A person is considered to be fluent if he/she speaks:
• at a normal pace (neither too slow nor too fast that the speech becomes incomprehensible),
• without unnatural stops and pauses (i.e. without hesitating),
• without excessive and unnecessary repetition (repeating the same thing over and over again)
• With appropriate cohesion and organization (the speech should be connected, sentences should not be left incomplete in order to jump to next idea. Ideas should be linked. Haphazard sentences about irrelevant things are inappropriate and lead to lower score.)
• Clearly so that the speech is comprehensible (not too fast so that meaning cannot be grasped by listener, no mumbling nor too loud, at an appropriate pitch, words must be spoken clearly with appropriate natural pauses)
A person’s speech is considered accurate, if he/she uses:
• Accurate grammar
• Appropriate tone (formal or informal) as demanded by the situation or topic of discussion. IELTS speaking module focuses on a semi-formal, comfortable conversation but informal terms should be completely avoided.
• Appropriate vocabulary according to the context (the topic being discussed).
• Proper pronunciation. Pronunciation plays a very important role since inaccurate pronunciation may change the meaning of the word or may render the word or even whole sentence meaningless.
