Speaking techniques in Part 2 & 3.

1. Speaking Part 2 & 3
Lecture 6

2. Speaking Part-2 Individual long turn (3-4
minutes)
IELTS speaking test assessment criteria
• Fluency and Coherency
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy
• Pronunciation.

3. • In speaking part 2, the topic is based on your
experience. Quickly think of something that is
relevant to the topic. If you can’t remember
anything suitable, invent something.
• The first 3 points are usually quite factual. Speak
about them in turn, fairly briefly. Allow
yourself enough time to talk about the last line.
This often asks for an explanation, so it gives you
the opportunity to use a wider range of language.

4. Introduce your talk at the start.
Useful languages for introducing your talk
• Well, I’m going to / I’d like to talk about …
• The story I’m going to talk about is …
• One of the best / the most beautiful X that I’ve
ever seen / heard is …

5. Using discourse markers
Think about connecting words and phrases that will
guide you as you speak.
Try to practice your organization as much as you can
before taking the test.
Practice making notes and then using them to help you
speak.
Learn how to build what you say, around your brief
notes.

6. Here’s a list of prompt words that you can use to
help you prepare
Developing phrases - when you want to expand your
argument:
- First of all
- Secondly
- Additionally
- Another thing
- another reason why
- Furthermore

7. Background phrases- when you want to add some
detail:
- it’s near …
- It happened…
- It took place…
- It’s been going on for/ since…
- At that time…

8. Impression phrases- when you want to say
something that made an impression on you.
…impressed me
…motivated me
…moved me
… touched me deeply
…disturbed me
…had an effect on me
…affected me
…influenced me

9. Things you like phrases- when you want to describe or
talk about things you like
I like…most of all
I enjoy….
I love doing …
…really appeals to me because …
I take great pleasure in …

10. Speaking Part 3. Two-way discussion
• In part 3, you have to give your opinions on general,
abstract topics, not personal topics as in Part1.
• This is your opportunity to show the examiner the full
range of your language.

11. Try and use a wide range of phrases for giving your opinion/
views on topical issues, using some language structures.
Starting your
response
• I think that …
• Well, in my view/
opinion, …
• I would say …
• I would argue that …
Comparing and
contrasting
• In the past, … but
nowadays …
• Many years ago, … but
now …
• However, …
• On the other hand, …
• While …

12. • Agreeing/ Disagreeing
• I agree that …
• I’m not sure I agree that … / I don’t think/believe
that …
• I (strongly) believe that …
• As far as I’m concerned, …
• I’m (strongly) against …
• I’m (strongly) in favour of …
• I’m convinced that would work because …
• I’m not convinced that would work because …
• I’m skeptical of the idea that …
• I must admit, I think …

13. Using reasons & examples
In speaking part 3, as mentioned before, the
examiner will ask you questions related to the topic of
part 2.
The questions will use verbs describe, compare,
recommend, identify, outline, evaluate, speculate,
suggest etc.
Your answers should be at least one or two
sentences long.
Expand them, for example by giving reasons
and examples.

14. Giving reasons
• The reason (why) …
• I think that’s why …
• As a result (of) …
• Why I think is that …
• Another reason is that …
Giving examples
• For example
• For instance
• Such as
• Like* - please note that ‘like’
can’t be used as linking
device in academic writing.
• One example that springs to
mind is …
• Probably the best example I
can think of is …
• Let me give you an example.

15. Strategies for Generalization in
Speaking Part 3
• Remember that there are no right or wrong answers.
• The examiner is interested in hearing whether you
can talk fluently about abstract topics and organize
your points in a logical way.
• Use words and phrases which show that you are
making general points; e. g. In general, Generally etc.

16. Useful language: Generalizing and distancing
• I tend to think …
• It seems to me …
• On the whole, …
• Generally / Broadly speaking, / In general, …
• Most / The majority of people …

17. Speaking part 2 & 3: Strategies for self-
correction and expressing oneself more clearly:
You use these natural and simple expression to explain
your point again more clearly or get your answer back
on track.

18. Giving a detail / an explanation or clarification:
• What I mean is …
• What I want to say is …
• What I’m trying to say is …
• My point is that …
• As I was saying
• In other words, …
• By that I mean
• That means that…
• Plus …
• What people do is that …
• Let me explain why I think that.

19. Referring back to something you said earlier in the
talk
• As I mentioned before, …
• As I said earlier, …
Looking for the correct word
• How do you say
• What’s the word

20. • Useful linkers (Linking phrases)
• Introducing:
• I am going to talk about …
• The aspect / factor / issues I have
looked at is …
• What I’m going to cover is …
• Explaining: (giving a reason /
detail / explanation)
• The main reason why …
• In other words, …
• Most importantly, …
• What I mean is …
• What else can I tell you about …
• Last but not least, …
• Introducing a new point
• So let me tell you…
• The next thing …
• Describing the stages in a story
• At that time, …
• Then …
• Before/ After …
• When …
• Eventually, …
• Referring back to something
you said earlier in the talk
• As I mentioned before, …
• As I said before, …
• Exemplifying:
• Consider …, for example.
• Take … as one example of …
• In the case of …,
• Ending the talk
• So, all in all, …
• In the end,…
• So I guess that’s …
• Why did/do I …?

21. Pronunciation: Word stress
• Something the examiner will be thinking about as you talk is, ‘Does
this student impose a strain on the listener?’ This is a very important
concept in the IELTS Speaking exam. If you ‘impose a starin’, it
means that the listener has to struggle to understand you.
• Here are some ways you may impose a strain:
• Hesitating for too long
• Speaking too quietly
• Having poor pronunciation
• Improving these aspects of your speaking will improve your mark.
• Word stress is crucial in English. With words which have more than
one syllable, e.g. actually, we stress one syllable more than the
others. Actually contains three syllables: ac tua lly. If you stress
the wrong syllable, the listener may have trouble understanding you.
Always mark the stressed syllable when you note down a new word.