Speaking - LanguageCert General SELT
Speaking is assessed in a face-to-face interview with a LanguageCert examiner. It tests interactive communication at your chosen CEFR level: giving personal information, describing, explaining, and handling a task or role-play. Fluency, pronunciation, range, accuracy and interactive competence all count.
What happens in the room
Typically a warm-up of personal questions, a longer turn where you talk about a topic or picture, and a two-way task such as a role-play or a decision reached with the examiner. The examiner follows a script, so the question types are predictable.
Technique
- Answer, then add one reason or detail; one-word answers cannot show range.
- Use natural fillers ('Well, it depends...', 'Let me think') instead of silence.
- If you do not understand, ask: 'Sorry, could you repeat that?' - it is not penalised.
- For a picture or topic, structure your turn: what you see, where, what is happening, and your opinion.
Worked example
Examiner: 'Tell me about a skill you would like to learn.' Weak: 'I want to drive.' Strong: 'I'd like to learn to drive, mainly because I live in a village with no bus service, so it would make getting to work much easier.' The second answer adds a reason and a result, showing complex sentences and topic vocabulary.
Traps
- Memorised speeches that do not answer the actual question.
- Monopolising the role-play and not responding to the examiner.
- Dropping grammar you control when nervous - third-person -s, past tense.
- Speaking too quietly; pronunciation marks need to be heard.
- Giving a bare 'yes' or 'no' and waiting for the next question.