Phần 9: Nói mạch lạc

Chúng ta sẽ tìm hiểu những cách thức diễn đạt trong tiếng Anh để tăng cường sự mạch lạc trong diễn đạt của bạn ở bài thi Nói. Phần ba của IELTS Speaking Test sẽ đánh giá khả năng của bạn khi phải thảo thuận sâu về một đề tài.

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1) Clip 1: Speaking Coherently

2) Clip 2: Vocabulary Exercise

3) Printable Documents

a) Notes for Study

IELTS Tip

Remember to organise your answer logically and link your ideas using a range of language devices, including transition words and expressions, referents, appropriate verb tenses and time phrases, and conjunctions.

Responding to the bullet points in the order they occur on the topic card will help ensure your  answer is organised.

SPEAKING COHERENTLY

Speaking coherently means organising your  answer in a clear and logical manner, and linking your ideas logically. To achieve coherence it is important to be aware of and put into practise the use of the following language devices:

• transition words and phrases

• reference words

• appropriate verb tenses and time phrases

• conjunctions for linking ideas

These language features also help with fluency, the other criterion used to assess your communication skills.

In this episode a variety of language functions, such as identifying, speculating, comparing, contrasting and others are used to develop a coherent answer in the twoway discussion in Part 3. Coherence is also important in Part 2 of the Speaking Test because you will be speaking on a given topic at length. This will require you to organise and order your response logically, using language appropriately.

Part 2 - Topic

Topics asking you to describe someone or something may occur in Part 2 of the Speaking Test. Here is such a topic in a sample prompt card.

Describe your favourite teacher. You should say: • who was the teacher • what this teacher taught • how long you had this teacher And explain why you liked this teacher so much.

 

This is one candidate’s response:

My favourite teacher is Myoung Jin Park. He was my English teacher when I was in high school in Korea. You know, in Korea all the English teachers are basically Korean. He taught me for two years, in other words, in year eleven and year twelve. The girls of that age, you know, they normally like teachers, who are goodlooking, with the looks and with a good sense of humour but this teacher, specific teacher, was not physically attractive at all. He was rather, not terribly goodlooking, but I really adored this teacher because, I guess, to start with, I love studying languages, and he was teaching English, and I really loved learning English from him. He was very passionate about his job teaching and he was actually enjoying it. I could tell that he was enjoying it. He had good teaching skills. He encouraged and nearly coerced, you know, contributions from the students. Also, you could actually be quite sure, sitting in his class, that, er, when you gave an answer, no matter how silly it might sound, you’d never be laughed at or anything. So you felt quite free to have a conversation or discussion with the teacher, or other students in the class. And what was also, um, quite special about him was that he had a good sense of humour, so much so that you only remembered his jokes, when actually you had the test paper in front of you, looking at all the questions but you couldn’t remember the answers, only his jokes.

 

Language Devices

In answering this question the candidate used a wide range of language devices to give a coherent and cohesive response. How this candidate achieved this is examined below.

Structure

The candidate begins by identifying and stating the topic of her talk.

My favourite teacher is Myoung Jin Park.

This in fact is the topic sentence of her talk. To sequence her talk logically she follows the order of the bullets points which is: who, what, how long, why.

Bullet points	Response
who	My favourite teacher is Myoung Jin Park.
what	He was my English teacher when I was in high school in Korea. You know, in Korea all the English teachers are basically Korean.
how long	He taught me for two years, in other words, in year eleven and year twelve.
why	The girls of that age, you know, they normally like teachers, who are good-looking, with the looks and with a good sense of humour but this teacher, specific teacher, was not physically attractive at all. He was rather, not terribly good-looking, but I really adored this teacher because, I guess, to start with, I love studying languages, and he was teaching English, and I really loved learning English from him. He was very passionate about his job teaching and he was actually enjoying it. I could tell that he was enjoying it. He had good teaching skills. He encouraged and nearly coerced, you know, contributions from the students. Also, you could actually be quite sure, sitting in his class, that, er, when you gave an answer, no matter how silly it might sound, you’d never be laughed at or anything. So you felt quite free to have a conversation or discussion with the teacher, or other students in the class. And what was also, um, quite special about him was that he had a good sense of humour, so much so that you only remembered his jokes, when actually you had the test paper in front of you, looking at all the questions but you couldn’t remember the answers, only his jokes.

 

Transition words and phrases

Transition words and phrases are used to further organise the response and link ideas between and within sentences. There was a number of transition signals used.

