IELTS Speaking · Marking criterion 4 of 4 · 7 min read
IELTS Speaking pronunciation: being easy to understand, band by band
What pronunciation means in IELTS Speaking, why accent is not the issue, how bands 5 to 9 differ, and practical ways to improve stress, rhythm and intonation.
What this criterion measures
Pronunciation is one of the four equally weighted criteria, so it is worth a quarter of your Speaking band. The ielts.org Speaking format page describes it as your ability to speak in a way that can be understood without too much effort.
That makes this criterion about how easy you are to understand, not about sounding like a native speaker. IDP IELTS states plainly that you are not expected to change your accent for the test.
The official key assessment criteria (PDF) list the features the examiner listens for:
- chunking: dividing speech into meaningful groups of words, rather than speaking word by word or running everything together;
- rhythm and linking: the beat of English, where stressed syllables come at fairly regular intervals and words join smoothly in connected speech;
- stress and intonation for meaning: stressing the word that matters, or contrasting two ideas, and letting your voice rise and fall to show questions, lists and feelings;
- individual sounds and word stress: clear vowels and consonants, and stress on the right syllable;
- the overall effect of accent: whether your accent makes the listener work harder to understand you.
What separates the bands
In our own words, based on the public IELTS Speaking band descriptors (PDF):
| Band | What the examiner hears |
|---|---|
| 5 | Shows all the positive features of band 4 and some, but not all, of those at band 6. In practice: you can mostly be followed, but control of rhythm, stress and individual sounds is uneven, and the listener sometimes has to work to understand you. |
| 6 | A range of features, but control varies. Chunking is generally right, but rhythm may suffer from a lack of stress-timing or from speaking too fast. Some good use of stress and intonation, not kept up. Some words or sounds may be mispronounced, but this causes only occasional unclear moments. Generally understood without much effort. |
| 7 | Shows all the positive features of band 6 and some, but not all, of those at band 8. |
| 8 | A wide range of features used to give precise meaning. Appropriate rhythm is kept up, and stress and intonation are used flexibly over long stretches, with occasional lapses. Easy to understand throughout, and accent has very little effect on how easily you are understood. |
| 9 | A full range of features used to express precise and subtle meaning, with flexible connected speech throughout. Effortless to understand, and accent has no effect on intelligibility. |
Pronunciation is the only criterion where bands 5 and 7 are not written out separately. They are defined as a step between the bands either side, so the useful targets to study are bands 6 and 8.
Band comparison · Part 1
Let's talk about your hometown. What do you like most about it?
The bands shown are illustrative examples, not official scores.
Well, my hometown is quite small city, it's near to the coast. What I like most is, um, the people are very friendly and everybody know each other. Also there is a beach, so in summer we go there a lot with my family. It's not very exciting place but I think it's comfortable for living.
What lifts itThe answer keeps going and is easy to follow, but the vocabulary stays general (very friendly, not very exciting place, comfortable for living); more precise, natural word choices, with fewer basic slips such as quite small city and everybody know, would move this towards 7.
I'd say it's the sense of community. It's a fairly small coastal town, so you can't really walk down the high street without bumping into someone you know. Some people find that a bit suffocating, but I actually like it, because if anything goes wrong there's always someone around to help. And of course, the sea's only ten minutes away, which is a big plus.
What lifts itNatural and well linked, with useful phrases like bumping into someone; a wider stretch of less common, precise vocabulary and more varied structures would push it towards 8.
Honestly, it's the pace of life. It's a small coastal town where nobody seems to be in a hurry, and after a week in a busy city I find that genuinely restorative. There's a tight-knit feel to the place too: the man who runs the bakery has known me since I was about six, so popping in for bread can easily turn into a twenty-minute chat.
What lifts itPrecise and idiomatic (restorative, tight-knit, popping in); to reach 9 this level of control would have to be sustained across the whole test, including the abstract discussion in Part 3.
Marked mainly on: IELTS Speaking lexical resource: vocabulary that lifts your band · IELTS Speaking fluency and coherence: what examiners listen for, band by band
Common mistakes that hold people back
- Speaking too fast. The band 6 descriptor names a rapid speech rate as something that can spoil rhythm. Speed often hides sounds and word endings.
- Flat, even stress. Giving every syllable the same weight makes English hard to follow, because listeners rely on stressed words to find the meaning.
- Word-by-word delivery. Pausing after every word breaks the chunks the examiner needs to hear.
- Wrong word stress. Stressing the wrong syllable can make a word unrecognisable, or change it: REcord is a noun, reCORD is a verb.
- Dropped word endings. Missing final sounds, such as the -ed in worked or the -s in books, can also look like grammar errors.
- Trying to copy an accent. Imitating a British or American accent you do not control usually makes you less clear, not more.
- Monotone in a nervous moment. Nerves flatten intonation. A flat voice makes even clear sounds harder to follow.
How to move up one band
The examples below mark stressed words in bold and use a vertical line ( | ) to show a natural break between chunks.
From 5 to 6: slow down and finish your words
Aim for a steady, natural pace, and make sure final sounds are heard.
