The fastest way to improve your speaking alone is also the one most learners avoid: recording yourself and listening back. It can feel strange, but your phone is enough, and one short routine each day will show you problems you cannot hear while you are speaking. Here is a simple method you can use for IELTS, CELPIP or everyday English.
What you need
- A phone with a voice recorder app.
- A quiet room, with the phone about 20 centimetres from your mouth.
- A question to answer. Use an IELTS Speaking Part 2 topic, a CELPIP Speaking task from our practice tests, or any "describe a person, place or event" question.
The routine
- Prepare for one minute. In IELTS Speaking Part 2 you get about one minute to prepare and then speak for up to two minutes. Make a few notes: a beginning, a middle and an end. In CELPIP, the practice test shows the preparation time for each task.
- Record in one go. Press record and speak without stopping. If you make a mistake, keep going, as you would in the real test. Do not restart.
- Listen once for meaning. Did you answer every part of the question? Did the answer have a beginning, a middle and an end?
- Listen again for three things. Pick only three: pauses and fillers (um, like), words you repeat (very, good), and grammar slips you can hear, such as "every weekends" instead of "every weekend".
- Write down the weakest 30 seconds. Type or write exactly what you said, then correct it. Seeing it on paper makes the problem clear.
- Record the same answer again. Use your corrections and one or two better words. Compare the two recordings. You should hear the difference straight away.
How much practice is enough?
Ten to fifteen minutes is enough: one question, two recordings, and a few notes. Three times a week works better than one long session on Sunday. Keep all your recordings in a folder with the date, so after a month you can listen to the first one and hear how far you have come.
Common problems and fixes
- I stop after 30 seconds. Add one short story: a real moment, with a place, a person and a feeling.
- I use the same adjectives again and again. Before you record, choose two new words to use, for example "peaceful" instead of "very quiet".
- I talk too fast when I am nervous. Pause at the end of each idea. A short pause sounds confident, not weak.
- I do not know what to fix. That is normal when you work alone, and it is where a teacher helps most.
Get a teacher to listen
If you want an expert to listen to your recordings, our speaking feedback service lets you record on the website or upload voice memos from your phone. You can send one recording with all the tasks, or send them separately: up to three recordings for IELTS and up to eight for CELPIP. A teacher sends written feedback and a voice note. You also get an estimated score as a guide for your practice, not an official result: a band for each IELTS criterion, or an estimated CELPIP level for each dimension and for the skill. For more ideas, read how to practise IELTS Speaking Part 2 at home and how to use your CELPIP preparation time.