STUDY NOTES

EPISODE 8: SPEAKING FLUENTLY

SPEAKING FLUENTLY
Fluency is a measure of how easily and
smoothly you communicate in English. Do you
speak easily and at a natural pace or slowly
and have to stop to think of what to say when
talking?
Fluency is particularly important in Part Two of
the interview the individual long turn. This is
where you will be speaking at length on a
given topic, on your own without any
prompting, so your ability to speak effectively,
smoothly and continuously will be on show.
There are two features to consider when
talking about fluency:

IELTS Tip
Practise talking on a range of
topics in order to build your
confidence.
Record yourself speaking and
listen for how often you pause or
hesitate. Check that you have
logically organised your ideas and
used appropriate linking words.
Practise speaking at every
opportunity. You cant improve
without practice!

smoothness and continuity of your speech

rate or speed of your speech

Smoothness and continuity of your speech

How easily you speak without hesitating or pausing too often is how smoothness and
continuity is measured in your speech. It is natural to pause or hesitate when
speaking but only if it is at a natural pace.
When there are lengthier segments of silence in your talk this may indicate a lack of
communicative grammatical structures and/or a limited range of conversational
vocabulary. Are you searching for language or ideas?
Communicative grammatical structures
It is important to build a bank of grammatical structures and expressions which help
communicate or express how you feel about something. Being emphatic about
something or wanting to emphasise a point is one such structure.
Emphatic structures
Drawing attention or importance to a reason, example, opinion or comparison is
relevant to all parts of the speaking test.
There is a variety of structures used for emphasising a particular point or idea in an
effective manner or signalling something is important. These can include:

fronting
inversion
cleft clauses

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Fronting
In spoken English when you want to emphasise a contrast or comparison with
something in the previous sentence then that information is placed at the beginning of
the sentence and is called fronting.
Fronting information changes the normal word order in a sentence and subsequently
changes the emphasis and focus.
Example
Usual word order

There are many yet unexplored places to visit in Australia. The rainforests
of Kakadu would be the most exciting.

To emphasise there is something special about Kakadu the superlative structure with that information
is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Fronting

There are many yet unexplored places to visit in Australia. The most
exciting would be the rainforests of Kakadu.

Inversion
Another structure used to give more emphasis or create a more dramatic effect is
subject-auxiliary inversion. The auxiliary (do, have) is placed before the subject and
the rest of the verb phrase follows. There are also other expressions that use this
pattern of inversion as well.
Example
Expressions
hardly, rarely, little, few, never
not only but also
no sooner than
adverbs of time (first, next, all
day)

Inversion
Little did he know what the consequences of his actions would be.
Never have I seen such an amazing performance.
Not only does she speak English well, but also three other
languages.
No sooner had we started our tour than the coach broke down.
All day I waited for the service man to come to fix my refrigerator.

Cleft clauses
Cleft clauses are often used to draw attention to a particular piece of information.
The information is divided into two parts and each has its own verb. Introductory noun
phrases are generally used in cleft sentences. These can include wh- clauses and
other noun phrases.
Examples
Introductory noun phrases
wh- clauses: the person (who);
the place (where); the reason
(why); the time (when); the thing
that
the thing is; the point is; the fact
remains; the trouble is; the
problem is

Cleft sentences
The person who is responsible for the accident is John.
The place where youd want to visit is Egypt because of the
pyramids.
The thing that worries me is the cost of living.
The thing is, Ive run out of money.
The fact remains that weve got to sit the test.

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Conversational vocabulary
In addition to building a bank of communicative grammatical structures, it is also
helpful to build up your vocabulary around a topic area. This allows you to more
easily express yourself because you would have a bank of relevant and related
vocabulary from which to draw on when speaking on that topic.
The kind of vocabulary items to learn would include synonyms and opposites in
particular, because they allow you to extend your talk by using words or phrases of
similar meaning or they can provide additional information which is opposite in
meaning. This can give continuity to your speech and this will help maintain fluency.
The general topic area of health is developed below. Practise using this vocabulary
and add new items as you come across relevant vocabulary.
Topic area: Health
Topic vocabulary
health care, health, diet, health food, obesity, nutrition, medicine, exercise, conditions, lifestyles,
consume, illness (cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, immune system)
Word forms
adjective
noun
verb
adverb
thing
healthy, healthful
obese
nutritional
preventative; preventive
Related words
synonyms
serious
nutritious
unhealthy

health
obesity
nutrition;
nutrient
prevention

person
x
x
x

healthily
x
nutritionally

prevent

nutritionist

grave; debilitating; severe; major; life-threatening; chronic; painful

nourishing; wholesome; beneficial; health-giving; invigorating; strengthening
harmful; unwholesome; damaging; toxic; diseased; deleterious; unfit; out of
shape

opposites
healthy
thin
scale
idiom

unhealthy
obese
thin
slim heavy fat overweight obese
prevention is better than cure; an ounce of prevention is better than a pound
of cure (saying)

Collocations
(adj.) + noun + (adj.)
diet

verb + noun

(prep.) + noun +
(prep.)
on a ~; a ~ of; in a ~

balanced ~; sensible ~;
to go on a ~; to follow a
healthy ~; poor ~; weight- ~; to have a ~; to stick to
reducing ~; low-calorie ~; a ~
high-protein ~
health ~ problems; ~ risk; ~
to enjoy good ~; to look
in good/poor ~
education; ~ benefits; ~
after your ~
services; good ~;
declining ~
illness stress-related ~; minor ~; to suffer from ~; to
onset of ~; because
chronic ~; debilitating ~;
develop an ~; to contract
of ~; due to ~;
long-term ~; physical ~;
an ~
associated with ~
mental ~; serious ~
Other related collocations
catch a cold; to nurse a cold; come down with the flu; develop high blood pressure; suffer from high
blood pressure; suffer from stress; have a splitting headache; have a nasty cold

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Rate or speed of your speech

Fluency is not only about your ability to speak smoothly and continuously but your
ability to speak at an effective speed as well.
How quickly or slowly you speak is how the rate or speed of your speech is
measured. Speaking too slowly or too quickly is unnatural. Aim to speak at a relaxed
and natural pace.
There are different ways of achieving fluency but one of the most effective would be
experiencing and listening to good varieties of English speech. Being aware of
speaking styles and knowing how to listen will help you become a more fluent
speaker of English. Record your speech and check whether youre speaking at a
natural and relaxed pace. Practise modelling the pace of your speech on that of a
native speaker.

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