IELTS Speaking - Fix Your Coherence (Theme and Rheme)

How the lesson works, step by step

1. Listen to a first try. A student answers a Part 1 practice question: “Can you tell me about any work or study you’ve done?” She is fluent, but she keeps adding new ideas and it’s hard to follow.
2. Hear the examiner’s tip. “Don’t tell the story the way that you experience it. Tell it in a logical order. This idea is called theme and rheme.”
3. Learn the two parts of a sentence: theme (blue) and rheme (green).
4. Learn three ways to link sentences, and which part of the test each one suits.
5. See why the first try was hard to follow (theme jumping), and how a zig-zag repairs it.
6. Compare her second try: two zig-zags and one break, much easier to follow.
7. Use linking words as switch signals when the chain breaks or you change direction.
8. See why IELTS Reading does the opposite.
9. Break down a real Part 3 answer, line by line, from a student the examiner praised.
10. Practise it yourself.

Theme and rheme in plain English

Every sentence has two parts:

• Theme is the starting point: what the sentence is about.
• Rheme is the new information about it.

My hometown is famous for its seafood.

The words come from linguistics (M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics), but the idea is simple. Coherence comes from how these parts link, from one sentence to the next.

The three patterns

1. Same theme

Every sentence starts from the same person, place or thing.

My brother loves cooking.
He makes dinner every Sunday.
He’s even started a small food blog.

Good to use in Part 2 when describing. In Part 2 you describe one noun: a person, a place, an object or an event.

2. Zig-zag

The new information at the end of one sentence becomes the start of the next.

I work for a logistics company.
The company has offices in three countries.
Those offices are quite different culturally.

“A logistics company” is new information, so the next sentence starts from “the company”. “Offices in three countries” is new information, so the next sentence starts from “those offices”. “Those” points back to the offices we just heard about.

You don’t have to repeat the same noun every time. Carry it forward with:

• a pronoun: he, it, they (“It has offices in three countries.”)
• another word for the same thing: the company → the firm
• a pointing word: this, that, those

Good to use in Part 1 and Part 3 when explaining. Zig-zag is how you explain and give reasons step by step, so it’s the pattern to practise most.

3. Split rheme

One sentence gives you two things, and the next sentences pick them up one by one.

I enjoy two sports: tennis and swimming.
Tennis is more social.
Swimming is more relaxing.

Less common: Part 1 (sometimes Part 3). It’s a nice way to show a more advanced structure, but you’ll use it less often. Focus on patterns 1 and 2 (especially the zig-zag) first.

Theme jumping, and the repair

Here is the student’s first try with the fluency mistakes removed, so you can see just the ideas:

Last school year, I did a project called ___, and I was a participant.
And I helped the teachers there make a plan for the project.
It’s how to organise the customers or the students there, and to have them find the way, and the way for them to sit.
And after that, I did it with my friends to get our certificate.
That’s a very fun project.

Two jumps make it hard to follow:

• Line 2 ends with new information: “a plan”. But the next sentence starts with “It’s”. What is “it”? The plan? The project? We don’t know.
• Line 3 opens lots of new ideas: organising the students, finding the way, where to sit. But the next sentence, “And after that, I…”, jumps to the certificate. None of those ideas is picked up.

This is called theme jumping: new ideas, never picked up, so the listener loses the thread.

The repair is a zig-zag:

…helped the teachers make a plan. The plan was about how to organise the students…

Her second try: two zig-zags, one break

I have done a project in my 10th year.
It’s about history.
My friends have done a lot in that project.
After that, we got a certificate.

• Zig-zag 1: “a project” → “It’s”. “It” means the project.
• The chain breaks: “My friends” is a new starting point that doesn’t come from “about history”. But “that project” still points back, so she isn’t lost.
• Zig-zag 2: “that project” → “After that”. “After that” points back to the project being done.

She didn’t do it perfectly, and you don’t have to. Even this much made her answer much easier to follow. The examiner said: “Much better, much more clear, much easier for me to follow.”

Linking words: the signal to switch

When your chain breaks like hers did, just add a linking word:

Also, my friends did a lot in that project.

Now the listener knows it’s one more point about the project. That’s the job of a linking word.

You can, and should, use linking words. The surprise is that native speakers don’t need as many of them, because a lot of the linking is already done by theme and rheme. You won’t hear many essay words like firstly, moreover or furthermore in conversation. Those belong in writing. When native speakers do use linking words, they’re usually small spoken ones: so, but, actually, anyway, because, and that’s why.

Follow the thread while you have something to say about it. When you change direction, or you’ve run out, use a linking word to signal the switch: anyway, apart from that, but the main reason is. And keep every thread tied to the question:

Q: Do you like your hometown?
Yes, my hometown is famous for its seafood.
The seafood there is really fresh.
Apart from that, it’s quite a peaceful place, and that’s why I like it.

The chain is a tool, not a rule. Don’t force it:

I went to the store. The store was closed. It was closed because it was a holiday. The holiday was Tet. Tet is my favourite holiday. Holidays are great.

Every sentence is linked, but it sounds robotic and drifts away from the question. That’s exactly when a linking word should switch you back.

IELTS Reading does the opposite

Reading passages often hide the links on purpose, so the answers are harder to find:

Reading style (hidden links): Paying by phone is now normal for shoppers in Riverton. A decade earlier, traders had protested when the market stopped accepting cash.

It opens with the result (paying by phone is normal), then jumps back in time (“a decade earlier”), and it never says how phone payments and the market stopping cash are connected. You have to work that out yourself, and that’s why Reading questions are hard.

Speaking style (clear links, in time order): Ten years ago, Riverton market stopped accepting cash. At first, this change made traders angry. Today, though, paying by phone is normal for every shopper there.

“This change” picks up “stopped accepting cash”, so the listener doesn’t have to guess. “At first” and “Today, though” link the before and the now.

In Reading, the links are hidden. In speaking, you make them obvious. Don’t talk like a reading passage. (Our own example, not from a real test.)

Long’s Part 3 answer, line by line

This matters most in Part 3, where answers are longer and ideas get lost. Long was asked this Part 3 question:

Q: …the differences between watching movies at home and watching them in the cinema?

Simple words, nothing fancy. The examiner’s comment: “Your coherence is good. I can follow all your ideas.” If you want Band 6 or higher, make the examiner listen, not think.

One honest note

Examiners don’t use the words “theme” and “rheme”. The IELTS Speaking criteria talk about coherence in terms of “logical sequencing of ‘spoken sentences’” and the “use of cohesive devices within and between spoken sentences (e.g. logical connectors, pronouns and conjunctions)” (IELTS Speaking key assessment criteria, ielts.org). Theme and rheme are just a simple way to practise that.

Practise it yourself

1. Choose a Part 1 question and answer it with a zig-zag: let your new information become your next starting point.
2. Record yourself and listen back. Does each sentence follow on from something you’ve said, or signal a switch with a linking word?
3. Don’t think about it while you speak. Fix it when you listen back, and try again.

Bonus: Start from the question

Here’s a simple way to start any answer, so your first sentence already links to the examiner’s question.

Q: Do you like reading?

1. Answer it directly first: “Yes.”
2. Repeat the key word from the question and make it your starting point (theme): “reading…”
3. Add your new information (rheme): “…is something I do mostly before bed,”
4. Now you have something to pick up next: “and that habit started when…”

All together: “Yes, reading is something I do mostly before bed, and that habit started when…”

Then carry on with a zig-zag, and use a linking word when you switch. Try it on the practice question below.