Accent matters in the
speaking test
How will having a Thai accent
affect your pronunciation score?
Benz, from
Bangkok, asked me about the speaking test in IELTS (International English Language Testing System):
“I read on a website that people doing IELTS shouldn’t worry about having an accent as a candidate’s accent is not evaluated by examiners. Is that true?”
Here’s my reply: In the IELTS speaking test, test takers are assessed in four areas: “Fluency and Coherence,” “Lexical Resource” (the words and phrases used), “Grammatical Range and Accuracy” and “Pronunciation.” An accent can definitely affect a candidate’s score for “Pronunciation.”
Definitions
Let’s define a couple of terms:
·
“Pronunciation” refers to the way a word or a language is usually spoken, or the
manner in which an individual says a word.
·
“Accent” refers
to the way in which people pronounce words in
a particular area, country or social group. Individuals and groups can
say words in different ways, depending on factors such as:
–
the area in which they grew up;
–
the area in which they now live;
–
speech defects;
–
ethnic groups (e.g., Thai);
–
social classes; and
–
education.
The official
IELTS website states that pronunciation scores
relate to a candidate’s “ability to produce comprehensible speech to fulfil the speaking test
requirements. The key indicators will be the amount of strain caused to the
listener, the amount of the speech which is unintelligible, and the
noticeability of L1 [native language] influence.”
(See http://tinyurl.com/co5er4q .)
To put it simply, examiners assess how easy it is to
understand test takers. The easier the examiner can understand the
candidates, the higher the score the candidates receive for pronunciation.
Marking scheme
This is clearly shown in my simplified version of the official scoring scheme for pronunciation in
the speaking test:
·
Band 1: Any English that the test
taker tries to produce is impossible to understand.
·
Band 2: The candidate’s English is
often impossible to understand as pronunciation is so poor.
·
Band 3: The test taker’s pronunciation
shows some of the features of Band 2 and some, but not all, of the positive
features of Band 4.
·
Band 4: Although the candidate
uses a limited range of pronunciation features, his or her overall control of
spoken English is poor. There are often pronunciation errors that make it
difficult for the examiner to understand what the candidate is trying to say.
·
Band 5: The test taker’s
pronunciation shows all the positive features of Band 4 and some, but not all,
of the positive features of Band 6.
·
Band 6: The candidate
uses a range of pronunciation features with mixed control, and can only produce
some pronunciation features effectively for a short while. Although individual
words or sounds are occasionally pronounced incorrectly, causing brief difficulty
for the examiner, the candidate can generally be understood throughout the
test.
·
Band 7: The test taker’s
pronunciation shows all the positive features of Band 6 and some, but not all,
of the positive features of Band 8.
·
Band 8: The candidate uses a wide
range of features
of spoken English with only
occasional errors. The test taker is easy to understand throughout the test
(even if there’s an accent from his or her first language).
·
Band 9: The test taker uses a full
range of pronunciation features with great precision and skill. The examiner
can understand the candidate without any effort.
Visit http://tinyurl.com/cbdshvx to see the public version of the
grading scheme. Always use the official
version to estimate your own speaking test score.
Effect of Thai accent
The phrase given
in the official IELTS website – “noticeability of L1 influence” – refers to how candidates’ native
language interferes with their ability to speak understandable English. This
interference may make it difficult for an examiner to understand what’s being
said.
Here are some of the more common features of a Thai accent that can cause problems
for native speakers of English who are listening to them:
·
Stress on the final syllable of words.
For
example, it’s common for Thai speakers of
English
to say com-pu-TER instead of com-PU-ter, and cof-FEE instead of COF -fee.
·
Problems in pronouncing certain final consonants and
consonant clusters.
For
example, cen-tral becomes cen-tan, smoke becomes sa-moke, and ap-ple becomes ab-bern.
·
A staccato effect. Thais tend to give equal weight and
timing to each syllable in the Thai language.
However, when transferred
to English, this produces a rather unnatural, staccato effect: a series of
short, sharp and separate sounds.
You should be able to see how a strong Thai accent
might affect the pronunciation score. For example, a Thai candidate who often
mispronounces words, causing difficulty for the examiner, would receive less
than band score 6 for pronunciation – maybe a band 5 or 4.
Nevertheless, having an accent is not usually a
problem. It’s possible for candidates to speak with a foreign accent and still
get a very high mark for pronunciation.
Even if candidates occasionally pronounce words
incorrectly, they can still get a band score that’s good enough for entry to
most university courses or for migration to another country.
©Copyright David Park 2012. Reproduction in whole or in part,
and in any formwhatsoever,is not permitted without
the prior and express permission of DavidPark.
This article was written by David Park, a highlyexperienced IELTS teacher. Ajarn David teaches at Paradigm Language Institute.
If you have anyquestions about IELTS that you would like Ajarn David to answer, or if you wish todo an IELTS preparation course, write to:
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