Public Band Descriptors (Speaking)

Question 1

speaks fluently with only rare
repetition or self correction;
any hesitation is contentrelated
rather than to find
words or grammar
ƒ speaks coherently with fully
appropriate cohesive features
ƒ develops topics fully and
appropriately

Answer 1

Fluency and Coherence 9

Question 2

only produces isolated words or

memorised utterances

Answer 2

Lexical Resource 2

Question 3

speaks at length without
noticeable effort or loss of
coherence
ƒ may demonstrate languagerelated
hesitation at times, or
some repetition and/or selfcorrection

ƒ uses a range of connectives
and discourse markers with
some flexibility

Answer 3

Fluency and Coherence 7

Question 4

uses a full range of structures naturally and
appropriately
ƒ produces consistently accurate structures
apart from ‘slips’ characteristic of native
speaker speech

Answer 4

Grammatical range and accuracy 9

Question 5

uses a wide range of structures flexibly
ƒ produces a majority of error-free sentences
with only very occasional inappropriacies or
basic/non-systematic errors

Answer 5

Grammatical range and accuracy 8

Question 6

uses simple vocabulary to convey
personal information
ƒ has insufficient vocabulary for less
familiar topics

Answer 6

Lexical Resource 3

Question 7

speaks fluently with only
occasional repetition or selfcorrection;
hesitation is
usually content-related and
only rarely to search for
language
ƒ develops topics coherently
and appropriately

Answer 7

Fluency and Coherence 8

Question 8

speech is often unintelligible

Answer 8

Pronunciation 2

Question 9

is able to talk about familiar topics but
can only convey basic meaning on
unfamiliar topics and makes frequent
errors in word choice
ƒ rarely attempts paraphrase

Answer 9

Fluency and Coherence 4

Question 10

uses a range of complex structures with
some flexibility
ƒ frequently produces error-free sentences,
though some grammatical mistakes persist

Answer 10

Grammatical range and accuracy 7

Question 11

shows some of the features of band 2 and
some, but not all, the positive features of
band 4

Answer 11

Pronunciation 3

Question 12

manages to talk about familiar and
unfamiliar topics but uses vocabulary
with limited flexibility
ƒ attempts to use paraphrase but with
mixed success

Answer 12

Lexical Resource 5

Question 13

ƒ is willing to speak at length,
though may lose coherence at
times due to occasional
repetition, self-correction or
hesitation
ƒ uses a range of connectives
and discourse markers but not
always appropriately

Answer 13

Fluency and Coherence 6

Question 14

uses a mix of simple and complex structures,
but with limited flexibility
ƒ may make frequent mistakes with complex
structures, though these rarely cause
comprehension problems

Answer 14

Grammatical range and accuracy 6

Question 15

pauses lengthily before most
words
ƒ little communication possible

Answer 15

Fluency and Coherence 2

Question 16

uses a limited range of pronunciation
features
ƒ attempts to control features but lapses are
frequent
ƒ mispronunciations are frequent and cause
some difficulty for the listener

Answer 16

Pronunciation 4

Question 17

has a wide enough vocabulary to
discuss topics at length and make
meaning clear in spite of
inappropriacies
ƒ generally paraphrases successfully

Answer 17

Lexical Resource 6

Question 18

produces basic sentence forms with
reasonable accuracy
ƒ uses a limited range of more complex
structures, but these usually contain errors
and may cause some comprehension
problems

Answer 18

Grammatical range and accuracy 5

Question 19

speaks with long pauses
ƒ has limited ability to link
simple sentences
ƒ gives only simple responses
and is frequently unable to
convey basic message

Answer 19

Fluency and Coherence 3

Question 20

uses vocabulary resource flexibly to
discuss a variety of topics
ƒ uses some less common and idiomatic
vocabulary and shows some
awareness of style and collocation,
with some inappropriate choices
ƒ uses paraphrase effectively

Answer 20

Lexical Resource 7

Question 21

cannot produce basic sentence forms

Answer 21

Grammatical range and accuracy 2

Question 22

attempts basic sentence forms but with
limited success, or relies on apparently
memorised utterances
ƒ makes numerous errors except in
memorised expressions

Answer 22

Grammatical range and accuracy 3

Question 23

usually maintains flow of
speech but uses repetition,
self-correction and/or slow
speech to keep going
ƒ may over-use certain
connectives and discourse
markers
ƒ produces simple speech
fluently, but more complex
communication causes
fluency problems

Answer 23

Fluency and Coherence 5

Question 24

uses a wide vocabulary resource
readily and flexibly to convey precise
meaning
ƒ uses less common and idiomatic
vocabulary skilfully, with occasional
inaccuracies
ƒ uses paraphrase effectively as required

