原文转自： EnglishOnline

(David Park 设计并教授雅思课程。通过英国大使馆提供本文章.）

最近，有一个雅思考生问我口语考试的问题：“你能告诉我口语中最重要的能力是什么？发音时如何评分的？”（“Can you tell me what the most important skill for speaking is? How is pronunciation marked?”）

我的回答是：

针对你的这个问题，我没有简单直接的答案。因为在口语考试中，四个方面都会被评估，你必须全部具备。例如：有大的词汇量，但是语法或者口语流利度薄弱一样没办法帮助你取得满意的口语分数。

评估标准：

下面是雅思口语考试中，考官评估你口语的四个方面，以及影响你分数的概括：

流畅和连贯性（Fluency and Coherence）: 你能不能按照正常的自然语速谈话（不过快也不过慢），没有过多的停顿及修正？ 你是否可以用一种容易让人理解并且连贯的方式表达和连接你的意思？

词汇量（Lexical Resource）: 你能多清楚的使用词汇表达你的观点，思想和信息？这些词汇是否恰当？你的词汇量有多大？你能多好的使用替代词汇表达自己不会的词汇的意思？

语法范围及准确度（Grammatical Range and Accuracy）: 你的语法结构范围有多广？你的句子长度和句子结构的复杂程度？句子结构的准确度？你的语法错误影响考官理解你的表达意思的程度？

发音（Pronunciation）: 你发音的方式多大程度上影响考官理解你的意思？ 语音语调是否符合你要表达的意思？（例如升调，是问问题）

发音评分（Pronunciation scoring）

下面是简单的一个对英文发音特征的评分概括：

词和句的重读（Word and sentence stress）: “Word stress” relates to the stress given to one syllable within a word. “Sentence stress” relates to the stress that is given to the key words in a sentence: the words that communicate the sentence’s main meaning.

语调（Intonation）: This refers to the use of rising or falling tones to indicate different meanings. For example, different tones can show whether the speaker has a positive or negative attitude, is certain or unsure, or is asking a question.

连读（The linking of words）: The pronunciation of a word can change a little when it’s part of a phrase or sentence. This allows that word and the following word to be said together more quickly.

韵律（Rhythm）: This is a combination of stress, intonation, linking and the speed of talking. In a stress-timed language like English, syllables are stressed at roughly regular intervals. As it is the key words in sentences that are stressed, the words in between get shortened and weakened so that two or three of them together take up the same amount of time as the single, stressed syllables before and after them. This produces the rhythm, or “beat,” of spoken English.

措词（Phrasing）: This refers to the appropriate use of pauses to show the correct meaning of groups of words.

9个发音分数段

Here’s my simplified version of the band scores for pronunciation:

Band 1: Any English that the test taker tries to produce is impossible to understand.

Band 2: The candidate’s English is often impossible to understand as pronunciation is so poor.

Band 3: The test taker’s pronunciation shows some of the features of Band 2 and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band 4.

Band 4: Although the candidate uses a limited range of pronunciation features, his or her overall control of spoken English is poor. There are often pronunciation errors that make it difficult for the examiner to understand what the candidate is trying to say.

Band 5: The test taker’s pronunciation shows all the positive features of Band 4 and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band 6.

Band 6: The candidate uses a range of pronunciation features with mixed control, and can only produce some pronunciation features effectively for a short while. Although individual words or sounds are occasionally pronounced incorrectly, causing brief difficulty for the examiner, the candidate can generally be understood throughout the test.

Band 7: The test taker’s pronunciation shows all the positive features of Band 6 and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band 8.

Band 8: The candidate uses a wide range of features of spoken English with only occasional errors. The candidate is easy to understand throughout the test (even if there’s an accent from his or her first language).

Band 9: The test taker uses a full range of pronunciation features with great precision and skill. The examiner can understand the candidate without any effort.