IELTS Speaking: advice about grammar and vocabulary

It's difficult to think about grammar when you're trying to speak. I think it's much easier to improve your vocabulary score than your grammar score.

Remember:

• Grammar is only 25% of your speaking score.
• If you are thinking too much about grammar, you will lose fluency.
• If you try to use memorised grammatical structures, your speech will not sound 'natural'.
• You will not avoid small grammar mistakes unless you have lived in an English speaking country for many years.

I've taught many students who have achieved a score of 7 or higher, and they all made small grammar mistakes. They got their high scores because we focused on vocabulary, ideas, opinions and fluency.

Have a look through my speaking lessons, and you'll notice that the focus is usually on vocabulary.

Comments

[JOSEPH]

Thank you Simon.

[thao]

hi Simon
In the IELTS speaking part 2, the task card always contains questions like "where, when, how, why". They write that "you should say". Does it mean that i must answer all of these questions?

[Ahmad]

if writing essay task 2, we can plan for 5 sentences in a paragraph, how about speaking part 2 and part 3 ? is there any structure planning on how to speak ?

[Simon]

Hi Thao,

Yes, you must talk about all of the points given on the card.

...

Hi Ahmad,

For speaking part 2, use the points on the card as your structure. For speaking part 3 I've written some advice in this lesson:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/07/ielts-speaking-part-3-adding-details.html

[Martin]

I would also suggest students to record themselves when practicing... I think listening and correcting/adjusting yourself is also an interesting way of improving speaking skills!

[Simon]

Yes, recording really helps.

[MUNERA]

Thank you for your advice .
it really what I need it.

[Dung]

Hi Simon
Could you pls do a lesson about famous entertainer such as Micheal Jackson, including some useful ideas and topic language.
Thanks indeed!!!

[Simon]

Hi Dung,

I'll try to do a lesson at some point. However, I'm sure there are many descriptions of people like Michael Jackson on the Internet. Just Google around and look for some descriptions in newspaper articles or on fan sites.

[Sisi]

Hi Simon,

I finally got 7 in the writting part thanks to your valuable lessons!Thank you so much! However, I only got 6 for speaking, even lower than that of the last exam. The thing is I think my oral english is better than that... fluency, pronunciation, grammer and vocabulary, and I used some words like "buzz word""meditation""sub-health""alienation" etc during the test, do you think it is possible to get a little improvement in the score if I demand it to be re-marked?

[Dung]

okje, I've google it and found out some brilliant descriptions about MJ, your tip is really useful!

[Simon]

Hi Sisi,

It's impossible for me to say whether a re-mark will give you a higher score. However, it can't do any harm, so try it if you think you did better than band 6.

Good luck!

...

No problem Dung.

[Hannah]

Hi simon

well i have a problem with ielts exam , usually i get 5 but i need 6 to get off from foundation program in our collage , however in the last time i got 4.5 which disappoint me but i found my score is 6 in speaking and it's good but i need 6 or 5.5 and this is the 6th time :( and I'm going to 7th exam and afraid about it

Help Me Simon :'(

[Simon]

Hi Hannah,

You just need to keep practising and working hard. Try to follow the daily lessons on this site, use the Cambridge IELTS books for test practice, and try to find a teacher or native speaker who can check your work, correct your mistakes, and help you to improve. Good luck!

[Hannah]

Hi Simon,

Actually I did that but .... no benefit
you know when you get the same score you though that you stupid :(

Btw where can find the Cambridge IELTS books

Thank you for advice

[Simon]

Hi Hannah,

You can buy the Cambridge books on Amazon or in most bookshops.

If you keep getting the same score, you need to find out WHY. It would be a good idea to take some lessons (maybe with a private teacher) because you need someone to check your work and tell you what you are doing wrong. If you don't know what you are doing wrong, you won't be able to improve.

[ibrahim]

Generally speaking, when people talk about somthing with somebody, face to face they look at each other's eyes and talking happens bilitarelly, but ielts speaking examiner just asks question without telling even one word. This is not natural.Unfortunatelly this adversly affects me.