One of the IELTS speaking examiners has shared this with us. Their article is about to be shared in a newspaper in Japan. Here is part of it.
In the speaking exam, Fluency and Coherence is one of the criteria and a lot of candidates struggle with the fluency part. Students that get Band 6 can speak at length so, for example, in Part 2, they speak for the whole 2 minutes. However, what they will tend to do is one of two things.
Hesitate
Students in Band 6 will often have to pause. This may be because they are looking for ideas but it will also be because they are looking for vocabulary. Doing it a couple of times is fine but Band 6 candidates will do it regularly. This links into the other thing they tend to do.
Repeat or self-correct
Band 6.0 candidates will repeat the same phrases again and again. They will use phrases like “I can’t explain it very well” when they don’t know a word, or they will use “You know what I mean” or other fillers as they are not able to explain themselves. They will also correct basic mistakes they make. So they may say something like “Last year I visit Italy……….I visited Italy” and this will happen a few times. This slows down speech as the candidate has to think about what they are saying quite a lot.
These are some very good points from a speaking examiner that works with us. If you are interested in getting your IELTS speaking assessed by an IELTS examiner then send us a message.
This is very clear. I read the speaking criteria but it makes no sense for me. Thank you for explaining