“I’ve read 5 vocabulary books and I’ve memorized all the grammar rules but I still cannot speak English fluently. What am I doing wrong?” Well the answer is pretty easy, almost everything. The first approach towards speaking well is that you have to take that one step of uttering things from your mouth while in a conversation or when asked any question and not being hesitant.
In the IELTS speaking test, people have a lot of confusion and misleading ideas. Which I want to call common mistakes to avoid in the IELTS speaking test. One of the major mistakes while preparing for a speaking test is that we all think that if our speech consists of a lot of complex vocabulary we will get a better band score. This is a myth. Speaking test is not about just overusing complex vocabulary but how flexibly you can use words in your speech. It sometimes hampers your fluency as well as it makes the speech seem like memorized and robotic. In some cases speaking with simple vocabulary can make the speech more understandable, using complex vocabulary can make it seem vague.
While overusing complex vocabulary is a problem, not expanding your answers enough is another thing to avoid. Many test takers have a tendency of giving answers just in “yes” or “no” or just in one short sentence. It is very important to give reasoning to or explain your answers properly. For example, if the examiner asks you “Do you like flowers?” and your answer is “No. I don’t” this is not an adequate answer. Instead, you can say “No, I don’t like flowers. I have allergies to flowers.”
Another mistake that candidates make is that they think talking too fast may add some merits to their fluency. However, this is absolutely not the case. Talking very fast might make your speech difficult to understand and sometimes it also hampers the pronunciation. On the other hand, talking too slowly is not a good idea either. It sounds monotonous and lacks intonation. It is better to speak in the natural tone in which we do our regular conversation.
Grammar and pronunciation are very crucial in speaking. Error-free sentences and pronouncing correctly directly add to your band score. In my opinion, it is very crucial to fix grammar and pronunciation while practicing speaking. At Least basic sentence-making is a must. When you speak, though the examiner can understand what you might want to say, it will not add any points to the “Grammar and Accuracy” criteria of the speaking test. Mispronunciation on the other hand sometimes makes the speech unclear and in some cases changes the overall meaning.
Finally, a candidate who is planning to take the IELTS test should practice under exam conditions. Taking a few mock tests and getting feedback from an instructor is very helpful. If a person works on the feedback he/she is getting, it will surely improve his/her speaking gradually.
Last tip, being confident is the key to a speaking test. Always keep your mind relaxed and calm.