Fluency is one of the four key criteria used to assess your performance in the IELTS Speaking test. If you struggle with pauses, hesitations, or repeating yourself, your fluency score may suffer. Many test-takers face difficulty in speaking smoothly due to a lack of practice, nervousness, or limited exposure to spoken English. However, with the right IELTS speaking practice tips, you can significantly enhance your fluency and boost your overall IELTS Speaking score. In this blog post, we will discuss five effective steps to boost fluency in IELTS Speaking.
Step 1: Develop your ideas before you speak
One major reason candidates struggle with fluency is that they do not have their ideas organized before they start speaking. This lack of preparation leads to frequent pauses, hesitations, and the excessive use of fillers like um and ah, which can negatively impact fluency. When you don’t have a clear direction for your response, your speech becomes disjointed, making it harder for the examiner to follow your ideas. To overcome this challenge, you need to train yourself to develop ideas quickly and structure your answers logically. Follow these two techniques to develop ideas immediately:
(i) Practice brainstorming:
While the examiner is asking you a question, you need to develop the answer in your brain. Yes, in those 2-3 seconds you should come up with an idea in your mind.
(ii) Give structured answers:
Give well-organized and structured responses to each question. Use the ORC technique (Opinion, reason(s), and conclusion) for this.
Example:
Question: Do you enjoy painting?
❌ Wrong: I am not really sure if I enjoy this activity, but it could be enjoyable.
✅ Correct: I really enjoy painting (opinion). It allows me to express my creativity and helps me relax after a long day (reason 1). Further, it also helps improve my focus and patience, as creating a detailed painting requires time and attention to detail (reason 2). So yes, I love to paint whenever I get a chance (conclusion).
Therefore, practicing idea development will reduce hesitation and help you speak more fluently. You should be able to think quickly in a very short time; this will improve your fluency in IELTS speaking. This method is very helpful for IELTS Speaking Part 1 & IELTS Speaking Part 3.
Step 2: Use fillers instead of doing ‘um’ ‘ahh’
Fluency in spoken language is about speaking smoothly with minimal hesitation, not avoiding pauses completely. Pauses are natural, giving time to think, but fluent speakers use them confidently without relying on fillers like “um” or “uh.” Instead, they use conversational fillers like “well” or “you know,” which maintain the rhythm of speech and make the speaker sound more composed and fluent.
Example
Question: Do you like travelling?
❌ Wrong: Umm… I like traveling… um… because… umm… it is fun.
✅ Correct: Well, I suppose I like traveling because it allows me to explore new cultures and meet interesting people.
Here are some useful Fillers for IELTS speaking:
1- To buy time while thinking:
- That’s an interesting question…
- Let me think about that for a moment…
2- To introduce a point:
- Well, I suppose…
- Actually, I believe…
3- To add more details:
- You know, for example…
- What I mean is
4- To correct yourself naturally:
- I mean…
- Or rather…
Step 3: Start thinking in English
One of the biggest obstacles to fluency is translating thoughts from your native language into English before speaking. This habit slows down your response time, leading to frequent pauses and hesitations. Additionally, translations may not always be accurate, resulting in unnatural sentence structures that do not sound like native English speech. To improve fluency, it is essential to train your brain to think directly in English. This means forming ideas, structuring sentences, and recalling vocabulary without relying on your first language. You can do these exercises to start thinking in English:
- Use English for daily tasks: Change the language settings of your phone, watch English videos, and read news articles in English.
- Talk to yourself: Try speaking to yourself in English when alone. Narrate your daily activities in English. For example, Now, I’m making tea. I need to boil water and add a tea bag.
- Practice with common topics: Think about common IELTS topics (e.g., education, work, hobbies) and form sentences in your mind about them.
When you start thinking in English, your brain will process words and sentences faster, making you sound more natural and fluent. To learn more about how we can do this and how effective this method is in improving English speaking skill read this article.
Step 4: Find someone to practice with daily
Speaking practice is crucial for improving fluency because it helps you become more comfortable and confident in expressing your thoughts. Many IELTS candidates struggle with fluency not because they lack vocabulary or grammar skills, but because they don’t practice speaking regularly. When you speak often, you train your brain to form sentences quickly and respond naturally without excessive pauses or hesitation. Here are some helpful tips for this:
- Join an IELTS Speaking group: Many online platforms like Facebook and Telegram have IELTS practice groups where you can find speaking partners.
- Enroll in speaking courses: Many online platforms offer IELTS Speaking courses with interactive speaking sessions.
- Find a study buddy: Partner with a friend who is also preparing for IELTS and practice answering questions together. You can join this IELTS Preparation Group on WhatsApp to find a practice partner.
Speaking with others daily will help you overcome nervousness and build confidence in forming sentences quickly and naturally.
Step 5: Keep your ideas simple
One common misconception among IELTS candidates is that they need to come up with brilliant or unique ideas for their answers. However, the IELTS Speaking test evaluates how well you express your ideas, not how original they are. To stay focused and enhance fluency in IELTS speaking, you should:
- Don’t overthink your answers: It’s okay to give simple, everyday responses as long as they are well-structured and fluent.
- Prioritize clarity over complexity: Instead of searching for the perfect idea, focus on delivering your response smoothly and confidently.
- Use what comes to mind first: Even a straightforward answer, if spoken fluently, can give a good score.
Remember, they are never going to verify whether what you said is true or not. Therefore, simply talk about what immediately comes into your mind as you hear the question, then elaborate on it further.
Step 6: Develop a reading habit
Reading books regularly helps improve vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall language proficiency, which contributes to fluency.
- Enhances vocabulary: Exposure to new words and phrases makes it easier to express ideas naturally.
- Improves sentence structure: Seeing how sentences are formed helps in constructing better-spoken responses.
- Boosts confidence: The more language input you have, the more effortlessly you can speak.
You can read any books, newspapers, and magazines that you find interesting. Then doing the reading practice in a loud voice will make words to be pronounced easily from your tongue. Thus, helping you to improve your IELTS speaking skills.
The most common resources that you can use for this are: New Yorker and BBC News.
Step 7: Managing Exam Anxiety
Exam anxiety is common, but with the right strategies, you can manage it effectively. Tackle the exam just like any other exam you have taken so far in life. To boost your speaking confidence on the exam day, follow these two techniques:
- Visualize Success: Positive visualization is a powerful tool for reducing anxiety. Before the exam, take a few minutes to imagine yourself feeling calm and confident while answering the questions. Visualizing success creates a positive mindset and boosts your self-assurance, helping to reduce stress.
- Prepare and Plan Ahead: Preparation is crucial for managing exam anxiety. Start studying well in advance and break your material into smaller, manageable sections. A study plan helps you avoid last-minute cramming, which can increase anxiety. Regular practice, including mock exams, ensures you are familiar with the content and format, giving you more confidence and control on exam day.
By incorporating these strategies into your routine, you can reduce anxiety and approach exams with a calmer, more focused mindset. Majority of the students perform poorly on the exam day, simply because of unnecessary stress. So, before your exam make sure you have done enough IELTS speaking practice so that you attempt the exam easily.
Anxiety is something that reduces our overall performance and must be tackled in a way so that we don’t face any issues while attempting the IELTS exam.
Conclusion
Fluency-building techniques for the IELTS speaking section and consistent practice are the keys to improving your speaking skills. By developing ideas before speaking, thinking in English, practicing daily, giving complete responses, and using fillers naturally, you can enhance your fluency and boost your score. Remember, fluency is not about speaking fast but about speaking smoothly and confidently. Mastering IELTS speaking fluency requires dedication and the application of these strategies to perform at your best on exam day.
Best wishes with your practice!
