How important is pronunciation in IELTS? Can I get a high score if I have a strong accent? Which accent is good for IELTS? These and many other questions often worry IELTS test-takers. Today, we will explore this marking criterion and, hopefully, find the answers to all your questions regarding pronunciation.
We have already written about IELTS Speaking marking criteria such as fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range, and accuracy which make up 75% of the score. However, many candidates do not often pay attention to the last but equally important item – pronunciation, which makes ¼ of the score. In this short guide, you are going to familiarize yourself with pronunciation features and learn some tips for practicing pronunciation at home.
Marking criteria
There are different pronunciation features the examiner will pay attention to while you will be speaking on the day of the exam such as individual sounds, strong and weak forms of words, pronunciation of words, word and sentence stress, intonation, linking, connected speech.
Another thing the examiner focuses on is how clear your pronunciation is, i.e. how well they can understand what you say.
Let’s have a closer look at IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors. What you have to do to get a band higher than 6 is:
- use a range of pronunciation features
- be effortless to understand.
Is there anything about accents? Yes, there is, “ L1 accent has minimal effect on intelligibility ”, which means that you can speak with any accent and still get a high score unless your accent creates difficulties for understanding.
Is there any particular accent that is perfect for IELTS? No, there isn’t. Your accent does not have to be British or American or any other accent of English, but for a score higher than 7, your mother tongue does not have to affect clarity.
Here are the outlines of the Pronunciation Band Scores as mentioned by the official IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors:
| Band | Description |
| 6 | The candidate uses a range of pronunciation features with mixed control during the test. There might be a mispronunciation of individual words or sounds that reduces clarity at times but generally, the meaning of what is being said is clear. |
| 7 | The candidate shows all the positive features of Band 6 and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band 8. |
| 8 | The candidate uses a wide range of pronunciation features and sustains their flexible use with only occasional lapses. It is easy to understand and the L1 accent does not affect clarity. |
| 9 | The candidate uses a full range of pronunciation features with precision and subtlety. The candidate is effortless to understand. |
Pronunciation features
You have to be able to use different features of pronunciation to succeed in IELTS Speaking. We will explore the main features below.
Individual sounds
Use the pronunciation chart which contains vowel and consonant sounds of English. They are arranged according to how you shape your mouth (left to right, lips wide / round – top to bottom, jaw closed / open).
Each word in English is made up of these sounds. Learning how to pronounce individual sounds correctly is important because this will help you identify the sounds which are difficult for you to pronounce or you have problems with. You can start with using the pronunciation app to help you. Pay attention to similar sounds (/p/ and /b/, /r/ and /l/, /t/ and /d/, etc.), consonant clusters (sht, cht, etc.), long and short vowels ( book, look, boot, food etc.), silent letters (knight, comb, lamb, etc.)
Word stress
It is critical to stress the right syllables in words, Otherwise, the person listening to you might feel confused. Each word has a certain number of syllables. One or two of them have to be pronounced more strongly than others. For example, cerTIficate, sucCESS, eXAM, etc. Be careful with words that have the same root. Very often the word stress changes together with the part of speech. For example, as in: PHOtograph (n), phoTOgrapher (n), photoGRAphic (adj.), ADdict (n), adDICtion (n), Attribute (n), aTTRIbute (v), etc. Very often the word stress in verbs in on the second syllable if there is a choice which syllable to stress.
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Sentence stress
Like there are more emphasized syllables in words, there are words in sentences that carry most of the stress, thus the most meaning. But which words to stress? English is a stress-timed language, which means that the stress occurs in sentences at regular intervals, some of the words are emphasized while others are pronounced quicker and more silently. They are content and function words. Content words are important because they carry meaning: nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. Function words are there for grammar purposes and do not carry any meaning: pronouns, prepositions, articles. Have a look at this sentence, and try to guess which words are going to be stressed:
- I’d like to go to the night market to buy some presents for my family.
All the underlined words are content words. Try to emphasize them, and you will see there is a certain rhythm in the sentence.
Which words are you going to stress the most? Those will be sentence stresses. If you stress another word, the meaning of the sentence might change. Try reading the following sentences and stress the words in capital letters. What have you noticed?
- I’d like to go to the night market to buy some presents for my FAMILY.
- I’d like to go to the NIGHT market to buy some presents for my family.
- I’d like to go to the night market to buy some PRESENTS for my family.
It’s a good idea to record yourself. This will eliminate the pressure you may feel at being asked to speak spontaneously and will enable you to give your best version of your speech.
READ ABOUT: IELTS language for describing maps
Strong and weak forms
When the words in sentences are not stressed they become weak, and their sounds also change. For example, vowels turn into schwa, the last consonants are not pronounced at all, etc:
- Tell him to go – strong forms /hɪm/ /tu:/- weak form: /tel əm tə gəʊ/
- I would like some fish and chips – strong forms /aɪ wʊd laɪk sʌm fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/ – weak form: /ɑ wəd laɪk səm fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/
The problem is that students learning English use the strong form most of the time. That is why they often sound very unnatural. English speakers always use weak forms, every single sentence is full of them, and students find it difficult to understand because they are not used to them, and very often they don’t even know they exist. But now you know how to pronounce them correctly.
Linking
If you think it’s difficult to understand native speakers, that is because they link words. Very often the last sounds and the first sounds of some words change: consonants link to vowels, vowels link to vowels, sometimes sound double up, etc. This is done to make the language easier to say, and faster, for example:
- ‘I don’t know’ /I duno/
- In ‘I am not happy’ there is an intrusive /j/ sound between ‘I’ and ‘am’ which makes it easier to say the phrase quickly.
- In ‘pick it up’ – you will hear something like “pi ki tup”.
- ‘I want to/ w/eat’ and ‘Please do/ w/it’.
Intonation
When our voice rises and falls when we speak – this is intonation. In English, there are three main patterns of intonation:
- falling intonation is very common in wh-questions, statements, commands, questions tags, and exclamations:
How many books have you ↘bought?
Dad wants to change his ↘car.
Show me what you’ve ↘written.
He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ↘he?
What an interesting ↘ film!
- rising intonation is normally used with yes/no questions:
Do you like this new ➚movie?
- fall-rise intonation is used at the end of statements when we want to say that we are not sure, or when we may have more to add, and with questions, especially when we request information or invite somebody to do or to have something:
I ↘ don’t support any football team at the ↘mo↗ment. (but I may change my mind in the future).
Would you like another co↘ff↗ee?
The best way to improve your pronunciation is to listen and copy. You have to speak, read aloud, record yourself, and practice, practice, practice.
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