When we talk of fluency we generally mean the speaking fluency which is so important that its absence reflects in the band score. A candidate cannot score Band 7 on IELTS test if she or he is not fluent in speaking. In my discussions with the IELTS candidates this is a very common question, “How can I develop fluency to score high in IELTS?”. Let’s understand what is speaking fluency. It is a candidate’s ability to communicate thoughts smoothly and without any internal barriers.

What kind of internal barriers? Like hesitation, fear of judgment, lack of ideas, etc. What breaks the fluency in speaking? If your original thought process is not in English then you would have to do a continuous translation. It breaks fluency.

Repetitions of phrases and words also break fluency. You might have some people repeating what they have said. At times it is required to put stress on some phrases or words. That is different. But some people have this as a habit. They unnecessarily repeat phrases, maybe it’s the slow thought process that hinders their fluency. One should work on the thought process. It would be a systematic exercise.

Another fluency barrier is excessive use of fillers. What are fillers? Fillers are like ‘umm….’, 'you know’, ‘well’, etc. At times fillers work positively and help us fill the gap between two ideas. But excessive use of fillers breaks fluency. You can record your voice and check the quantum of fillers. Similarly, people take repeated pauses that also kill fluency.

Some IELTS candidates have the habit of committing mistakes while speaking. Being aware of one’s mistakes is a good thing. But every time correcting the mistakes kills fluency. Also, it kills confidence. Repeated correction of mistakes by the speaker. What to do then. I would recommend visiting a professional coach who is an expert in all these skills. One can contact the expert faculty at the best IELTS coaching center in Rohini.

But speaking is not only fluency that one should build to score high in IELTS exam. “What! We have heard only of speaking fluency. What are the other types of fluencies?” is the common reaction of IELTS aspirants that speaking is not the only fluency.