IELTS Pronunciation | Quick tips to follow and improve your score!

IELTS Pronunciation constitutes a whopping 25% of your IELTS speaking score. Many IELTS aspirants ignore practicing it, thinking it is tough to ace. However, with the know-how of how IELTS evaluates pronunciation while speaking, what are the IELTS pronunciation features, and appropriate tips to perfect the IELTS pronunciation, you can score well on your IELTS speaking test. This post will give you this know-how and guide you to score high.

IELTS pronunciation bands- Assessment

How does the examiner decide whether you are Band 8 or 9? According to the IELTS Band Descriptors public version, the main marking criteria are as follows:

• The pronunciation features range affects the Band score (a wide range gives you 8, while a full range gives you 9).
• Ability to sustain flexible use of features.
• Ease of understanding from your pronunciation (You can speak with your accent and get a high score depending on the ease of understanding).

To get a band score of 6, you should use a range of pronunciation features even if you have mispronunciations. To earn a band score of 7, you should incorporate all the features of band 6 plus some positive features of band 8. To receive a band score of 8, with occasional lapses, you should use a wide range of pronunciation features and sustain flexible use. To achieve a band score of 9, you should maintain flexibility throughout, use a full range of pronunciation features and be effortless to understand. 

Nevertheless, you may wonder, what are the IELTS pronunciation features that hold immense importance in deciding your band score? Let us discuss the IELTS pronunciation features in grave detail.

IELTS pronunciation– features

Individual sounds

Individual sounds refer to the sound elements of words that differ if it is a consonant, vowel, or Diphthong. You can improve your band score if you fix how you pronounce individual sounds. You can learn the way to shape your mouth from a pronunciation chart. 

Focus on similar sounds (like p and b, or t and d), long and short vowels (like book and boot), silent letters (like a comb, knight), and consonant clusters (cht, sht). Identify the sounds that can change the entire meaning in case of a wrong pronunciation (like ship and sheep).

Word and sentence stress

Emphasizing the correct syllable is known as word stress. For instance, in Potato, your stress the syllable ta and unstress the others. Refer to the phonetic script in the IELTS pronunciation dictionary to know which syllables you need to stress. 

Sentence stress is all about stressing the appropriate word in the sentence. For instance, consider the below sentence.

• I lost all my money at the bank.
• Depending on the type of question, the stress varies. 
• How much did you lose? I lost all my money at the bank.
• Whose money did you lose? I lost all my money at the bank.

Strong as well as weak forms

In spoken English, we stress the verbs, adjectives, nouns, and adverbs but unstress auxiliary verbs, pronunciations, conjunctions, and pronouns unless it needs emphasis. When you destress the word, use the weak form, whereas when you stress the word, use the strong form. 

For instance, I was waiting for the train to come. In this scenario, since the emphasis is on the ‘train’, ‘come’, and ‘waiting’ words, we use the weak form for ‘was’, ‘for’, and ‘to’.

Linking words/ Connected speech

The last sounds and the first sounds of some words change either consonants link to vowels, vowels link to vowels, or sometimes sounds double up to make the language easy and fast. For example, pick it up sounds like ‘pi ki tup’. When you speak fast, be mindful of the sounds of linking words.

Intonation

It is the rising and falling of our voice. Use rising intonation for yes/no questions and a falling intonation for statements, commands, questions, question tags, and exclamations. If you have more to add, request information, or are unsure, you should use fall-rise intonation.

Consider the below examples:

• Dad wants to change his bike. (Use falling intonation)
• Do you like me? (Use rising intonation)
• I don’t support my husband at the moment. (Use fall-rise intonation)

Quick tips on how to improve your IELTS pronunciation score

• Use a mirror and watch if you are making the right movements to make the right sounds.
• Use a coach in your challenging areas and learn to pronounce appropriately. Alternatively, you can download a pronunciation app but make sure you follow an authentic app. Also, you can use the IELTS pronunciation use book by Mark Hancock for audio models and self-diagnostic exercises.
• Add repetition drills to your study plan to improve your IELTS pronunciation score.
• Record audio and listen to yourself, and identify your critical areas.
• Keep practicing the pronunciation till you become confident.
• Don’t connect the spelling and pronunciation and make a mistake. 
• Be mindful of disappearing sounds in connected speech.
• Use contractions such as ‘I’d’ instead of I would for a natural flow in your speaking.

Key takeaways

• Although you cannot change the way you pronounce while speaking overnight, you can be mindful of the IELTS pronunciation features and practice quick tips to improve your speaking score. 
• Practicing by recording, listening to yourself, repeating intonation and features of connected speech, using contractions, weak forms, and sentence stress, you can achieve a higher IELTS band score.
• Use strong and week forms of a verb to stress the correct word. You must also be mindful of using linking words.
• Use contractions while you practice speaking. 

To sum it up, this post talks about the IELTS speaking section and how it is scored. In addition, you can learn about the various pronunciation features like word stress, intonation, connected speech etc. This knowledge coupled with a few tips can easily help you score a band 6 and up. You can visit our website to learn more!

 

FAQs

Question 1: Will my accent affect my IELTS pronunciation score?

Answer 1: No, you can use any accent and still score high because the L1 accent has minimal intelligibility, but your accent should not create difficulties in understanding. 

Question 2: Does pronunciation affect IELTS speaking score?

Answer 2: Yes, IELTS pronunciation counts for 25% of your total speaking score. Moreover, pronunciation impacts fluency, which accounts for another 25% of the speaking score.

Question 3: Which pronunciation features are significant in IELTS?

Answer 3: All the features above are significant in IELTS pronunciation. Individual sounds, words and sentence stress, intonation, linking words, and strong and weak forms are all crucial.