make all the difference!
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TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In today's lesson, I'll give you 10 important tips to do well and to get a higher score on the speaking section of your IELTS exam, or actually on any oral speaking test where you're sitting with a live examiner. Okay? So these tips don't apply actually to the TOEFL where your answers are recorded, but it's for any English exam where you're sitting with a real examiner. Okay?

Now, the IELTS, of course, the speaking section of the IELTS test is about 11 or 14 minutes long, has three different sections, and so on. And the IELTS is an exam which is a... It's an English proficiency exam. It's used for immigration purposes, for example, to Canada and Australia. It's used for admission to universities where English is the medium of instruction, and it's also used for professional certification purposes. So lots and lots of people, millions of people do the IELTS exam. And if you're one of them, these speaking tips will really help you. They're general tips; they're not about the specific sections. They apply to all sections of the speaking test. Okay? Let's get started.

So, the first point is: during your speaking test, be formal. By that, I mean treat it like a job interview. And just as in a job interview, you'll be on your best behaviour and so on, behave that way. Don't take it very casually. Okay? Take it seriously and be formal.

Next, give a full answer whenever possible. Now, remember and just think about it: you have about 11 to 15 minutes to use the best English that you know and that you've studied all your life. Okay? So, obviously, you want to try to show off during your English test. So, when I say give a full answer, I mean, in the first section when they ask you some questions about you, about your family, about your background, if they say, for example: "Where are you from?" Don't just say: "Tokyo", because that's just a one word answer. Try, as much as possible, to give sentences. Give full sentences. All right? Full answer. So that you can show when you use the full sentence that you know grammar, you know vocabulary, and all these other things. So, instead of just saying: "Tokyo." Say: "I'm from Tokyo, the capital of Japan." Or: "I'm from the capital of Japan, Tokyo." Now, you've given a lot more information. So, obviously, you get much more marks if you kept doing that throughout. Right? Give full answers, using sentences, not just words.

Next: be polite. What we mean by that, for example, if the examiner asks you something and you didn't understand, it's okay. Just ask for the explanation in a polite way. Don't just say: "What?" Or: "Sorry?" Say: "Excuse me? Could you please repeat that?" Because that's also using English, and that's what they want to know: can you use English? And by being polite, you're not just showing that you know the language, but also that you know the culture of the language, which is being polite. Okay? So remember to do that.

Next, maintain good posture. Why do I put that? Nobody's filming you. Right? So, why do you have to maintain good posture? Because your posture actually affects your... The way you speak. It affects your confidence, the confidence with which you speak, it affects the way your voice is projected. So you want to make sure that you don't, for example, lean on your hand when you're speaking or anything like that. Okay? Make sure that you sit straight and don't put your hand anywhere near your face, even if you're nervous, because that will affect the quality of your voice and the way it's projected. Okay?

Next. Number five: speak clearly. Now, what I mean by this is: don't worry too much about your accent. Everyone has an accent, and as long as you do your best to enunciate the words clearly, that's all you can do. If you need to improve your pronunciation, work on that before your exam. If there are some very specific pronunciation errors that you tend to make or that people from your country tend to make, then obviously, work on those beforehand. For example, if you are a Spanish speaker and you say: "Jess", instead of: "Yes", then that's a big mistake that you want to correct well before you come to the exam. So, work on those pronunciation issues before, and then afterwards, don't worry about your accent, just speak as clearly as you can. Okay?

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Closed Caption:

