IELTS Pronunciation

Many students are nervous and concerned about their pronunciation skills when speaking English in general, and when appearing for an oral exam in particular. However, when appearing for the IELTS, rather than worrying about your accent, you need to simply focus on speaking as clearly as you can and minimizing any obvious pronunciation errors.

You also must remember to speak up, because sometimes when students are nervous, they mumble, thinking they can hide their mistakes. This is not true. Sorry, bub! On the contrary, what will help is if you speak clearly and confidently, so that more of what you are saying can be heard, first and foremost, and then understood.

Remember that everyone who speaks English has an accent – even in America, Canada, South Africa, England, Australia, or New Zealand. What you need to correct are the obvious mistakes that may be made by people who share your linguistic background. In particular, you need to focus on those mistakes which result in words that may be misunderstood, such as "lice" instead of "rice" or "jello" instead of "yellow".

There are a number of effective pronunciation packages - including books, CDs, and software - that help you improve your accent. Some of the better ones are:

 

Learning from a private tutor or attending a pronunciation class can also be very helpful. If you have the opportunity, travel abroad for a summer and immerse yourself in the English language. You will be amazed at the dramatic improvement in your English communication skills, and in just a short period of time, your accent.