There are many ways to improve your IELTS speaking skills by yourself at home (see my 10 tips below).
I think that one of the best ways is recording yourself and listening to the recording.
Challenge yourself to do this for ONE MONTH and you’ll notice a difference in your fluency and confidence.
The challenge will also:
- help you get used to speaking for 2 minutes non-stop so that you get used to the time limit and plan accordingly
- give you plenty of ideas and preparation for when you do the real exam
- help you notice some things about your speaking that you could improve
- increase your vocabulary
- improve your grammar
Check out my tips for the Speaking Test here.
Instructions
- Print off my Speaking Part 1 and Part 2 Challenge Planner here (or find some recent Task 2 questions online)
- Use an App for recording on your phone. In the Members Academy we use an app called ‘Flip’ so that all the recordings are in one place and I can give you feedback
- Cross off the days/tasks as you go through them, so that you can feel a sense of progress.
- Listen to your recording and write down one good collocation/ expression/ idiom you used and one area that you need to work on.
- Check any words that you wanted to use but couldn’t remember- this will help build your active vocabulary
- Ask someone to listen and give you feedback if you can.
What to listen for
It’s not easy to listen for your own mistakes but here are a few things that are easy to spot and improve:
- Hesitation – how can you fill the gaps when you’re thinking? (Use fillers like ‘well’ ‘you know’ ‘anyway!’ ‘so’…)
- Grammar – check Past Tenses, 3rd person ‘s’, plural ‘s’
- Contractions – using these will make you sound more natural and fluent e.g. ‘I’m’ rather than ‘I am’
- Vocabulary – could you choose more interesting adjectives e.g. ‘freezing’ rather than ‘cold’?
- Linking words – are you just using ‘but’ and ‘so’? Could you try ‘even though’ or ‘Anyway…’?
- Pronunciation – are there any sounds you have difficulty with? (Use the caption generator on the app to see if there are any sounds that it didn’t pick up)
- Speed – many students speak fast to increase their fluency score. It is much better to slow down and pause at the end of each sentence.
- Intonation – are you emphasising important words, and using ‘chunks’ of language?
- Repetition – how can you develop your story without going back over the same information?
- Storytelling – are you just describing things, or are you setting up a story to keep the listener’s attention?
- Formal vs informal – are you using formal words when an informal expression or phrasal verbs would be better?
These are all the features of Speaking that I examine when I give feedback in the Members Academy (we also have weekly small-group Speaking Classes).
Other ways to improve your Speaking at home
1. Reading aloud
Reading short passages out loud will help get your mouth around the sounds of English and feel more comfortable saying familiar words. You could use a text to speech app like Speechify to read out sentences that you can then mimic. Although AI apps tend to sound a little robotic, it will at least help you imitate basic pronunciation and stress patterns.
2. Mimicking or shadowing
Set aside time to listen and repeat, using videos from clear speakers.
3. Talk to yourself
We have constant conversations with ourself in our native languages – try having the same conversation but in English. Say it out loud if you’re by yourself. This will help you to check any vocabulary that you’ve forgotten or you’re not sure about which word is correct. You could also try
- describing things e.g. something you bought
- explaining things e.g. something you’re good at
- telling stories e.g. an audio diary
4. Find a speaking partner
Ideally, find someone in an IELTS Facebook group so that you have similar goals and more in common.
5. Try PowerPoint presenter coach
This will give you feedback on your presentation skills. I have a video on this page full of more IELTS Speaking links.
6. Sing along to songs
Although not specifically IELTS-related, by copying the rhythm of song lyrics when you sing along, you’ll acquire a more natural rhythms by putting word and sentences stress in all the right places. Here are the best songs to help you learn English.
7. Personalise your grammar practice
If you’re learning grammar from a book, try to adapt the examples to make them more personal and then say them aloud. For example in my Grammar courses you get lots of skeleton sentences such as
- ‘I’ve never been to ___________, but my sister/ brother /friend has’.
- ‘I wish I’d never….’
- ‘I need to get my _____ fixed’.
- ‘This time next year I’ll be …..+ing….’
8. Immerse yourself in English
Apart from listening to podcasts and watching movies/ TV/ YouTube in your free time, consder ways of changing your surroundings so that the language that you use daily is in English e.g. on your phone/ computer/ Siri/ Alexa. When you’re searching for instructions or recipes on YouTube, listen in English first.
9. Start conversations
If you live in an English-speaking country, find situations where you’ll be able to ask questions e.g. free guided tours, library visits, post office/bank interactions or tourist information centres.
