IELTS Speaking Essentials by Jyoti Malhotra is the fifth and the last book in the IELTS-Tech Series and will effectively serve the purpose of both the Academic and General Candidate, particularly those appearing for the Interview Sessions to learn the technique of facing Interviews and Interacting with the Interviewee in the IELTS.
IELTS Speaking Essentials investigates the skills and strategies required in writing and speaking modules that distinguish the IELTS proficiency levels. Several factors like Word Stress, Intonation, Rhythm and Cohesive Devices are required on behalf of the IELTS candidate to determine their assessment over four band scales: Fluency, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, Lexical Resource and Pronunciation.
IELTS Speaking Essentials makes the IELTS candidate proficient in speaking tests by teaching them all the Rhetorical devices like Word Stress, Intonation, Rhythm, Cohesive Devices, Fluency, Lexical Resources, etc.
All these techniques should be designed appropriately and provided to the students as study materials.
Sound recorder (self-created by students on mobile phones) software should be used to maintain the Rate of Speech in the IELTS Speaking Part 2.
The students should be given speech therapies to twist their tongues in L2.
In 2001, the IELTS interview format and criteria were revised. A significant change was the shift from a single global scale to a set of four analytical scales focussing on different aspects of oral proficiency. IELTS Speaking Essentials is concerned with the validity of the analytical rating scales. It aims to verify the descriptors used to define the score points on the scales by providing empirical evidence for the criteria in terms of their overall focus and ability to distinguish the performance levels.
The Speaking Test Band descriptors and the criteria key indicators were analysed to identify the relevant analytic categories for each of the four band scales: fluency, grammatical range and accuracy, lexical resource and pronunciation.
The speaking Skills Checklist is as follows:
- Production Skills, Pronunciation: Rhythm, Number & Length of Pauses, Stress, Intonation, Contours.
- Communication Skills: Fluency, Clarity, Coherence, Confidence, Cultural Appropriateness, etc.
- Language Skills: Grammatical Accuracy, Grammatical Range, Vocabulary
But how an IELTS student will build these skills is still a matter of discussion. The IELTS Books/Instructors or even the organization of IELTS are silent in this matter. No doubt, we can get this matter by netsurfing over different websites, but what about the authenticity of the study material?
The main problem in a non–native English country like India is how students twist their tongues in L2 (English language) because while learning; they automatically get the influence of L1 (Mother Tongue) because it is their native language, and this is natural, so that nobody can avoid it.
But learning the global (English) language with the help of Vocal Cosmetics/Rhetorical Devices will improve their tongue-twisting into L2 (Second Language Acquisition), automatically improving the candidate’s proficiency in the IELTS Speaking and Writing Test.
Keeping this viewpoint in mind, IELTS Speaking Essentials puts forth some technical aspects of learning, writing and speaking English through the medium of this book. This will genuinely help the students to speak perfect English.