Transition signals	Connection	Example
in other words	clarify a point	He taught me for two years, in other words, in year eleven and year twelve.
to start with	sequence an idea	He was rather, not terribly good-looking, but I really adored this teacher because, I guess, to start with, I love studying languages, and he was teaching English, and I really loved learning English from him.
Also	add another idea	Also, you could actually be quite sure, sitting in his class, that, er, when you gave an answer, no matter how silly it might sound, you’d never be laughed at or anything.
no matter how silly it might sound	draw attention to a statement and presenting a possible response
so much so	result	And what was also, um, quite special about him was that he had a good sense of humour, so much so that you only remembered his jokes, when actually you had the test paper in front of you, looking at all the questions but you couldn’t remember the answers, only his jokes.

 

Here are some common transition words and phrases.

Type	Transition Words or Phrases
addition	in addition, furthermore, moreover, also
listing	first, first and foremost, firstly, second, secondly, the most important, the most obvious
similarity	similarly, in the same way, likewise
contrast	however, in contrast, on the other hand, on the contrary
example	for example, for instance, such as, like
result	therefore, as a result, consequently, hence, thus, accordingly
emphasis	indeed, in fact, above all
conclusion	in conclusion, to conclude, in summary, to summarise, in short, finally, in the end

 

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Reference words

Reference words point back or refer to words or phrases in previous sentences and are used to connect the ideas. They replace the word or phrase used before and therefore need to agree in number and person.

Here are some referents which are commonly used.

Referents	Examples
pronouns
personal	it, she, his, them, their
possessive	his, their
demonstrative	this, that, these, those
relative	who, which, that
definite article	the

 

The candidate uses a variety of these referents to avoid repeating the same word or phrase and also to refer back to a particular point. They also allow her talk to flow smoothly. She uses them in the following places.

Referent	Example
he	My favourite teacher is Myoung Jin Park. He was my English teacher when I was in high school in Korea.
the	He was my English teacher when I was in high school in Korea. You know, in Korea all the English teachers are basically Korean.
that	He taught me for two years, in other words, in year eleven and year twelve. The girls of that age, you know, they normally like teachers, who are good-looking …
it	He was very passionate about his job teaching and he was actually enjoying it. I could tell that he was enjoying it.

 

Appropriate verb tenses

The candidate uses the appropriate verb tenses and time phrases when making time references in her talk.

Example:

He was my English teacher when I was in high school in Korea.

You know, in Korea all the English teachers are basically Korean.

He taught me for two years, in other words, in year eleven and year twelve.

When describing the past – her high school years – she correctly used the simple past tense: was and taught. In stating a fact that the English teachers in Korea are Korean, she switched to the simple present are.

Describing the situation about giving answers is a past event but it was an event in the future at the time, so she correctly uses the modals could and would to express that, i.e. gave is the simple past tense referring to the past.

Example:

Also, you could actually be quite sure, sitting in his class, that, er, when you gave an answer, no matter how silly it might sound, you’d never be laughed at or anything. So you felt quite free …

Conjunctions for linking ideas

Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and other parts of speech link ideas within and between sentences. Using conjunctions correctly makes your talk clear and easy to understand.

Here are some conjunctions which are commonly used in English.

linking ideas	conjunctions		other parts of speech
	coordinating	subordinating
equal ideas	and, both … and		another, as well as
alternative ideas	or, either … or
contrasting ideas	but, yet	although, even though, though, while	despite, in spite of
reasons	for, so	because, as, since	as a result of, because of, due to
condition		if, provided that
subordinating words
referring to humans			who, whom
referring to nonhumans and things			which, that
referring to a time or place			when, where

 

 The candidate uses various coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to link her ideas.

To contrast two qualities she uses the coordinating conjunction but.

He was rather, not terribly good-looking, but I really adored this teacher …

Not terribly good-looking is contrasted with adored.

To give a reason, the candidate forms a subordinating clause using because.

He was rather, not terribly good-looking, but I really adored this teacher because, I guess, to start with, I love studying languages …

The reason why she adored the teacher was the fact that she loved studying languages.

To add other equal ideas, she uses the coordinating conjunction and.

… I love studying languages, and he was teaching English, and I really loved learning English from him.

This is a compound sentence consisting of three independent clauses joined together.

I love studying languages. He was teaching English. I really loved learning English from him.

To give more information about physical features, she uses a relative pronoun who.

The girls of that age, you know, they normally like teachers, who are good-looking, with the looks and with a good sense of humour …

This is a relative clause and is used to make a complex sentence.

 

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b) Learning Activities

Practise and consolidate your learning about the language devices used in coherent speech, by completing our activities. The answers for all activities are on the last page.

