You can check your answers in the Key in Appendix 2.
Communicative ability
Some people speak English with 'mistakes'. They might not speak completely accurately, but they have a go. Generally, we can understand them.
For example, someone might say, 'Yesterday, I go shopping.' Although we know they have made a mistake, we can still understand them. Problems occur, however, when we make so many mistakes that it is hard for others to understand. Sometimes this happens when we attempt more complex structures.
In the IELTS Speaking test, the examiner is listening for how much the mistakes interfere with communication. It is an important benchmark for higher-level scores. Try the following activity to check whether you can make yourself understood. It is best to do this activity with a native speaker or someone whose English is quite good.
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Grammar Awareness Activity: Communicative practice
• Choose one of the topics from Speaking Unit 3 below in this book.
• Brainstorm some words and ideas about the topic.
• Choose an issue to discuss, preferably something where you are asked to state your opinion.
• Now practise discussing the issue with someone else.
Don't worry about correctness at this stage. If the other person has difficulty understanding you, they will ask you to clarify what you are saying. This will indicate to you how much you can be understood by others. Get the others to pinpoint where your sentences do not make sense and see if you can correct yourself.
Ifs a good idea to record yourself and see if you can notice where you are not making sense.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the overall sound of your English language, how clearly you speak in English, and how much strain may be placed on a listener.
Pronunciation includes:
• sounds (phonemes)
• word stress (syllable stress)
• sentence stress
• intonation
• rhythm.
Sounds {phonemes)
English has many different sounds (phonemes),including consonants, vowels and diphthongs.Because English is not your native language, it is understandable that some English-language sounds will be more difficult than others for you and speakers of your mother tongue to pronounce.
Pronunciation Awareness Activity: Sounds
Use a phonemic chart with a partner, or practise saying the sounds with a teacher.
Next ask yourself these questions:
1. Which English sounds do I sound accurately?
2. Which sounds do I have trouble with?
• Practise saying the problem sounds.
• Listen to yourself as you speak in English. Can you hear the inaccurate sounds?
• Record yourself reading a passage from a book. Listen to the sounds you have trouble with. Are they accurate?
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Word stress (syllable stress)
Every English word of more than one syllable contains stressed and unstressed syllables.
Pronunciation Activity 1: Word stress
• Look at the words below of two or more syllables. Say each word aloud, and decide as you say it which syllable is stressed and which is not.
kitchen afternoon
industry industrial
important intelligent
interrogation interrogate
economy economical
• Mark the stress on each word, and check with a friend or teacher.
• There are patterns for syllable stress, but not rules. Are there any patterns you notice above?
• Listen to word stress as you listen to radio or TV news. You should hear stressed and unstressed syllables in every English word.
• Practise more words with a teacher, or as you read from a book.
• Record yourself speaking in English. Do you think you speak with attention to word stress?
Check with a friend or teacher.
Tip: when you learn new vocabulary, always make a note of the word stress.
You can check your answers in the Key in Appendix 2.
Sentence stress
English-language sentences contain stressed and unstressed words. The words that relate to key ideas are usually stressed whereas the connectors and prepositions often are not.
Pronunciation Awareness Activity: Sentence stress
• Read the three sentences below aloud and note or underline which words you consider are stressed and which are not.
1. As the truck came down the hill its brakes failed and it was unable to stop.
2. I love my city, but one problem that it does have is over-crowding, especially on the trains during the rush hour in the mornings.
3. Because I was always particularly good at maths, I studied accounting at university and am now a chartered accountant.
Pronunciation Awareness Activity: Sentence stress
Unit 2 The Speaking Test Skills Practice Bank 87
• Read the same sentences again. The stressed words are in bold type below. Are the balded words the same or similar to the words that you decided would be stressed?