IELTS Grammar >> Test 10
Practice Test 10
In this episode we’re to going to listen to Le who tried Practice Test 10 on the subject of ‘accommodation’.
Transcript
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Welcome to the IELTS Language Lab, brought to you by Peter Travis from ieltsspeaking.co.uk. In this episode we’re going to listen to Baya who tried one of the free Part 2 practice tests we’ve published on the ieltsspeaking website. The task was Speaking Practice 10:
Task
Describe a house or apartment you would like to live in. You should say:
- what kind of accommodation it would be
- where it would be
- who would live there with you
and say why you would enjoy living in this place.
Comprehension
The first time you listen decide if Baya answers the question appropriately. The sound quality of Baya’s recording isn’t as good as it could be but hopefully it’s clear enough to understand:
I would like to live in apartment … which has a porch so that I can have … some open … open-air activities like barbecue and other … activities like having a dinner or tea or coffee when the weather is a little bit … hot I also like the apartment to be … spacious especially the living room and the bathroom so that I can feel that I am not confined in a very small space … I also prefer the apartment to have … to be light filled so that I can .. I feel that I am living in some natural setting and this is very important for me because I would like to link myself to nature therefore … if the apartment is … sunlight filled that would be favourable … and I also prefer that apartment … to be … close to shopping centres so that … because I … do my cooking in day … day to day basis therefore I do shopping almost everyday to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables so I prefer the shopping centres to be close to my apartment or my apartment close to the shopping centres so that I can walk and do some shopping every day and I also prefer … that apartment be located close to … parks and open spaces where I can do my outdoor activities like running and walking … and the other thing which I prefer the apartment to have is its location .. be a little bit close to .. the university I am going so that … because I go to university everyday and … and I prefer … not to drive and possibly not to walk and therefore if it … the apartment is located a little bit closer to the university then walking would be accessible and the other thing is I would like to live by myself and I would like to be alone at the apartment because privacy is very important for me by daytime I meet people at work and at university but at night time or especially when when I am alone at home I prefer to be … left by myself so that I can have … private time and I can think about things I can plan without any interference from other people or disturbance from other people …
Assessment
In the original recording Baya spoke for over three and a half minutes and this is a shortened version of his talk. He did answer the question fully and explained why he would enjoy living in the apartment after each point he raised.
Now listen a second time. How well do you think Le did using the IELTS assessment criteria?
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
- Lexical Resource (Vocabulary)
- Fluency and Coherence
- Pronunciation
Feedback
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
This is a good long turn from Baya and his use of English is good. His statements are well formed and he joins his ideas together clearly using linking words such as ‘like’, ‘so that’, ‘because’ and relative pronouns such as ‘which’ and ‘where’ On several occasions he used ‘would like’ correctly to hypothesise but he often used ‘prefer’ when this would be better as ‘I’d prefer’ or ‘I would prefer’. The other area to work on is the use of articles that’s ‘a’ or ‘an’ and ‘the’. On several occasions Baya failed to use these where they were required.
Lexical Resource
Baya has a very a good command of vocabulary, using a wide range of word forms and set expressions such as:
- open-air activities
- spacious
- not confined in a very small space
- natural setting
- favourable
- accessible
- privacy/private time
- interference
- disturbance
There were a couple of incorrect word choices:
- ‘to be light filled’ would be better as ‘bright’ or even better ‘filled with natural light’ and ‘sunlight filled’ would be better as ‘filled with sunlight’.
- ‘in a day to day basis’ should be ‘on a day to day basis’
- And finally I think Baya said ‘I would like to be alone at the apartment’ but this should be ‘in the apartment’.
Fluency and Coherence
Baya’s fluency and coherence is very good, especially during the last 45 seconds of his talk. Pauses occur naturally and not generally because he is searching for words.
Pronunciation
Baya’s pronunciation was clear and only on one occasion did he mispronounce a word. It’s interference with the stress on the 3rd syllable. So that’s ‘interFERence’.
That’s the end of this lesson. Why not try this task yourself using Practice Test 9 on the ieltsspeaking website.