- Lower: "I-work-in-bank-near-my-house-it-is-very-busy" (all at one speed, endings dropped)
- Higher: "I work in a bank | near my house | and it's very busy."
From 6 to 7: chunk and stress the key word
Group words into meaningful phrases, and in each phrase stress the word that carries the new information.
- Lower: "When I was a child I lived in a small village near the sea" (one long string, no stress)
- Higher: "When I was a child | I lived in a small village | right by the sea."
From 7 to 8: use stress to show contrast
Band 8 asks for stress and intonation used flexibly across long turns. Contrastive stress is a clear way to show that control.
- Lower: "I used to like cities but now I prefer the countryside." (even stress)
- Higher: "I used to like cities, | but now | I much prefer the countryside."
The stress on used and now tells the listener that the point is the change, before you even reach the end of the sentence.
Let your voice carry the structure
Use a rise on items in a list and a fall on the last one, and a fall at the end of a statement so the examiner hears that you have finished.
- Lower: "We have parks, museums, shops, restaurants." (flat throughout)
- Higher: "We've got parks (rise), | museums (rise), | and some really good restaurants (fall)."
Practice routine
- Record a two-minute Part 2 answer and listen back. Problems with stress and pace are much easier to hear in a recording.
- Choose ten words you use often in answers about your studies or work, check their stress in a dictionary, and practice them in short sentences.
- Shadow short clips of clear spoken English, such as news reports or podcasts: listen to a sentence, pause, and repeat it copying the rhythm, not the accent.
- Read a short paragraph aloud, marking chunks and stressed words in pencil first.
Frequently asked questions
Does my accent affect my IELTS pronunciation score?
Not in itself. IDP IELTS says you are not expected to change your accent, and that examiners are prepared to hear a wide range of accents. What is assessed is how easily you can be understood. The descriptors only mention accent in terms of its effect on intelligibility.
Do I need a British or American accent to get band 9?
No. The band 9 descriptor describes speech that is effortless to understand, with accent having no effect on intelligibility. That is possible with any accent.
What is the difference between pronunciation bands 6 and 8?
At band 6 you are generally understood, but control of rhythm, stress and intonation varies and some words are unclear. At band 8 you are easy to understand throughout, and you use stress and intonation flexibly over long answers with only occasional lapses.
Why are pronunciation bands 5 and 7 not described separately?
The official descriptors define them as in-between bands: band 7 shows all the positive features of band 6 and some of band 8, and band 5 shows all of band 4 and some of band 6.
Can I improve my pronunciation score quickly?
Pace, chunking and sentence stress often improve with a few weeks of regular recording and shadowing. Individual sounds usually take longer. Focus first on whatever most often makes you hard to understand.
Does speaking loudly help?
Speak at a comfortable volume the examiner can hear clearly. Volume does not appear in the criteria, but mumbling makes you harder to understand, which does.
Is pronunciation worth as much as grammar and vocabulary?
Yes. All four criteria are weighted equally, so pronunciation counts for a quarter of your Speaking band.
Sources
- IELTS Speaking band descriptors (PDF), ielts.org
- IELTS Speaking key assessment criteria (PDF), ielts.org
- IELTS Academic Speaking format, ielts.org
- How to prepare for the IELTS Speaking test, IDP IELTS
- Is my accent hurting my IELTS Speaking score?, IDP IELTS
Band comparison · Part 1
What do you usually do in your free time?
The bands shown are illustrative, not official scores. Pronunciation cannot be heard in writing: record yourself saying each answer aloud and listen for clear stress on key words, speech grouped into natural phrases, and intonation that rises and falls with meaning rather than staying flat.
In my free time, um, I like to play football with my friends, usually on Friday evening. And also I watch series on my phone, maybe one or two episode in the night. Sometimes I go to the gym, but not regular, because, er, I am a bit lazy, I think.
What lifts itThe speaker keeps going and the answer is easy to follow, but the fillers (um, er) and plain linking (and also) show some effort; smoother delivery and a wider range of linking would move fluency towards 7. Spoken aloud, steady stress on the key words matters too.
Mostly sport, to be honest. I play five-a-side football with some friends from work every Friday, and that's pretty much the highlight of my week. Other than that, I'm quite a homebody, so I'll usually unwind with a series or a good podcast. I keep meaning to get back into running, but it hasn't happened yet.
What lifts itFluent and well linked; reaching 8 needs each point developed a little further, with any pauses only for content and, when spoken, rhythm and intonation that stay controlled across longer stretches.
Football, mainly. I play five-a-side every Friday night, and it's the one fixed point in my week that I'll rearrange everything else around. Beyond that I'm fairly low-key: a long walk, a podcast, maybe a bit of cooking. I've come to think the best free time is the kind that isn't scheduled down to the minute.
What lifts itContent-led and precise; a 9 would also use stress and intonation effortlessly to carry subtle meaning, such as the contrast in fairly low-key, and sustain it over the whole test.
Marked mainly on: IELTS Speaking fluency and coherence: what examiners listen for, band by band · IELTS Speaking pronunciation: being easy to understand, band by band