[Webinar Report] What are the Examiners Looking for in IELTS Speaking Tasks? – by Angga Kramadibrata

On the 11th of August 2020, Student Development of MSS collaborated with the British Council Indonesia Foundation in holding a webinar entitled “What are the Examiners Looking for in IELTS Speaking Tasks?”. This webinar was moderated by Jeihan Juniata, an undergraduate management student at the University of Indonesia and was led by our speaker, Angga Kramadibrata who is the academic manager of British Council Indonesia. Hereby is the summary of our webinar.

MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO UNDERSTAND

1. Tasks

2. Assessment criteria

3. Examiner’s role

Notes:

• General training is exactly the same as the academic test.

• In the computer-delivered IELTS, you’re going to be assessed offline face to face.

1. Tasks

· It takes 11-14 minutes for the speaking test

· The tasks consist of three parts

· In the first part of the speaking test, it will be about work and family

· Tasks 1 and 2 will be about concrete about personal life.

· Task 2 = 120 seconds

• Part 1

• The first part of the test lasts for 4-5 minutes

• The topic will be about personal life and concrete about personal life

• ANSWER IN THREES (answer the question, give explanation, and examples)

• Part 2

• The examiner will give a topic and we will have to speak for 2 minutes, we have 1 minute to prepare the answers

• The topic is around telling a story about yourself

• DON’T STOP ( give connections like “so”, “because of that”, “ooh, that reminds me..”

• Part 3

• The 3rd task of the test lasts for 4-5 minutes

• The topic is connected to part 2 but with more complex and abstract questions.

• Use your opinions about the specific topic ( I Believe…, )

• Justify what you say and back up your opinion ( this is because.., it’s likely due to.. , for example)

TIPS: Extend your answers, make sure to give them enough data.

2. Assessment criteria

1. Pronunciation

= flow of speech, good flow so don’t speak too quickly, use intonation

2. Fluency and coherence

= ideas and how the ideas connect ( which, if, this is because…, for example…, so, however)

3. Vocab (Lexical resource)

= use higher-level words and don’t repeat words too often.

4. Grammatical range and accuracy

= complexity and structures, use high variety with accuracy, use past tense endings

TIPS :

• If you don’t know the answer, you may say like “ hmm that’s a good question I never thought about that..”

• Use band descriptors = to understand our skills and what needs to be focused on

• Don’t focus on grammar and vocab, because it’s hard to master in a short time.

• Focus on fluency and coherence by using answer frames ( answer, give a reason, give examples, rephrase the answer)

• Focus on pronunciation by making use of intonation and be more casual “gonna”

3. Examiner’s role

• The examiner’s main job is to gain data.

• They will be listening out to specific questions

• BECAUSE THEY ARE HUMAN, we need to treat them as humans, so be more:

• Be casual = “this happened the other day” “ so lemme tell you about”

• Be friendly

• Be funny

Summary

1. Speak up

2. Be strategic with your time= focus on assessment criteria

3. Treat examiners as humans and as friends

To sum up, there are 11-14 minutes for the whole test, it is divided to 3 tasks, the first task is about personal topics, the second task is where we speak for 2 minutes about the topics given by the examiner and the 3rd is a more complex topic and it is connected to the 2nd task. What the examiner will see are pronunciation, fluency and coherence, lexical resource or vocabulary, and grammatical range and accuracy. It is also important to use band descriptors to develop our skills, precisely focusing more on fluency, coherence, and pronunciation. Lastly, make the most of the examiner's role and make sure to be casual, friendly, and funny.

Written by: Adeline Tirtawaty