IELTS Speaking - Band Overview

📌 1. What Are Speaking Bands? "Speaking Band" = Level • Consists of a total of 9 bands • 9 is the highest score, and 1 is the lowest • Half band scores are also possible (e.g., 6.5, 7.5) 📌 2. The Four Assessment Criteria Each band is assessed using the following four criteria: ◆ 1. Fluency and Coherence ◆ 2. Lexical Resource ◆ 3. Grammatical Range and Accuracy ◆ 4. Pronunciation 📌 3. What Are Descriptors? • A set of criteria used by the examiner to assess a test taker's Speaking performance • To receive a particular band score, you must meet all four criteria for that band 📌 4. Scoring Example ▸ Basic Principle — Conditions for Receiving a Band 5 • To receive Band 5, you must meet (✓) the descriptors for all four of the criteria above • If only some criteria are met → a Half Band score is applied Fluency and Coherence • Usually maintains flow of speech but uses repetition, self correction and/or slow speech to keep going • May over-use certain connectives and discourse markers • Produces simple speech fluently, but more complex communication causes fluency problems Lexical Resource • Manages to talk about familiar and unfamiliar topics but uses vocabulary with limited flexibility • Attempts to use paraphrase but with mixed success Grammatical Range and Accuracy • Produces basic sentence forms with reasonable accuracy • Uses a limited range of more complex structures, but these usually contain errors and may cause some comprehension problems Pronunciation • Shows all features of band 4 and some, but not all the positive features of band 6 ▸ How Half Band Scores Work • A half band score is generally awarded when three of the four criteria are met • Total scores are only awarded as full bands or half bands • When the examiner is uncertain, the score is rounded down