How far pronunciation important in IELTS test.Should I reduce myown native accent before I appear for the test ? I have tried but finds it difficult.It is something that can not be achieved in a few months.How do you guide me ?

Hi Manibal,

Sorry for not replying to this question sooner. It was misplaced under IELTS writing but as the topic is pronunciation I have moved it to IELTS Speaking.

Pronunciation is an important factor in the speaking test, in fact it is one of the four main criteria. However, you will only lose marks if the examiner cannot understand you or has difficulty understanding you and this may be because of a strong native accent (1st language interference).

The important thing is NOT to try and sound like a native English speaker. The important thing is to be clear and to use natural pronunciation which also includes changes in intonation and stress patterns. You will NOT be penalised for having a non-native accent and therefore you should not try to change your accent for the purpose of the exam.

Before you take the test, ask a teacher to help you to identify the sounds in English which may be difficult for you to pronounce and to take time practising words which contain those sounds. These will of course be different for everyone, depending on your native language.

If you have any doubts about the typical pronunciation difficulties for speakers of your native language, please write to me and I will do my best to advise you.

I hope this answers your question and sorry again for the delay in replying.

Best wishes,

Jenny

Hi,I think that we can improve our speaking skill with write what we want to say and then repeat it.
After sveral daily trainings,we will be able to see the sentences online in front of our eyes.
What’s your idea?

Hi Infinity,

Thank you for your suggestion. Reading out loud is a good way to practice speaking and particularly to improve fluency as you can begin quite slowly and then get quicker when you are more comfortable and more confident reading the words.

Online chat rooms can be good for this as the language used in chat rooms is obviously very informal and conversational even though it is written. If you keep the transcript of the chat and print it off afterwards, you can practice it as a spoken dialogue with a friend.

However, this technique does not necessarily improve your pronunciation unless you have someone correcting you. The best way to improve pronunciation is by listening to or interacting with native speakers. This may not be possible of course, depending where you live, but there are lots of free podcasts available on the web which you can download and listen to in your free time.

I would recommend the BBC learning English website which you can find here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

It even has a pronunciation section with some fun quizzes and exercises.

Enjoy!

Jenny
The iPass Team

One way to improve your pronunciation is to watch English news channels like BBC, CNN etc. Try to follow them by recording some portion and repeating it again.

Also, join some English speaking course. They help a lot.