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In today's lesson,
I'll give you 10 important tips to do well
and to get a higher score on the speaking
section of your IELTS exam, or actually on
any oral speaking test where you're sitting
with a live examiner. Okay? So these tips
don't apply actually to the TOEFL where your
answers are recorded, but it's for any English
exam where you're sitting
with a real examiner. Okay?
Now, the IELTS, of course, the speaking section
of the IELTS test is about 11 or 14 minutes
long, has three different sections, and so
on. And the IELTS is an exam which is a...
It's an English proficiency exam. It's used
for immigration purposes, for example, to
Canada and Australia. It's used for admission
to universities where English is the medium
of instruction, and it's also used for professional
certification purposes. So lots and lots of
people, millions of people do the IELTS exam.
And if you're one of them, these speaking
tips will really help you. They're general
tips; they're not about the specific sections.
They apply to all sections of the
speaking test. Okay? Let's get started.
So, the first point is: during your speaking
test, be formal. By that, I mean treat it
like a job interview. And just as in a job
interview, you'll be on your best behaviour
and so on, behave that way. Don't take it
very casually. Okay? Take it seriously and
be formal.
Next, give a full answer whenever possible.
Now, remember and just think about it: you
have about 11 to 15 minutes to use the best
English that you know and that you've studied
all your life. Okay? So, obviously, you want
to try to show off during your English test.
So, when I say give a full answer, I mean,
in the first section when they ask you some
questions about you, about your family, about
your background, if they say, for example:
"Where are you from?" Don't just say: "Tokyo",
because that's just a one word answer. Try,
as much as possible, to give sentences. Give
full sentences. All right? Full answer. So
that you can show when you use the full sentence
that you know grammar, you know vocabulary,
and all these other things. So, instead of
just saying: "Tokyo." Say: "I'm from Tokyo,
the capital of Japan." Or: "I'm from the capital
of Japan, Tokyo." Now, you've given a lot
more information. So, obviously, you get much
more marks if you kept doing that throughout.
Right? Give full answers, using
sentences, not just words.
Next: be polite. What we mean by that, for
example, if the examiner asks you something
and you didn't understand, it's okay. Just ask
for the explanation in a polite way. Don't
just say: "What?" Or: "Sorry?" Say: "Excuse
me? Could you please repeat that?" Because
that's also using English, and that's what
they want to know: can you use English? And
by being polite, you're not just showing that
you know the language, but also that you know
the culture of the language, which is being
polite. Okay? So remember to do that.
Next, maintain good posture. Why do I put
that? Nobody's filming you. Right? So, why
do you have to maintain good posture? Because
your posture actually affects your... The
way you speak. It affects your confidence, the
confidence with which you speak, it affects
the way your voice is projected. So you want
to make sure that you don't, for example,
lean on your hand when you're speaking or
anything like that. Okay? Make sure that you
sit straight and don't put your hand anywhere
near your face, even if you're nervous, because
that will affect the quality of your
voice and the way it's projected. Okay?
Next. Number five: speak clearly. Now, what I
mean by this is: don't worry too much about
your accent. Everyone has an accent, and as
long as you do your best to enunciate the
words clearly, that's all you can do. If you
need to improve your pronunciation, work on
that before your exam. If there are some very
specific pronunciation errors that you tend
to make or that people from your country tend to
make, then obviously, work on those beforehand.
For example, if you are a Spanish speaker and
you say: "Jess", instead of: "Yes", then
that's a big mistake that you want to correct
well before you come to the exam. So, work
on those pronunciation issues before, and then
afterwards, don't worry about your accent,
just speak as clearly as you can.
Okay?
Next: use descriptive words. By that, I mean,
again, remember, we were supposed to show
off, use the best English you have? So, don't
use boring words, don't use overly used words,
like: "good", "bad", "okay", "nice". Use exciting
words, use dynamic words to show that you
have a rich vocabulary to express yourself
in English. Don't just say: "Good". Say...
Or don't just say: "happy", say: "thrilled".
Don't just say: "sad", you can say: "depressed".
Use a more advanced word if you know it and
if you're sure of the meaning. But most of
all, try to stay away from the overly used words
like: "good", "bad", "okay", "nice". All right?
Next: speak up. Speak up means make sure you speak
loudly enough to be heard and also recorded.
Because during the IELTS, for example, you
are judged by that examiner, and also you
are recorded so that another examiner is going
to listen to what you said during your English
test. So speak clearly enough that the recording
will allow you to be heard properly. Okay?
Next: keep a steady pace. That means don't
speak too fast, and don't speak too slowly.
If you're not sure how fast you should speak,
speak slower than you think is necessary because
that way it's much more likely
that you will be understood. Okay?
Next: explain any foreign words that you use
as part of your answer. What do I mean by
that, and why should you be using foreign
words? Well, foreign words can also be the
names of cities, for example. So if they ask
you where you're from-right?-and you need
to use the name of a city or a town, which is
not common knowledge, like London or Paris,
it may be not as common and it may not be so
easy to understand. So, instead of saying...
For example, suppose you came... Suppose you're
from India and you come from a city called
Hyderabad. Now, Hyderabad is a bit of a mouthful,
it's an unfamiliar word. So, what you could
do to make it easier and to get higher marks is
instead of just saying: "I come from Hyderabad",
and the examiner might think: "What did he
say? What does that mean? I don't understand."
So, they... Another... A way to get around
that is to say: "I come from a city in the
southern part of India called Hyderabad." Now,
what you've done is you've given an explanation
of what you're going to say so the listener
knows that there is a word coming, and even
if I don't know it, I know what it means or
what it refers to. So it will sound, in fact,
like you speak better English, because you
have taken the listener into account. Okay?
Next: stay on topic. So, even though I said speak
in sentences, don't use too many sentences
to answer any one question. So that... Because
if you do that, then the examiner will think
that you don't understand the question. You
want to make sure that you answer the question
and don't go way beyond that. Okay? They always
have enough questions to ask you. Don't worry.
Next: don't use slang. Again, you want to
use your best English. And slang can even
be things like: "kids". A lot of my students
don't realize that you should be using the
word: "children" instead of "kids". Or you should
use the word: "items" instead of "things",
"stuff". This is all slang. Okay? Slang is
not just bad language, but also this kind
of casual language. Right? You don't want to
use that kind of language in your English
test or on your IELTS speaking test.
Use the best English that you know.
And last of all: don't memorize answers. A
lot of students read model answers, and it's
good to do that. It gives you an idea of how
to answer. But what you should do from that
is to take ideas about how to structure your answer,
take some vocabulary, take some expressions,
but don't try to memorize the answer because
it's going to sound very artificial. And if
you forget, it's going to completely fall
apart. And also, the examiners can... Are
quite experienced; they can usually tell if
you're suddenly giving like a little speech.
They'll know that's not you, because you also
answered, you know, 15 other questions, and
you didn't sound like that. And all of a sudden,
you give this little mini speech, and it doesn't
sound good, and they might not give you marks
for that at all because it's not you speaking;
you just memorized something. They don't want
to know what you can memorize. They want to
know what you can say when you're using the
language by itself in a natural way. Okay?
So learn how to benefit from those kind of
model answers, but don't memorize. Okay?
And I assure you that if you do a lot of these
things or all of these things, you're definitely
going to get a much higher score on your IELTS
speaking test, and also on any oral English
exam. Okay? If you'd like to do a quiz on these
points, please go to our website: www.engvid.com.
Thanks for watching, and good luck with your
IELTS or any English exam. Bye for now.