We're looking at the results of the speaking contest that I held from my blawg last week.

If you find this video helpful, I encourage you to visit my blawg at I'll.

I'll start calm the aisles related chat website I'll stash chat dot com and the on line E S l classifieds website E s l meet dot com.

There were six people that entered last week's contest one from the Czech Republic, two from India, one from Japan, one from Uzbekistan and one from Vietnam.

And I would like to personally thank them for their bravery in sending recordings of their voices for us to analyze to date.

So I hope everybody can keep in mind that this is only supposed to be a helpful lesson.

I hope that nobody feels embarrassed regarding the comments that we make about them, because we're all here just to learn and improve our language skills and ultimately, our mark on the Isles examination.

Before we begin, I should state clearly that I am not an Isles examiner, nor am I associated with the British Council, I dp Australia nor the Esso Group at the University of Cambridge.

So the following are just my comments based on my experience as an isles instructor and as a native speaker of English.

So now, without further ado, let's get started.

Uh, I should explain how I went about gauging the various levels of these speakers, and I did so using the Eilts speaking band descriptors chart.

This is the public version that is made available from the aisles dot or GE website, and you can download it for yourself there, and I hope you do and use it.

Ah, while watching this video.

Now, let's just zoom in here and I'll explain a little bit about how this chart works.

So basically, what you can see on the left hand side is ah, Cole, um, for the band of these various topics to be assessed.

So the band starts at nine and, of course, goes all the way down to zero.

There are four broad categories that are assessed in this chart.

The first is fluency and coherence, which is basically a measure of how fluent and how, um, how easily understood the student is when speaking English.

The second column is Lexical Resources, which refers to the word choice and a choice of phrases that the speaker uses to express themselves and to speak about the different topics that they do.

Third is grammatical range and accuracy, and finally, the fourth is pronunciation.

So in assessing these students, I try to stick as closely to this church as I possibly could.

And I hope that the following is a fairly accurate representation of what these students what Mark these students would achieve on the examination, all six students responded to the same cue card and delivered a monologue that was not to exceed two minutes in length.

And the key occurred that I posted to my blawg and that the students responded to Is this describe a public place that you like?

Please say, Where is this place?

When do you go there?

Why do you go there?

What do you like about this place?

Okay.

And, uh, students responded to this and send me their MP three files.

Now, today I will present them in the order that they were received by me.

So the order is a little bit random.

We're not going based on skill, but rather I hope that as you listen, you can also, you know, look at the at the aisles speaking band descriptors chart, and also try to pinpoint where these students would place in the various areas to kind of, you know, strengthen your understanding of how, um, certain parts of a person's speech can increase their score on the exam.

So let's listen to the first recording.

This is from our friend in the Czech Republic, and I'll play it for you here, the place I have chosen to talk about a beautiful sandy beach near my house.

The beach is about one kilometers long in the north.

Them off Sabrina.

The speech is very popular for jogging or also for Walter Activity as a kind of thing.

Because the beach is meal by my place.

I can go there anytime during war year.

One of the reasons I like spending time on the beach.

It was planted view on the sea and the harbor.

It is also a wonderful place for me to relax and charge my energy.

Okay, so now this person's, um speaking is, as you can hear, is quite fluent, and I think that they they describe all four sections of this cue card.

Well, so if we just go over, you know, some of the different areas that that they could improve upon.

So, firstly, you know, you might have picked up on There were a few small grammatical issues as they were speaking, you know?

So, I mean, for example, at the very beginning, they mentioned this beach is one kilometers from their house, which, of course, you know that's a plural.

And we're talking about something singular.

So this should be one kilometer and as well, um, there is, you know, a modest misuse of articles in the students speaking.

And I think that this is kind of a trait for a lot of people.

You know, that, uh, that air of Slavic, um, you know, language, backgrounds.

So you know, often when they speak because their own native language does not have words like a and and the that sometimes they tend to use thes words incorrectly.

And I think we see a few examples of that in, uh in the students speaking here.

So they had mentioned in the northern part of or in the, you know, in the northern part of something.

I think that there was a missing article there.

I can go there any time during whole year.

That should be during the whole year.

And another example was it is also wonderful place for me to relax.

So here we should be saying it is also a wonderful place for me to relax.

But these small errors, they don't hurt the students.

You know the ability for us as listeners to understand the student.

So basically, the the coherence level of the students speaking is quite good.

I've just noted here, so you know, most of her speaking is quite coherent.

Uh, she mentioned something popular for jogging, and then a word.

I think it's as in kite surfing, but I I'm not sure that might have been a slight misuse of that word, too.

I couldn't quite make that out.

And ah, and then there was the one of the reasons I like spending time on this speech.

A splendid view on the sea.

So again, we understand what what this person is saying, but this should be one of the reasons I like spending time on this beach is it has a splendid view of the sea just to clarify it a little bit there.

But like I said, though, coherence was, uh was quite good.

Despite, you know, these small mistakes.

Now, looking at the band chart, I can see very clearly that this student's pronunciation is is about a six or slightly higher.

Uh, and I'm looking at, you know, if you look in this words has six we have can generally be understood throughout, though mispronunciation of injured individual words or sounds reduces clarity at times.

And I think that that's quite a fitting description for this student's speaking.

So for pronunciation, that would be roughly a six or perhaps a little bit higher.

But But around, you know, maybe 66.5 lexical resources.

The student students use of words and phrases are pretty good for most things.

They use appropriate wording, and they do not try to use overcomplicated vocabulary, which is another thing that I think students try to do often in their exams.

So they try to use, you know, words that are perhaps too complicated that they they, uh, they don't use them correctly or they used them out of context.

