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IELTS Listening: Spelling out names
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Home » IELTS Listening: Spelling out names 31st January 2023 IELTS Listening: Spelling out names
How important is it to spell words correctly in the IELTS Listening test? The British Council’s LearnEnglish site answers this question clearly and succinctly: ‘Everything must be spelled correctly.’ That means that if you spell a word wrongly in the test, you will lose a point. In this blog post we’re going to look at one common pitfall – spelling out names. In the IELTS Listening test, you may have the answer spelled out for you. For example, one of the speakers might spell their name, and you have to copy it down. It might be a dialogue like this: Speaker 1: And your name please, for the delivery form? Speaker 2: It’s McDougal. Speaker 1: McDougal? Can you spell that for me please? Speaker 2: Sure. M-C-D-O-U-G-A-L. Speaker 1: OK, thank you Ms McDougal… The problemThis can present a number of challenges if you are not used to listening to words being spelled out in English: Some English letters sound similar to each other: m and n, for example, are very similar so you have to listen carefully. Some English letters sound like different letters in other languages. For instance, j in English sounds like g in French. Two English letters may simply sound the same in your language. A Spanish speaker might find it difficult to tell the difference between b and v. The solutionHere are two exercises you can practise to try to overcome these problems. Exercise 1 Start with this video, which will take you through all the letters of the alphabet as they are pronounced in English. Watch the first 45 seconds of the video. Listen, stop and repeat the letters out loud. Check that you are pronouncing them correctly. Alternatively, read the whole alphabet into the audio recorder on your phone. Then alternately play the video and your recording to make sure they sound the same. Start the video again (at approximately 1 minute) and minimise the page. With a pen and paper, write the words you hear. You may find the words (e.g. apple) fairly simple. Remember that you are focusing on the way the letters are pronounced rather than trying to recognise the words. Open up the video again and watch from 00:47. You should now check your spelling.Once you have had a go at listening to the way English letters are pronounced, you should move on to more focused IELTS Listening practice. Exercise 2 Now try listening to names. Watch this video.You will hear names being pronounced at normal, native-speaker speed — just like in the test itself. The speaker spells out 20 names for you to practise with. Make sure you minimise the page so you don’t see the answers straight away. With a pen and paper, write the words you hear. Open up the video again. You should now check your spelling. What’s next?Improving your spelling will help you not only in the IELTS Listening test but also in the IELTS Reading and Writing sections. British Council Manager Peter Hare said in this blogpost: ‘The problem is that spelling in English is notoriously difficult. The only effective way of improving your spelling is to learn words one by one…’ Peter gives advice on how to improve your spelling and where to focus your efforts. Click in and have a read!
by Andrew Stokes, IELTS specialist, ClarityEnglish
Listening
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