10. Learn chunks of language
The best way to sound fluent is to learn collocations and whole phrases rather than individual words. Native speakers in any language don’t need to think about what comes next – they already know. What’s the last word in expressions like
- ‘Thanks a _________’
- ‘More or __________’
- ‘As a matter of ______’
When you learn chunks of language, you’ll also get better at using features of fast, fluent speech (weak sounds etc). Here are 5 quick ways to improve your pronunciation for the IELTS test.
11. Use voice dictation apps
Check how accurate your pronunciation is by reading out short passages to programs like
- Google docs (Tools>Voice Typing)
- Windows Speech recognition
You could use these to create an ‘audio diary’ (use the dictation tool for 5 minutes a day), or to practise your 2-minute long-turn.
12. Use voice searches
Ask questions or give commands in English with
- Google Voice Search
- Apple Voice Control (interact with your Mac using only your voice)
- Siri (Mac or Apple)
- Alexa
13. Record videos in Flip.com
In the Members Academy, my students
- record a 2-minute video
- read and anlysie the tapescript using Microsoft Immersive Reader
- copy and paste the tapescript into a doc to see what word/sounds were not picked up
Need more help with Speaking?
My Speaking Course focuses on the fundamentals of performing well in the IELTS Speaking Test.
It has a strong focus on pronunciation (25% of the overall Speaking Score), which most courses are afraid to tackle.
You’ll also get an individual Speaking and Pronunciation analysis from me.
Do you need motivation, high-quality materials, a roadmap, feedback, guidance and an IELTS specialist teacher?
Join the Members Academy today.
Get instant access to all courses, challenges, boot camps, live classes, interactive and engaging classes, 1:1 support, and a friendly tight-knit community of like-minded learners to get you to Band 7+.
How to improve your fluency? A lot of research has been carried out on this topic, so there’s no quick and easy answer.
Here’s a link to some of the research “Pauline Foster’s essential bookshelf: Oral fluency in a second language”.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-teaching/article/pauline-fosters-essential-bookshelf-oral-fluency-in-a-second-language/3E815FF1396C26887151DEFA55D40B86
This article summarises 12 books on the topic and it shows how difficult it is to come up with a quick and easy answer to “How can I improve my fluency?”.
For example, she refers to Segalowitz, N. (2016):
“Importantly, Segalowitz argues that L2 fluency is determined by a host of factors that are by nature socio-pragmatic, psychological, and motivational as much as cognitive and linguistic, all interacting in dynamic, complex ways.”
Foster continues:
“I very much like the emphasis Segalowitz places on speaking as a social act, informed and constrained by socio-pragmatic ‘rules’ of use. Achieving high-level L2 fluency is to reach the point of being able simultaneously to plan, assemble, and articulate streams of utterances that are structurally, lexically, and communicatively competent. No wonder so many learners, like me, fall short.”
Foster concludes:
“I hope I have succeeded in getting across to readers the idea that L2 fluency is not just about learners being ‘good’ or being ‘smooth’, it’s also about them being themselves – that is, the selves they can portray when they speak in their L1s. This instinct is so strong that it can lead to some L2 learners (such as I was) to choose not to say much because they can’t be themselves.”
Good afternoon Fiona, just one quick question – among all three parts of the IELTS speaking test, which part do you find your students most often to struggle with? For me it’s the second part, I sometimes run out of ideas too quickly. I’ve seen somewhere online that by design the part 3 is the most difficult one, but personally I find part 3 is a bit easier than part 2, I kinda prefer interactive conversations. Is this normal?
Hi Adam
Speaking Part 3 is designed to be more challenging than Speaking Part 2. Part 2 mainly assesses your ability to describe and explain. It’s quite easy to train students to do well at Part 2.
Part 3 assesses a much wider range of language, such as speculating, comparing, predicting, and justifying your opinions.
You have to
– discuss the topic in more depth and detail.
– answer longer and more abstract questions
– discuss opinions and evaluate arguments on topics that might be far removed from your life experience
– use more complex language, critical thinking skills, and flexibility in your responses
– express your ideas clearly and coherently, while also responding appropriately to the examiner’s questions
In Part 3, the examiner can challenge your responses, so your English needs to be strong enough to be flexible and adaptable.
I think this makes it more difficult for students to prepare for Part 3 – it will quickly reveal a candidate’s true ability.
I hope that helps,
Best wishes
Fiona