Five underestimated words on IELTS assessment criteria (and then some)
IELTS assessment criteria, which are available on the official website , are drowning in myths and stereotypes. When interpreted unprofessionally, they get totally distorted. Some aspects get blown out of proportion and enter the popular consciousness, while others get totally neglected. In this post, I want to look at the ones that are usually overlooked, focusing on bands 7-9. First things first, here are the links to the public version of the assessment criteria: - Speaking ; - Writing Task 1 ; - Writing Task 2 . 1. Skillfully 2. Naturally Speaking. Lexical resource 8-9 : - uses less common and idiomatic vocabulary skillfully , with occasional inaccuracies (8); - uses idiomatic language naturally and accurately (9). For some reason people focus on “idiomatic” and totally ignore “skillfully/naturally.” This results in students memorizing insane lists of idioms and bending over backwards to use them. For one thing, vocabulary memorized with...