HOW TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SCORES?
There is a tendency to hide errors(Pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary or fluency) and memorise some sentences or expressions instead ( to cover up the errors???). These students are doing this in a bid to impress the examiner. They believe they can achieve a high score by doing so.
It is not true because:
1, Your examiner can still identify your errors when you do not use those templates. So your overall control is weak , but it is good when you use memorised chants or chunks. Therefore, you still fail to impress the examiner. By the way, you can never impress the examiner because all examiners have to follow the same criteria and write a report on why that band score is awarded.
2, Even if you perform really well (according to your ......), your errors will prevent you reaching at a high score because the density of errors are also one of the criteria in assessing the micro-skills. So you can not hide your errors by your 'good vocabulary range'. For example, some candidates can literally score up to an 8 band if they just focus on eliminating the errors. If they don't do it, no matter what they learn new, they will still score a low score or back to square one. Each band score also represents a range of errors that you commit. The scale = accuracy--> how do they assess accuracy? One of the methods used: Counting the number of errors!
This method is widely practiced in Mainland China and a few other countries. It may work sometime for the writing but rarely it works for speaking. Most of them really need to learn basic sounds and individual word pronunciation. They think they learnt English well but often forget the fact that they learnt it in a wrong way. Most candidates need to work on their pronunciation to reach up to an 8. A high score is expected for a person who speaks naturally.
Showing our skills in vocabulary does not mean that you need 'puke out' some uncommon words or phrases. A candidate who uses simple everyday English can score a 9 band if s/he does not make any errors. However, a candidate who uses a lot of idioms, academic words, complicated grammar skills, may still score a 6 band because of the errors committed. So choose the right pathway for your success. Do not be a victim!
Should they just imitate native speakers? No. They should practice English within the parameter or their capacity. Trying to use English beyond their level will only hurt their overall score. A native speaker or an experienced person can speak always better, so until you become experienced or achieve that level naturally, you should not blindly imitate them because you may not be aware of the natural usage of some expressions and you may use unnaturally. This will prevent you getting a high score. One good example is ' saying fair enough'. We say this normally on 2 occasions such as 1, when we agree with someone and we feel that is reasonable 2, I understand what you are saying. A students was using this expression to his teacher right after the teacher explained each lesson. This usage here is not relevant even though it has a meaning ' i understand you'.
Candidates should try to eliminate errors in the first place. When they are able to produce error-free sentences ( not just grammar but vocabulary, Pronunciation and other features) most of the time, then they can start learning some optional ones such as uncommon lexicon. To be able to speak like a native speaker, one must live in a native speaking country and make the same effort of a native speaker. Is this really achievable? That ideal person speaks English because of his 20 or 30 plus years of experience.
There is a tendency to hide errors(Pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary or fluency) and memorise some sentences or expressions instead ( to cover up the errors???). These students are doing this in a bid to impress the examiner. They believe they can achieve a high score by doing so.
It is not true because:
1, Your examiner can still identify your errors when you do not use those templates. So your overall control is weak , but it is good when you use memorised chants or chunks. Therefore, you still fail to impress the examiner. By the way, you can never impress the examiner because all examiners have to follow the same criteria and write a report on why that band score is awarded.
2, Even if you perform really well (according to your ......), your errors will prevent you reaching at a high score because the density of errors are also one of the criteria in assessing the micro-skills. So you can not hide your errors by your 'good vocabulary range'. For example, some candidates can literally score up to an 8 band if they just focus on eliminating the errors. If they don't do it, no matter what they learn new, they will still score a low score or back to square one. Each band score also represents a range of errors that you commit. The scale = accuracy--> how do they assess accuracy? One of the methods used: Counting the number of errors!
This method is widely practiced in Mainland China and a few other countries. It may work sometime for the writing but rarely it works for speaking. Most of them really need to learn basic sounds and individual word pronunciation. They think they learnt English well but often forget the fact that they learnt it in a wrong way. Most candidates need to work on their pronunciation to reach up to an 8. A high score is expected for a person who speaks naturally.
Showing our skills in vocabulary does not mean that you need 'puke out' some uncommon words or phrases. A candidate who uses simple everyday English can score a 9 band if s/he does not make any errors. However, a candidate who uses a lot of idioms, academic words, complicated grammar skills, may still score a 6 band because of the errors committed. So choose the right pathway for your success. Do not be a victim!
Should they just imitate native speakers? No. They should practice English within the parameter or their capacity. Trying to use English beyond their level will only hurt their overall score. A native speaker or an experienced person can speak always better, so until you become experienced or achieve that level naturally, you should not blindly imitate them because you may not be aware of the natural usage of some expressions and you may use unnaturally. This will prevent you getting a high score. One good example is ' saying fair enough'. We say this normally on 2 occasions such as 1, when we agree with someone and we feel that is reasonable 2, I understand what you are saying. A students was using this expression to his teacher right after the teacher explained each lesson. This usage here is not relevant even though it has a meaning ' i understand you'.
Candidates should try to eliminate errors in the first place. When they are able to produce error-free sentences ( not just grammar but vocabulary, Pronunciation and other features) most of the time, then they can start learning some optional ones such as uncommon lexicon. To be able to speak like a native speaker, one must live in a native speaking country and make the same effort of a native speaker. Is this really achievable? That ideal person speaks English because of his 20 or 30 plus years of experience.
The good news is you don't need to speak like a native to score a 9. Most 6 or 7 band
candidates can reach an 8 or 9 by just focusing on eliminating their errors. At the same time,
a native speaker may not score a 9 in Speaking because of the pronunciation and fluency
issues or do not know what to do in the test. One of my students from Southampton/England
(born and bred) even scored a 6.5 in one of the Speaking tests-- he also scored an 8.5 and
then a 9.0 in his following attempts.
No comments:
Post a Comment