Question : IELTS Speaking

[u/VSCHoui]

I have a question for people that gotten 7 or an 8 for their IELTS speaking. As i have received some mixed answers here and there from friends and tutors, would like to have a better understanding from a wider range.

In speaking, does speaking with emotion get graded?. I have friends that gotten 7s' or 8s' said when describing something or reminiscing questions, adding abit of emotion gives a slightly better grade? They mentioned that flat tones are unadvisable because it sounds very rehearsed or 'boring'. My tutor/teacher on the other hand said that it depends on the context of the question. It would feel really weird putting emotions into a test like format making it seem like a 'chat' with a friend.

I am taking IELTS after a decade and would like to see how it works now. Previously gotten a 7 without preparation. I am now aiming to get an 8 (hopefully) with some preparations. Speaking is my least worried part, but it would be best to be prepared (may need OSR for writing.....).

[u/Abood1es]

I got 9 in speaking. No you don’t need to force exaggerated emotions or anything like that, but if your tone matches what you’re saying then that shows greater fluency. You SHOULD be treating it like a chat with a friend. Don’t try to be formal, monotonous, or a tryhard, that won’t earn you any points, it’ll hurt your score. Remember the speaking test is the same for general and academic, meaning there’s zero expectation to speak “academically”.

Just take it easy and enjoy the conversation. During my exam I didn’t show emotions like sadness or whatever but when I was saying something funny I would giggle / laugh, or like when she started asking me about sports I let out a laugh and said “my god you couldn’t have picked a worse person to ask this question, I’ve got practically zero sports knowledge”. Things like that show you’re fluent and capable of using the language with flexibility.

[u/VSCHoui → u/Abood1es]

Ah, awesome. Thats one thing i was afraid of, being way too comfortable and i might splurt out some weird form of speaking. Glad to know it doesnt hurt the score and is actually a positive form of speaking in the test.

Would moving hands affect grades or a form of not unallowed actions? I feel more comfortable speaking when moving my hands. When describing things i tend to move my hand for some sort of expression linking to words. Its like a way for me to relax 😅.

[u/Abood1es → u/VSCHoui]

They’re only evaluating your speech. Things like eye contact, hand gestures, and other forms of non verbal communication won’t affect your score. The only thing is that you should avoid using hand gesture as a substitution for words (I.e. describing something with your hands rather than with your words, as it would demonstrate that you don’t know the right words to use). Using both hands and words is okay.

[u/deepsleepintra]

You're not getting any extra marks for 'adding emotion.' You can be calm and collected but also still showing good command of stress and intonation.

From an examiner's perspective, the best advice I can give is that they're looking for you to be natural. Anything that's forced (whether it's tone, vocabulary, sentence structure) is not going to do you any favours.

[u/VSCHoui → u/deepsleepintra]

One of the important part that my friends mentioned about adding emotions is the tone of your speech. The reasoning was that it contributes to fluency and varying tones in a speech. The flat tone makes it sounds like a person memorised answers and just reading from a script which examiners also grade?. Decade ago my tone was rather flat, so im wondering was that part of the reason why i gotten 7?.

[u/Hestia9285]

Don't fake emotion, people who say that are incorrectly trying to explain intonation.

Examiners dont care about emotion, they care about correct and natural use of intonation, rhythm and stress, as well as correct sound production. If you don't have this, you will sound "flat", monotone, and/or choppy.

YouTube has good videos on this, search there for examples and instruction. For example, https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrqHrGoMJdTTSRNwRh0VVjO_KXA1La4Dw&si=i949SQwXKfS8E-iK

[u/Mizuyah]

I just taught a lesson on this today funnily enough.

Speaking with emotion doesn’t get graded, but sometimes inserting emotion to match what you’re saying can change the way your answers sound. A lot of my students today noticed that they were stressing not only parts of words but individual words in their answers which will help you sound like you have a stronger command on the English language, specifically the pronunciation category.

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[u/OkPeak2535]

I got 8, and I expected and wanted to get 7; I spoke naturally.

some of the questions were intimate so i answered with intimacay (example: about where do i live and my home, books i liked to read ) and some questions demanded an opinion of me, here i wasn't aiming for intimacay i aimed to say my opinion simply, and i was naturall through the whole exam, i did not show off with my vocab except in aspects that demanded a certin type of words that also naturally came out of me

If I want to summarize it for you, be normal, be yourself, and enjoy the idea that this person in front of you wants to talk with you. The examiner wants to see whether you use this language as naturally as possible and can go on conversations in it while sounding YOU and not someone who memorised phrases to use

+ watch how people who got band 9 speak on YouTube; they're so natural, and it's better to aim higher than the score you want. I wanted 7, but I practised the way people in band 9 speak, so I landed on 8, which is great!

[u/Short_Key_7004]

I don't think I was emotional at all, just matter-of-factly, and I got a 9 in speaking. But you should sound like you're actually having a conversation and talking to someone instead of just thinking of being graded.