IELTS Speaking: How Pronunciation is Marked

Pronunciation is part of the IELTS Speaking Test. The examiner who conducts your test will award you a score for Pronunciation as well as the other marking criteria. Together those scores are averaged to give you a final speaking band score.

This page explains about the marking of pronunciation and will help you understand what you can do to increase your score. You will also learn whether different accents are accepted in IELTS Speaking.

On this page, you will learn:

1. Is IELTS a British English Test?
2. Pronunciation Features & Marking
3. Pronunciation Band Scores
4. Accents in IELTS Speaking
5. Pronunciation Advice

1) Is IELTS a British English Language Test?

IELTS is owned by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council and IDP. This means that two of the owners are British and one is Australian. But it is not a test of British English or of Australian English. It is an INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST = IELTS. This means that it tests international English, not just British or Australian English.

2) IELTS Speaking Pronunciation Marking Features

IELTS Speaking Marking Criteria: Pronunciation is one of four marking criteria for IELTS speaking:

• Fluency = 25%
• Vocabulary = 25%
• Grammar = 25%
• Pronunciation = 25%

Aspects of Pronunciation for Marking

There are a number of features of pronunciation that the speaking examiner will be assessing you on. Pronunciation features and how easy you are to understand are the two key aspects of IELTS Speaking Pronunciation. Below is a summary of some of the main features:

1. Individual sounds – similar sounds (p/b  m/n d/t)  consonant clusters (sht / cht etc), length of vowels (sheep/ship etc), schwa (the lazy vowel sound that is never stressed – example – there are two schwas in “dangerous), silent letters.
2. Strong and weak forms – example “and”  – this can be produced as “n” (fish and chips = fish “n” chips) or it can be pronounced at full length “and”. This depends on how and when you use this word.
3. Word Pronunciation
4. Word stress and syllables (sounds inside a word that carry the stress)
5. Sentence stress (this links to chunking)
6. Intonation (putting feeling and emphasis into your speaking which causes your tone to rise and fall)
7. Linking sounds and words
8. Chunking (putting parts of a sentence together into chunks to create stress and clarity within a sentence)
9. Contractions (it is = it’s / my name is = my name’s /  I did not = I didn’t / I have been = I’ve bin / I’m going to = I’m gonna / I want to = I wanna)

3) Pronunciation Band Scores

Below is a brief summarised description of the Pronunciation Band Scores for IELTS Speaking based on the descriptors published by IELTS.

• Band 5 = There are some miscommunications which might cause difficulty for the listener. The candidate attempts to control pronunciation features, but often does not succeed. The candidate may show some features of band 6.
• Band 6 = The candidate uses a range of pronunciation features but the control is not consistent throughout the test. There might be mispronunciation of words or sounds which reduces the clarity. However, the meaning of what is being said is generally clear throughout the test.
• Band 7 = shows all features of band 6 and only some of the positive features of band 8.
• Band 8 = uses a wide range of pronunciation features throughout most of the test. Is easy to understand and the mother tongue does not affect clarity.
• Band 9 = The candidate uses a full range of features with precision and subtlety. The candidate is effortless to understand.

Note: you can see in the band score descriptions above that using a range of features (linking sounds, contractions, intonation, word stress, chunking etc is key to a good score. Also how easy you are to understand is critical. 

To read the Official Speaking Band Score Descriptors click here: Official Speaking Descriptors 

4) Accents in IELTS Speaking

Does my accent need to be British English?

No, it doesn’t. IELTS is an international English test so you can have any accent you want. It does not need to be British. It is completely fine to have an American accent or Australian accent. Any accent is fine.

What if I have a mixed accent?

That is also fine. It is 100% normal for people these days to have a mixed accent. Even native speakers have mixed accents if they travel or have lived abroad. IELTS will accept a mixed accent for the speaking test. But you cannot mix your spelling for the writing test. See this page: Spelling in IELTS Writing

What about an accent from my own country?

It is normal for you to retain an accent from your own language. IELTS do not prohibit that or lower your band score for it. The question is “Does your accent cause difficulties for the listener? If your mother tongue accent is so heavy that your English pronunciation is difficult to understand, you will get a lower score. However, if your accent is very mild and English pronunciation is easy to understand, you can get a high band score. This means it depends on the effort that the listener has to make to understand you. The less effort is required to understand your pronunciation, the higher your score. However, always remember, you still need to demonstrate the features of pronunciation mentioned further up this page.

5) Pronunciation Advice

Pronunciation is something that takes time to change. This isn’t something you can fix with only a couple of weeks before your test. If you have time before your test, try listening to news channels, documentaries and soap operas. The English used in films can often be rushed or muffled by music so choose your films wisely.

You can only improve your pronunciation by practising to speak out loud. Get used to doing this on your own and record your speaking. Then listen back and check.

Online Dictionaries provide pronunciation of individual words with either UK or US accents. Use them to check your word pronunciation.

Free IELTS Speaking Lessons & Tips

To get free speaking lessons, topics, tips and model answers, click here: IELTS Speaking

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