Grammatical Range And Accuracy 

This criterion assesses the test taker’s grammatical accuracy and range.

  • Grammatical Accuracy: The correct and appropriate use of grammatical structures in the spoken responses.
  • Range of Structures: The variety of grammatical structures employed by the test taker to express their ideas.

Essentially, this criterion evaluates how effectively the speaker uses grammar to construct grammatically correct and varied sentences to communicate their thoughts clearly and accurately.

Key Things to Focus On When Trying To Improve Grammatical Range And Accuracy

1. Range of Grammatical Structures:

  • Limited Range (Band 4): May rely heavily on simple sentence structures.
  • Higher Bands: Demonstrate more flexible use of a wider range of grammatical structures.

Flexible Use of Structures:

  • Evidence of flexible use: Includes:
    • Complex sentences: Utilizing subordination (e.g., using clauses to add detail).
    • Grammatical features: Accurate use of modality (e.g., “may,” “could,” “should”), passive voice, and verb tenses (perfect, continuous, simple).
    • Complex noun phrases: Employing pre- and post-modification (e.g., “a large, modern city,” “the city of London”).
    • Nominalization: Transforming verbs or adjectives into nouns (e.g., “development” from “develop,” “importance” from “important”).

Essentially, this criterion assesses the variety and complexity of grammatical structures used by the speaker to express their ideas effectively.

2. Mix of short and complex sentence structures:

  • Typical Pattern: Most speakers naturally use a combination of simple and complex sentences.
  • Minor Errors: Grammatical errors may occur, but generally do not significantly hinder comprehension.

Essentially, it’s natural for speakers to use a mix of sentence lengths and structures in their communication. Minor grammatical errors are expected and typically do not significantly impact the overall clarity of their message.

3. Limited Range of Structures (Band 4 and Below):

  • Dominance of simple sentences: Primarily use short and simple sentence structures.
  • Rare use of subordination: May attempt to use subordinate clauses (e.g., “because,” “although”) but with limited success.

Essentially, speakers at this level exhibit a restricted range of grammatical structures, primarily relying on simple sentence constructions. While they may attempt to use more complex structures, these attempts are often infrequent and may contain errors.

4. Grammatical Accuracy:

  • Error Frequency: Frequent errors can hinder communication and comprehension.
  • Higher Bands (8 and above): Exhibit a high level of accuracy with minimal errors. Band 9 speakers demonstrate near-native accuracy with occasional minor slips.

Systematic Errors:

  • Consistent Errors: Repeated errors in the same grammatical area (e.g., consistent misuse of articles). Often indicative of a lack of understanding of a specific grammatical concept.
  • Band 8: May exhibit occasional non-systematic errors (errors that are not consistently repeated).

Essentially, this criterion assesses the accuracy of the speaker’s grammar. While minor errors are expected, frequent or systematic errors can significantly impact the overall score.

Basic Grammatical Errors:

  • Prevalence: Can occur across various band levels, including up to Band 7.
  • Common Types: Include subject-verb agreement issues, omission of the third-person “s,” incorrect use of articles (a/an/the), and errors with countable/uncountable nouns.
  • Impact on Meaning: Generally have minimal impact on overall meaning. However, a high frequency of errors can hinder clear communication.

Essentially, basic grammatical errors are common and can occur even at higher band levels. While these errors may not significantly affect meaning individually, a high concentration of such errors can make the speaker’s message more difficult to understand.

5. Memorized Expressions:

  • Lower Bands: Speakers may rely heavily on memorized phrases and sentence structures, particularly in the initial stages of the interview (Part 1).
  • Limited Fluency in Later Parts: Performance may decline in later parts of the test as the speaker struggles to extend their responses beyond memorized patterns.

Essentially, at lower levels, speakers may heavily rely on pre-learned phrases and expressions, which can limit their ability to engage in more spontaneous and in-depth conversations in later parts of the interview.