In the IELTS Speaking exam, the examiner will give you a score in 4 areas: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Range, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. Your final score will be the average of these four scores rounded down.

However, recently I realised that that there is a lot of confusion among students as to exactly what the examiner is looking for when they grade Fluency and Coherence. Fluency is relatively clear and easy to understand - that is your ability to speak without pauses or hesitations for languages. But what exactly is "coherence"? The band descriptors tell us that it is the use of "connective devices and discourse markers", but are discourse markers the same as transition signals? And what exactly are connective devices in speech? That is what Nick and I discuss in today's episode.

Plus, if you would like to join our IELTS speaking challenge next week, you can choose from the following questions and email your recording to [email protected]

• a well-known and popular person in your country
• a time when you made a hard decision which had a positive result
• something you do to stay fit & healthy
• a traditional product from your country

Useful Links 

• Join our next intensive speaking course: https://www.myieltsclassroom.com/pages/speaking
• Introduction to IELTS Speaking http://blog.myieltsclassroom.com/introduction-to-ielts-speaking/

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