So, in an effort to try to sound perhaps more academic or or to try to impress their examiner.

They try to use, you know, very complicated wordings.

And and this is just out of context.

You know, if you're if you're talking about your favorite place to be, sometimes you don't need to to speak in this manner.

But this student doesn't do that, so that's good.

So there's appropriate wording for most things.

Okay, so for this student, I would guess roughly a six or perhaps a 6.5 of the highest for their speaking.

So thank you for that entry to you.

Now let's go on to our second, um, entrance in our contest.

This person is from India and I will play the recording.

The sense to me for you, I'm going to get aboard.

Is that a problem?

Is that most lately it is Australia Sydney Harbour Bridge.

It is in those Children's financial Captain Sidney City Central Business District to the Sickness Shores living door, straining the visa.

One we clean helpful on top with a hose, having the fact that it is one of the ways that gone for the better host.

I like that.

It's just this is because of the fact that related construction, would you be constructed in the considerable fighting?

Man City is 19 in mid 19 thirties.

What a terrible disease.

Considerably completely.

Broads.

What other thing that I most like The board is produced a panoramic views.

The words of the Sydney and other nearby iconic characters of this research is Okay, so, you know, basically, um, the student in their email to me, they they also mentioned that they were speaking in a low voice, which I think really makes it difficult to.

I understand, you know, a lot of what they're seeing.

So my common to the student is that the main problem with their speaking is coherence.

Um, they appear to be very fluent.

So, you know, there's the's speaking at at, uh, you know, quite a fast pace, and they don't seem to be pausing to think about what they're going to say next.

So I believe they're fluency is quite strong, and there is very, you know, there's almost no hesitation at all in there.

Speaking, they seem to be able to speak without having to pause, so that's good.

But the problem is that in the manner, the way that they're speaking makes them very difficult to understand.

And, you know, I, um honestly, I had to go back and listen to this recording a few times, too, you know, fully or to the best of my ability.

Comprehend what they were trying to say.

So I think that in terms of fluency, this person is is you know, they're quite fluent.

It sounds like it sounds like they have been speaking in this manner for many years.

But coherence is really, really weak.

And I think that there are some areas where, you know, um, it's it's difficult to even understand what they're saying.

So that's a problem that should be addressed.

Uh, and I think that the students coherence is affected by their pronunciation.

So, for example, they were mentioning things like the harbor.

Uh, and I you know, it's certain points.

I think they're ours.

Roll a little bit.

So, like, horrible hover bird.

No.

You know, this is just a horror harbor.

Uh, there was a portion where they mentioned which has been constructed in the something five decades back.

I'm not sure you know what that word or phrase was that they said at that point But though I have gone for the opera house, I like further Harbour Bridge, which is just nearby.

And you know all that part and they're talking about about the opera house and the harbour.

I was very confused, To be honest, I wasn't completely sure what the student was saying here.

Another thing.

They were mentioning something about the completely island, which I'm not sure what that meant.

And then also, there was a portion where they were talking about the panoramic view of the, um of Sydney.

Um, and the student also a number of times they put the an article before Sydney, which is a city, you know, the name of a city.

So that's a mistake.

We shouldn't be saying the Sydney.

Of course, if you're if you're saying the Sydney Opera House, yes, then we would use an article, but otherwise no.

So I think that, you know, coherence is that is the really the big thing there.

Now, if we talk for a bit about grammar, um, I think that the difficulty that the listener has an understanding this speaker is Nome or due to their poor pronunciation than due to their grammar or lexical resources because, you know, when I went back and I listened a few times to this to this speaker there.

If you listen very, very closely, they use a number of of you know, fairly accurate words in their lexical resource as they as the deliver there, Um, they're monologue, and there were a number of instances where their sentences, you know, we're fairly dramatically accurate too.

So I think that that these areas are not really that big of a problem.

But I just think that, you know, the clarity with which this person speaks needs to improve.

Okay, so and another thing just regarding their lexical resources, The student, you know, used a few impressive words like iconic when they were talking about certain things that you can see in Sydney.

So I thought that was that was interesting also a panoramic.

But unfortunately I think the pronunciation was a little bit difficult there.

So I think that this student would probably get around a five overall in there speaking, but you know as well the student was speaking in a very low voice.

So maybe if they were speaking in their in their regular voice, that would help.

But basically my comment would be to the student to focus on, you know, maybe slowing down the pace of their speaking and really articulating all the different words that they're trying to include in their response and to focus on improving the coherence of their speaking.

So thank you very much to that student for submitting that recording and good luck with your studies.

Now let's go to the third recording, which is also from India, and I'll play that for you.

Now it is well, I would like to strike, Do you a public place that I like to visit often, And that place is known as Salam Par, and this is a beautiful park in the center of the city, and it is located at around a distance off particular meters from my house, and it takes me around 30 minutes, 40 minutes to reach there by my own vehicle, and I go there most of the time with my family, and I go there mostly on the beacons.

But sometimes I like to go on the victors if I I can afford to find a time during the weekdays.

But that is less often and I go there just to relax myself, too.

The fresh Because the park is very beautifully built, the entrance of the park is like a castle, and it has many good things to attract Children and people of other rich groups, like there are many amusement rights and my dreams and other kinds off fun, fun things for people of all ages.

And there's a water park in the center that buck and what I like most about this place is the common to sitting atmosphere on beautifully beautiful election off the flowers and the park.

It's really well maintained by the government, and you can see a lot of people coming there in the evening time.

And I think that is the most attractive thing about this place, that you never feel alone whenever you go there.