ACTIVITY 1

Complete the sentence with the appropriate conjunction from the box below.

so         but       where    yet    when   which     because        or         whom     and

 

1. I got a wonderful opportunity to go overseas to Italy ________ study music there.

2. I’d really like to work both as a teacher and music director _________ I finish my studies.

3. Life gets really hectic sometimes, _______ I like to go off on my own and meditate.

4. I’m hoping to get a job as an interior designer, ________ I can also use my painting skills.

5. I’d like to describe a movie _________ made a strong impression on me.

6. People know they need to exercise ________ they don’t do anything about it.

7. We are trying to televise some international films ________ haven’t had much success.

8. I enjoyed having to stay in the mountains _________ it brought back beautiful memories of my country.

9. The choice was paying the fine ________ losing my licence.

10. She was a famous lady, ________ I had the privilege of meeting after the concert.

 

ACTIVITY 2

Here is a sample response to an IELTS Speaking Test Part 2 question – Answering the topic: Describe someone you admire very much. In the table below, identify and write down the example of the coherent or cohesive device used in each of the numbered sentences.

Topic: Describe someone you admire very much?

1. The person who I really admire is a professor from my university days. Her name is Vera Santiago. 2. She is a very talented lady. 3. Vera is about fifty and married with three children but the reason I admire her is that she raised a family and, at the same time, taught in primary and secondary schools and then went on to teach at university. 4. I met her when I started uni. I was nineteen. 5. Vera had a passion for literature and she was able to pass this on to her students. She taught us how to analyse a text and love literature. 6. That is something which is hard to do because when you’re at school you don’t really want to study literature. 7. You’re more interested in playing with your friends, but she was able to capture our imagination and keep us interested in all these stories. And she also enriched our lives with music and poetry. We listened and discussed. 8. I think it was important to have her as a teacher because she made us see the world in different ways. 9. We felt sometimes that literature and life are not that different, in fact, there are many similarities. 10. So from that point on we interpreted things differently.

 

No	Coherent and cohesive devices	Example
1	relative pronoun
2	referent
3	coordinating conjunction – contrasting ideas
4	4 subordinating word referring to time
5	referent
6	referent
7	coordinating conjunction – to express equal ideas
8	subordinating conjunction – to express a reason
9	transition signal used to emphasise a point which is the opposite of what was said earlier
10	linking word to express a result

 

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ACTIVITY 1 ANSWERS

1. and

2. when

3. so

4. where

5. which

6. yet

7. but

8. because

9. or

10. whom

ACTIVITY 2 ANSWERS

No	Coherent and cohesive devices	Example
1	relative pronoun	The person who I really admire is a professor from my university days. Her name is Vera Santiago.
2	referent	She is a very talented lady.
3	coordinating conjunction – contrasting ideas	Vera is about fifty and married with three children but the reason I admire her is that she raised a family and, at the same time, taught in primary and secondary schools and then went on to teach at university.
4	4 subordinating word referring to time	I met her when I started uni.
5	referent	Vera had a passion for literature and she was able to pass this on to her students.
6	referent	She taught us how to analyse a text and love literature. That is something which is hard to do because when you’re at school you don’t really want to study literature.
7	coordinating conjunction – to express equal ideas	You’re more interested in playing with your friends, but she was able to capture our imagination and keep us interested in all these stories.
8	subordinating conjunction – to express a reason	I think it was important to have her as a teacher because she made us see the world in different ways.
9	transition signal used to emphasise a point which is the opposite of what was said earlier	We felt sometimes that literature and life are not that different, in fact, there are many similarities.
10	linking word to express a result	So from that point on we interpreted things differently.

 

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c) Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I’m Margot Politis.

Today we’ll look at some aspects of discussing a topic, which is something you are expected to do in Part 3 of the IELTS Speaking Test.

In Part 3 of the Speaking Test you participate in a two-way discussion to test your ability to discuss a topic in depth in a number of ways. These may include speculating, comparing and contrasting or identifying a trend.

The speaker in the next clip identifies a trend. What is the trend?

The fastest-growing area of identity fraud is in internet services, such as people breaking into Internet banking accounts, credit card fraud over the internet, people using fraudulent credit cards, fraudulent identities to, essentially, break into other people's accounts and, essentially, steal their money.

The trend he’s identified is the fastest-growing crime in the world, identity fraud.

If we listen further he explains why it’s a problem.

The traditional way to protect internet banking and other secure applications is through passwords and PIN numbers. And these are totally inadequate in an area where identity-related fraud is growing at such a high rate.

He tells us it’s a problem because the traditional ways to protect internet banking are inadequate.

But he has a solution. Let’s hear what it is.

What we've actually developed here is a technology that allows us to analyse a person's voice - a person that is actually sitting at their computer screen accessing a secure website. We're able to analyse their voice in order to confirm that they actually are who they say they are. [Voice Authentication Demo: Big bird – Congratulations you have been successfully verified].

