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  • Hello, and welcome to Series 3 of Study English, IELTS preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

  • In this series we'll look at some of the criteria for the assessment of the IELTS test, and

  • some of the skills you'll need to practice for the test.

  • The IELTS test has four modules: Writing, Speaking, Reading Listening

  • There are two different tests - the academic test for tertiary students and professionals

  • and the general training test, which is for immigrants and people going on to vocational

  • training.

  • Both tests have the same speaking and listening modules, but different reading and writing

  • modules.

  • Knowing what the examiner is looking for can help improve your results because you will

  • know what to focus on when practising.

  • Here are the features the examiner looks at in your writing and speaking. These are the

  • things that are marked:

  • Task Response Coherence and Cohesion

  • Grammatical Accuracy and Range Vocabulary

  • Fluency Pronunciation

  • What do these criteria mean?

  • Task response means how well you've understood and responded to the question or task.

  • For example, in the essay you must make sure you have answered all parts of the question

  • and followed the instructions.

  • The next thing the examiner looks for is coherence and cohesion.

  • This is how you organise your answer.

  • For example, in the essay, coherence means that the essay works in its overall structure,

  • making sense in the way it is organised.

  • Cohesion means that the essay flows well from one part to the next.

  • Another feature being assessed is grammatical range and accuracy.

  • When assessing grammatical range, the examiner is looking at the variety of sentence types

  • you are able to use. You can't rely on just using simple sentences and structures.

  • Grammatical accuracy simply refers to the number of errors in your language. That includes

  • things such as punctuation.

  • The final feature assessed for writing is vocabulary.

  • The examiner looks at the accuracy of your spelling and the range of words you use to

  • cover a topic.

  • You need to use the correct word forms and demonstrate that you can use them appropriately.

  • You should also be aware of when to use formal or informal language. The essay needs to be

  • formal, but you can use less formal language in the speaking test.

  • The speaking test is designed for you to show how well you can express yourself on a general

  • topic.

  • It tests your vocabulary, the accuracy of your language and your ability to use a range

  • of sentence forms. It also tests your coherence, by looking at how you organise and link your

  • ideas while speaking.

  • Vocabulary, coherence and grammatical range and accuracy are criteria that also apply

  • to the speaking test.

  • The remaining two criteria are only for the Speaking test: fluency and pronunciation.

  • Your ability to speak without hesitating or pausing too often shows how fluent you are.

  • Fluency is the ability to speak smoothly and easily.

  • Now we'll look at the last criterion for speaking - pronunciation.

  • How easily you can be understood is what pronunciation is about.

  • Aim to pronounce words correctly and use appropriate stress and intonation; and your voice needs

  • to be strong and clear.

  • Pronunciation is speaking clearly and at a natural pace.

  • To illustrate some of these criteria, next we'll show you a short piece about the sport

  • of gymnastics. Sport is a common topic in the speaking test and it's important to be

  • familiar with the words used to talk about it.

  • I do gymnastics at the Australian Institute of Sports. I was about 5 when I started and

  • I started just fun gym. My mum was a coach, so I got into it from that. We train about

  • 36 hours a week, which is pretty tough, but it's worth it in the end. We don't have a

  • lot of school. We do usually 3 and a half hours of school in between our training. We

  • have our main coach, who is the head coach of the AIS. He coaches my group for bars,

  • floor and vault. But we have another coach for beam.

  • Notice she says I do gymnastics. Different verbs are used for different sports.

  • You say that you play football or play basketball but do gymnastics.

  • And you go fishing.

  • Some sports and activities have their own verbs. You don't say "I do swimming", you

  • say "I swim".

  • Now listen to how she uses the words train and coach:

  • My mum was a coach, so I got into it from that. We train about 36 hours a week, which

  • is pretty tough, but it's worth it in the end. We don't have a lot of school. We do

  • usually 3 and half hours of school in between our training. We have our main coach, who

  • is the head coach of the AIS. He coaches my group for bars, floor and vault. But we have

  • another coach for beam.

  • A coach is a teacher of sport.

  • Coach can be a noun, like this:

  • We have our main coach, who is the head coach of the AIS.

  • Coach can also be used as a verb. Here it's used in the singular form 'coaches':

  • He coaches my group for bars, floor and vault.

  • She uses the word for practising a sport, train:

  • We train about 36 hours a week, which is pretty tough, but it's worth it in the end.

  • The -ing form, training, can be used as a noun:

  • We don't have a lot of school. We do usually 3 and a half hours of school in between our

  • training.

  • And a coach can also be called a trainer.

  • You should watch English language TV to help build your vocabulary in this fashion because

  • you will be marked on how well you use words and their various forms.

  • And you should think about things such as sentence forms. Even just talking about gymnastics,

  • it's possible to use quite complicated structures.

  • Listen to her again:

  • We train about 36 hours a week, which is pretty tough, but it's worth it in the end.

  • She uses a complex sentence - a clause combined with a relative clause:

  • We train about 36 hours a week, which is pretty tough

  • She then makes it into a complex/compound sentence by using the conjunction 'but' to

  • add another clause.

  • We train about 36 hours a week, which is pretty tough, but it's worth it in the end.

  • Thinking about and noticing sentence types will help with your grammatical range.

  • Listening to the way people talk for an extended period will help prepare you for the speaking

  • test where you will be required to talk about a topic for 2 minutes.

  • So let's recap. These are the things the markers are looking for:

  • Task response - your ability to answer the question and correctly respond to instructions.


  • Coherence and cohesion - how well you organise your language.


  • Grammatical range and accuracy - the range of grammatical structures you use and how

  • accurately you use them.

  • Vocabulary - how well you use words and their forms.


  • And for the Speaking Test there is:
 Fluency - your ability to speak without hesitating;

  • and finally,

  • Pronunciation - how easily you can be understood.

  • In the coming episodes we will look at these criteria in more detail and explore ways of

  • meeting them.

  • Remember that IELTS is testing your language skills so take every opportunity to practise

  • your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking to improve your accuracy, extend your vocabulary

  • and develop your fluency. You will be building your confidence as well.

  • That's all for now. To find more information about assessment and Band Scores, visit our

  • Study English website at: australianetwork.com/studyenglish

  • Good Luck with your studies.

Hello, and welcome to Series 3 of Study English, IELTS preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

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