Speaking so you are understood
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| fluency | 流利度 | liú lì dù |
| accuracy | 准确性 | zhǔn què xìng |
| word stress | 重音 | zhòng yīn |
| turn-taking | 话轮转换 | huà lún zhuàn huàn |
Two different skills, trained apart
- Fluency 流利度 is keeping going. Accuracy 准确性 is getting the form right.
- Both are marked, and training them together trains neither: a fluency drill that stops for grammar is not a fluency drill.
- Choose which one an activity is for, before you start it.
A drill where you speak for two minutes without stopping trains which skill?
Stopping to fix grammar turns it into an accuracy exercise. Train them separately, on purpose.
Stress changes the word
- Word stress 重音 can change the part of speech: REcord the noun, reCORD the verb.
- Wrong stress makes a correct word unrecognisable to a listener, which costs more than a wrong tense.
- Mark the stress in your vocabulary notes from the first day you meet a word.
In "Please reCORD the meeting", where does the stress fall and what does it make the word?
reCORD is the verb; REcord is the noun. Stress is doing grammatical work here.
Intonation carries the question
- English rises at the end of a yes-no question. A flat delivery turns your question into a statement.
- Falling intonation signals that you have finished — it is how a listener knows the turn is theirs.
- ⚠ In a discussion, flat intonation reads as disengagement even when you are listening hard.
A self-correction, marked positively:
"He go— he goes to the lab on Tuesdays."
The examiner hears a student who is monitoring their own English in real time. That is a higher skill than never making the error, and the mark scheme treats it that way.
Correcting your own mistake mid-sentence lowers your speaking mark.
Self-correction is credited: it shows you are monitoring your English while you speak.
Turn-taking
- Turn-taking 话轮转换 phrases keep a discussion moving: Can I add something?, That's a good point, but…
- Take a turn every minute or two. Long silence and long monologue lose marks for the same reason.
- Hand the turn on with a name and a real question: Wei, you've used that app — what did you think?
Which moves earn marks in a group discussion? Choose all that apply.
The skill assessed is interaction. Dominating loses marks as surely as silence does.
Write one sentence disagreeing politely with a classmate who said online classes are always better.
Example: "I see what you mean, but online classes make group work much harder." Soften, then give the reason.
Being understood is the target, not sounding native. Clear stress and steady pace beat wide vocabulary delivered at speed. Slower is almost always better.
Do not apologise for your English mid-sentence. Sorry, my English is not good costs time, breaks your own flow, and draws attention to errors the listener had already understood past. Repair the sentence and continue.