His solution is to use technology which produces a voice signature.

He demonstrated three of the language functions which are used to assess your communication skills.

He identified the issue - that identity fraud is a problem and then explained why it’s a problem.

The third language function was providing a solution - he talked about what could be done to prevent identity fraud.

Now let’s listen to this woman responding to the question: What makes a person famous?

I think there are different ways to see what makes a person famous. One is the publicity and the marketing around a person, but I don’t think that’s a real, honest way to be famous. I think if I have to choose I’d rather be famous for being honest, for being kind and for trying to help and solve conflicts or problems in the world, instead of being on the cover of a magazine. So my characteristics for a, a famous person, I will go for honesty and kindness.

She shows that she understands the question by incorporating it into her response at the start. By repeating the question she is clarifying the topic.

I think there are different ways to see what makes a person famous.

The question is designed to see if you can identify. She identifies what she believes makes a person famous - publicity and marketing. She uses the listing word 'one' to make this clear and to logically link her first sentence with the next:

I think there are different ways to see what makes a person famous. One is the publicity and the marketing around a person …

Having identified what makes someone famous, she then shows that she doesn’t agree with this idea. The disagreement is expressed through the word 'but' and she logically continues by saying why she disagrees:

One is the publicity and the marketing around a person, but I don’t think that’s a real, honest way to be famous.

She develops and expands her ideas further by justifying her opinion. Advising her listener by using the conditional if - if I have to choose - she then expresses her preference by using a modal - I’d rather:

I think if I have to choose I’d rather be famous for being honest, for being kind and for trying to help and solve conflicts or problems in the world …

She contrasts her idea of what she believes a person should be famous for with the idea she suggested originally. She links these two ideas appropriately using instead of:

I’d rather be famous for being honest, for being kind and for trying to help and solve conflicts or problems in the world, instead of being on the cover of a magazine …

She rounds off her answer by summarising concisely her idea of what makes a person famous. She uses the conjunction - so to make this final statement:

So my characteristics for a, a famous person, I will go for honesty and kindness.

So she clarifies, identifies, disagrees, gives an opinion, advises, shows a preference, contrasts ideas and summarises.

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In order to respond fully, appropriately and coherently, there are a number of skills you need.

You should be able to quickly recognise what the question is asking.

A do you think question such as: Do you think there is too much violence in films today? Needs a reply that gives your opinion.

A question such as: What makes a person famous? Requires you to identify.

Look at this question:

Why do children like eating fast food?

You may have an opinion about this, but before you give it, you might explain and give reasons why children eat fast food.

It’s very likely that you will be asked to compare things with a question such as:

What are the differences between urban and rural homes in your country?

Another thing the examiners are looking for is the ability to speculate or say what might happen with a question such as: What kind of transport will people use in the future?

Now let’s look at part of a professional discussion, a television interview with an expert on diet:

Do you think that some people put on weight more easily than others?

Oh, that's definitely the case. We do know that there are genetic differences in how easy it is for people to put on weight. That's not necessarily related only to their metabolism. It may also have to do with how much they are driven to eat. And so the degree of appetite control is better in some people than others. And it's got nothing to do with willpower - it's just the way people are wired.

She was asked for her opinion with the question: Do you think that some people put on weight more easily than others?

Being an expert, she gives it quickly and decisively: Oh, that's definitely the case.

She means that she completely agrees with the idea that some people put on weight more easily than others. She goes on to give the reasons why she believes that:

We do know that there are genetic differences in how easy it is for people to put on weight.

That’s the first reason - some people put on more weight from the same amount of food because they’re born that way - there are genetic differences. But there’s another reason. Listen to the way she develops this:

That's not necessarily related only to their metabolism. It may also have to do with how much they are driven to eat.

That’s not necessarily related only to their metabolism.

Metabolism is how your body responds to food.

The important words are ‘not necessarily related only to’

This means that metabolism is not the only reason people put on weight. Another reason may be how hungry people are - how much they are driven to eat.

Notice she introduces this idea with the word may - this means this time she’s not completely certain that this is the case. Listen again:

That's not necessarily related only to their metabolism. It may also have to do with how much they are driven to eat.

She concludes with a hypothetical example using 'if'.

So that if you put some people in a situation where there's a smorgasbord, some people will be able to control exactly how much they need to eat.

And some of them don't have an 'off' button.

And some people don't have an 'off' button.

That’s all for now.

To find more information about Part 3 of the Speaking Test visit our Study English website. The address is: australianetwork.com/studyenglish.

Good Luck with your studies. Bye for now.

 

(Nguồn UTS: Insearch and Australia Network)

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