Answer 24

Lexical Resource 8

Question 25

produces basic sentence forms and some
correct simple sentences but subordinate
structures are rare
ƒ errors are frequent and may lead to
misunderstanding

Answer 25

Grammatical range and accuracy 4

Question 26

uses vocabulary with full flexibility and
precision in all topics
ƒ uses idiomatic language naturally and
accurately

Answer 26

Lexical Resource 9

Question 27

uses a range of pronunciation features with
mixed control
ƒ shows some effective use of features but
this is not sustained
ƒ can generally be understood throughout,
though mispronunciation of individual words
or sounds reduces clarity at times

Answer 27

Pronunciation 6

Question 28

is able to talk about familiar topics but
can only convey basic meaning on
unfamiliar topics and makes frequent
errors in word choice
ƒ rarely attempts paraphrase

Answer 28

Lexical Resource 4

Question 29

shows all the positive features of band 4
and some, but not all, the positive features
of band 6

Answer 29

Pronunciation 5

Question 30

cannot respond without
noticeable pauses and may
speak slowly, with frequent
repetition and self-correction
ƒ links basic sentences but with
repetitious use of simple
connectives and some
breakdowns in coherence

Answer 30

Fluency and Coherence 4

Question 31

shows all the positive features of band 6
and some, but not all, the positive features
of band 8

Answer 31

Pronunciation 7

Question 32

ƒ uses a wide range of pronunciation features
ƒ sustains flexible use of features, with only
ƒ occasional lapses
ƒ is easy to understand throughout; L1
accent has minimal effect on intelligibility

Answer 32

Pronunciation 8

Question 33

uses a full range of pronunciation features
with precision and subtlety
ƒ sustains flexible use of features throughout
ƒ is effortless to understand

Answer 33

Pronunciation 9

Question 34

PHONOLOGY] When a sound is modified by a neighboring sound, such as when the final /n/ of green is followed by a /p/, and is pronounced /m/; /t/ /d/=/p//b/; /t//d/=/k//g/

Answer 34

assimilation

Question 35

DISCOURSE The use of grammatical and lexical means to achieve connected text. LEXICAL: repetition, synonyms, general words, same thematic field, substitution, ellipsis; GRAMMATICAL: references, substitution, ellipsis, linkers, parallelism

Answer 35

cohesion

Question 36

DISCOURSE Also called pragmatic markers. Words or expressions that normally come at the beginning of an utterance, and function to orient the listener to what will follow. Can indicate some kind of cane of direction in the talk or appeal to the listener in some way.

Answer 36

discourse marker

Question 37

PHONOLOGY This happens when a sound is omitted, because another, similar, sound follows. This is common when two plosive sounds occur together. walked to=walktuh; baked beans= bakebeans; last week=lasweek; next, please=neksplease

Answer 37

elision

Question 38

DISCOURSE Leaving elements out of a sentence because they are either unnecessary or because their sense can be worked out from the immediate context. Very common in spoken language and is also a common feature of certain text types where brevity is a priority (i.e. postcards).

Answer 38

ellipsis

Question 39

GRAMMAR Show that they are related to a subject by having person, number and tense. “Brad works for his uncle.”

Answer 39

finite verbs

Question 40

PHONOLOGY When other people can understand what you are saying. Has resulted in the phonological core–features of phonology that are crucial.

Answer 40

intelligibility

Question 41

PHONOLOGY The music of speech. A suprasegmental feature of pronunciation, meaning that it is a property of whole stretches of speech rather than of individual segments. Functions of this are: grammatical function: indicating the difference between statements and questions; attitudinal function: indicating interest, surprise, boredom; what is called high and low involvement; discoursal function: contrasting new information with information that is already known, hence shared between speakers. Serves both to separate the stream of speech into blocks of information (tone units), and to mark information within these units as being significant. High key=implies a contrast in attitude with respect to the preceding utterance. Low key=Speaker is adding something that is obvious or by the way

Answer 41

Intonation

Question 42

PHONOLOGY This is the pausing (or lack of pausing) at the boundary between two sounds, which accounts for the difference between ice cream and I scream.

Answer 42

Juncture

Question 43

PHONOLOGY This is where a sound is introduced at word boundaries, especially after words ending in a vowel, as in law and order=lohrandorder

Answer 43

Liaison

Question 44

PHONOLOGY The non-stressed pronunciation of some words. Most function words in English (of, at, to, can, must, was, have, and) have 2 possible pronunciations, depending on whether they are stressed or not. Most of these ___ ___ involve replacement of the vowel by schwa, although some consonant deletion can also occur. The use of these helps in achieving an English-sounding rhythm.

Answer 44

weak form