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Series 3
- Study English S3 Ep1: IELTS Assessment Criteria
- Study English S3 Ep2: Writing Task Response
- Study English S3 Ep3: Coherence and Cohesion in writing
- Study English S3 Ep4: Examining sentence types
- Study English S3 Ep5: Demonstrating vocabulary range
- Study English S3 Ep6: Question Tasks and Topics
- Study English S3 Ep7: The speaking test
- Study English S3 Ep8: Speaking Fluently
- Study English S3 Ep9: How to speak coherently
- Study English S3 Ep10: Vocabulary for Speaking
- Study English S3 Ep11: Grammatical Range
- Study English S3 Ep12: Importance of intonation
- Study English S3 Ep13: Reading Skills and Questions
- Study English S3 Ep14: General Training Reading
- Study English S3 Ep15: Listening for signpost words
- Study English S3 Ep16: Listening for numbers
- Study English S3 Ep17: Festivals and Celebrations
- Study English S3 Ep18: Labelling and Describing
- Study English S3 Ep19: Labelling a Flow Chart
- Study English S3 Ep20: Giving examples in English
- Study English S3 Ep21: Talking about the Family
- Study English S3 Ep22: Holidays and Leisure
- Study English S3 Ep23: Talking about Food
- Study English S3 Ep24: How to form words
- Study English S3 Ep25: Grammar Checklist
- Study English S3 Ep26: What to say when giving advice
Study English S3 Ep1: IELTS Assessment Criteria
In this episode we will learn about some of the criteria the examiner uses when assessing the IELTS writing and speaking test. Knowing what the examiner is looking for can help improve your results because you will know what to focus on when practising.
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to Series Three 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.
我在澳大利亚体育学院做体操。 我刚开始时只有5岁,刚开始玩有趣的体育馆。 我妈妈是一名教练,所以我从中学到了。 我们每周训练约36个小时,这非常艰巨,但最终还是值得的。 我们没有很多学校。 我们在两次培训之间通常要上3个半小时的课时。 我们有我们的主教练,他是AIS的总教练。 他指导我的团队进行酒吧,地板和保险库的训练。 但是我们有另一位梁教练。
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:
SOVT: 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.
SOVT: 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.
Good luck with your studies.
Study English S3 Ep1: IELTS Assessment Criteria Study Notes
Study English S3 Ep1: IELTS Assessment Criteria Activity Sheet
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Thumbnail credit – Flickr CC: Francisco Osorio