Speaking
Speaking assesses interactive communication in real time: fluency, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, pronunciation, and - crucially - discourse management. Examiners reward a candidate who sustains and develops talk, not one who produces isolated correct sentences. Long turns, discussion, and decision tasks each place different demands on you.
What is assessed
- Fluency: speed alone is not fluency; smooth repair and avoidance of long pauses matter more. Use fillers that buy time naturally (That's an interesting point - I suppose ...).
- Discourse: extend with reason, example, consequence, or contrast. A three-part answer (position → why → example) is usually enough.
- Paraphrase: when a word will not come, describe it. The thing you use to ..., a kind of ..., someone whose job is to ... keeps the turn alive and demonstrates resource.
- Pronunciation: sentence stress carries meaning (I didn't say that versus I didn't say that); word stress shifts across families (PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy, photoGRAPHic); final consonant clusters and /θ/ versus /t/ affect intelligibility.
- Interaction: interrupt politely, invite, agree with qualification (I see your point, but ...), and ask for clarification rather than guessing.
Worked example
You cannot recall pedestrian crossing. Instead of stopping, say: It's the marked part of the road where people walk across - usually with lights or stripes. Reasoning: the paraphrase supplies defining features (location, function, visual detail) rather than a synonym, so the listener identifies the referent. It costs a few seconds instead of a breakdown, and it shows you can circumlocute - a recognised strategy, not a failure. Follow it with a normal sentence to restore fluency: Near my flat there's one that's badly timed.
Traps
- One-clause answers that hand the turn back immediately.
- A memorised monologue delivered regardless of the question.
- Filling pauses with um and you know until they dominate.
- Flat intonation that makes a list sound like a single word.
- Correct grammar with misplaced stress that the examiner has to decode.
- Ignoring a prompt to compare or speculate, and just describing.
- Speaking too fast in the long turn and running out of content.