Observation and context awareness in IELTS speaking training

Yesterday, I was practising speaking with G., who will soon sit her first official exam ever, IELTS Academic. We had started for a few minutes when I began reflecting on how much students, especially university ones, approach any exam academically, regardless of what the exam is supposed to test and its structure. That is perfectly understandable since knowledge-based direct assessment is the only one they are acquainted with in most cases. Maybe because of its name, Academic IELTS reinforces this assumption that it is a knowledge exam when the only academic thing about it is the context in which it tests two of the four skills, i.e. reading and writing. I believe this mindset can greatly hinder progress and performance in using productive skills if it isn't tackled right from the beginning of the preparation. 

When training speaking skills for IELTS, I consider it crucial to make students aware of the purpose of the conversation they will have, which is to assess one's ability to sustain a conversation in English. As language teachers, we know that many factors concur to making communication a successful activity, not only language-related. Facial expressions, interjections, and body language can help communication greatly. Being present in the situation, understanding the interlocutor's intention and giving pertinent answers are also important abilities to acquire and develop when preparing for the speaking test. But all those can work at their best only when the brain is not actively looking for some linguistic item to impress the examiner or some elaborated construction you believe pertains to the band you aspire to. So, how can we help our students not to fall into this mechanism or drag them out of it if they do? 

One thing I found students benefit from a lot in that respect is observing real exam situations. Observation is always a great tool to use for both teachers and learners. Watching a short video recording of other candidates succeeding in speaking part 1 without giving long or overly-elaborate answers was an eye-opening experience for my student. I used the same recording many times, focusing on different aspects at each observation, like the duration of the exchange, the pace, the length of the answers or the non-verbal communication involved.

My purpose was not to "teach" any of those elements but to help her realise that any conversation is a conversation first and foremost, and that should be the focus. It was a way to trick their conscious mind into shutting up and making room for linguistic skills to emerge, and it worked. By the way, this is why I like training skills. They are manifestations of interiorised language, and I love working from the inside out.

Comparing my student's over-elaborated output to what she would say in a similar context if she had to use her L1 was another trick that helped a lot. You can use it only if you know your learner's first language, at least to some extent, but if that is the case, I suggest you try it out. She realised she was using over-complicated and non-natural structures that exposed her to a higher risk of making mistakes, hesitating, and not being understood. Moreover, not getting feedback on grammar or lexis further helped her stop seeing each question as an opportunity to showcase how far she could stretch the language to impress the examiner. At the end of the impromptu session I had decided to start, she spoke more fluently, credibly, and accurately, her speech mirroring her actual level. The videos also added a different dimension to the training, reducing the distance between that and the test.

Sitting in front of an examiner with the right level of tension to be focused without overloading your brain can make you hit the bull's eye, and a thorough understanding of the test's nature and purpose is a jolly good start to get there. This last experience with G. reinforced my conviction that providing students with a comprehensive view of those aspects is fundamental to training their speaking skills effectively. It is like setting a clear context for a language lesson. Would you ever venture into teaching without one?