0Speaking And Writing: Read Aloud.
You are presented with a written text which could be of 3 to 4 lines (varies). You have 30-40 seconds to prepare, depending on the length of the passage. Here are some tips to score full marks on this question type:
- You have 30-40 seconds to look at the text before the microphone opens, so use this time to break the text up into meaningful chunks, using the punctuation as a guide. This will show you the places where you can make a tiny pause and alter your intonation – going up when you begin reading a chunk and falling a little when you end a chunk.
- Use punctuation to help you decide where to pause when you read.
- Using appropriate pausing helps you to read more fluently and give the full meaning of the text. This will improve your score.
- You hear a short tone. After the tone, start speaking immediately. Do not start speaking before the microphone opens because your voice will not be recorded.
- You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush.
- Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed”.
- You are only able to record your response once.
- Stress the words that carry important information
- When you read the text, stress the words that help to convey meaning, by reading them in a slightly louder voice and adding emphasis to key syllables. Also use rising and falling intonation patterns to show how the ideas are linked or are coming to an end.
- To make sure, you get full marks -
- Content: Your response should include all the words in the reading text and only these words. Content is scored by counting the number of correct words in your response. Replacements insertions and omissions of words will negatively affect your score.
- Fluency is scored by determining if your rhythm, phrasing and stress are smooth. The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing. Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.
- Pronunciation is scored by determining if your speech is easily understandable to most regular speakers of the language.
