About EAP Guru
@eapguru has over 15 years experience preparing Indonesian scholars for postgraduate study in Australia.
Many posts deal with the communicative challenges faced by Indonesian scholars in particular. Odd translations from Indonesian are usually flagged 
. To access all posts that feature ‘Indo English’ click on the Indo English tag.
My use of the word ‘guru’ is very much ‘tongue in cheek‘. I would like to think that you can also teach me something – I sometimes make mistakes, and there is much that I don’t know!
Please contact @eapguru if you have any requests!
guruEAP 
Recently, I took an IELTS Test and I got unsatisfied score in speaking test. I do want to be able to speak English fluently and get a good score. What should I do to improve my speaking ability?
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If you want to improve your speaking fluency you probably need to be able to plan short spoken texts quickly. As you study writing skills you will get some ideas about how to do this.
I also think you should look at my post https://eapguru.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/cant-get-no-results-satisfaction/
Then think about the error you made in the first sentence of your comment – “Recently, I took..”
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@eapguru, it is difficult for me to distinguish between topic and main claim. Are they different?
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Well, a topic is expressed as a noun. Meanwhile a claim is expressed as a sentence. However, writers often begin their paragraphs with a sentence called a ‘topic sentence’ – a sentence that introduces the topic. Often this topic sentence introduces the topic and at the same time makes a debatable claim.
I’ve made a post to illustrate this: https://eapguru.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/opinion-in-topic-sentences/
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I found some difficulties both in
reading and writing IELTS.
I tried to use some tips that I got from
some resources like Internet but my
score didn’t improve. could you share
piece of advice to boost these skills?
especially how to deal with each type of
questions in these skills. Thank you
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Diana you need to be more specific with your questions. What exactly do you find difficult about reading? What exactly do you find difficult about writing?
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My weakness is writing where I am difficult to extend my main idea and also I am worry with my grammar. Do you have any suggestion base on my problem?
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OK. First of all I suggest you do this:
1. Read my post https://eapguru.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/i-am-easydifficult/
2. Use what you have learned to rewrite the first sentence of your comment – “My weakness is..”
(add it as a reply to this post!)
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I realize that reading is very influential basic ability in understanding English. But, reading novel, short story and other similar works of literature are very difficult. Do you have any advice to solve this problem?
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Reading is not an easy skill. But like any other skill, it becomes easier with practice. Do you want to be good at reading novels? Then read novels! In the beginning it will be hard work, but eventually you will be rewarded!
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I’m having difficulties due to the IELTS test, especially in writing and reading session, where we were restricted by the time, what could you recommend to tackle the problem? Thank you.
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Akbar you need to be more specific with your ‘problem’.
Which parts of the writing and reading tests put you under time pressure?
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I have problem with listening skill in ielts, its tough to catch every word come from the speaker, i have been increasing my time to listening but i do not get better result. would you like to give me some advice to increase my listening skill?
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You probably don’t need to catch EVERY word. But I suspect you are having problems separating words from other words inside a phrase or sentence.
I suggest this practice activity:
1. Choose a listening (= recording)
2. Listen and write down what you hear
3. Check what you wrote against the tapescript
4. Listen again, following the tapescript
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when I took the IELTS test, I got nervous and suddenly all strategies and vocabulary disappear from my mind. how to solve this problem
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Practice!
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hi i am asumpta i want to improve my IELTS score especially in writing skill but i usually do not remember about academic vocabulary so i often use the same word in my writing task.l try to improve my vocabulary stock and i really want to know the best strategy to solve my problem. thanks..
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Hi Asumpta. I notice that you often use lower case (small letters) in situations where it is more correct to use upper case. For example you often write ‘i’ instead of ‘I’ as a personal pronoun. Maybe you’re doing this because it’s trendy at the moment to ignore punctuation in blog comments, emails, Facebook posts, etc. But if you’re not trying to be trendy, then please take a look at http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/capitalisation-rules/
Regarding your vocabulary problem:
1. Record new and less familiar vocabulary
2. Note down sentences using the new vocab (try to use it to write something about yourself).
3. Review your vocabulary records regularly
4. Use new vocab in speaking and writing as soon as possible
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We sometimes have abundant vocabularies, but when we are trying to speak up…..speechless.Messy…!!!. How to overcome this? If the answer is Practice and keep practicing, then where I should start from?
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Of course practicing will help. But it may also be helpful to slow down. Also, take a few seconds to think before you speak.
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I found IELTS that it is not only testing our language ability but it is also testing our psychology. So,how we can control our emotional in doing the test?
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What kind of emotions do you feel you need to control, Nurdin?!
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I have difficulties in the IELTS test specifically on the reading section. I have performed reading exercises for many times but I cannot still get my expected scores. In every exercise, I could not allocate the given time to answer all of the questions. In my view, if I am given more time, I will answer all of the questions with satisfied results. How do I improve the speed in doing the reading section in the IELTS test?
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Hi Hamka. Clearly you have a problem with time management in the reading test. There are some online tools that can help you to increase your reading speed with practice. Open an account with Instapaper.com (feee), which includes a speed reading feature. Alternatively you can try http://www.readspeeder.com.
You should also take a look at my post – made just for you! – https://eapguru.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/cant-get-no-results-satisfaction/
Enjoy!
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