IELTS examination is conducted by the British Council. The test score is used for the purposes of Study, Migration and Work. It’s a high stakes gatekeeping examination that screens people for the aforementioned purposes. It measures the English language proficiency of people who want to work or study in an English speaking country. It awards one of nine grades to test-takers, based on their performance. The test is available in two separate versions- one for academic purposes, and another for general training. IELTS accepts all native speaker versions of English- British, North American, New Zealand and Australian English. Assessment covers all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). The test promises to avoid biases through careful planning and execution. The test can be taken at any test centre across the world on about 50 different dates a year.
IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training versions
The IELTS Academic version is for people who wish to pursue higher education or to register for professional services in an English speaking country. The test content is academic in nature. The General Training version of the test is for those who go to an English speaking country for intermediate education, work experience or some training programme. Australia, Canada, US and UK take this test as the criterion for allowing migration. The test content is designed to test basic survival skills in everyday living situations.
The test is organized as two parts on two days. Listening, reading and writing tests will be completed on the same day in a 2 hours and 45 minutes’ continuous test. Speaking test is conducted within two weeks before or after this according to the plan of the test centre.
IELTS Listening
Listening test is for 30 minutes. There will be four recordings. Two of them will be on everyday social contexts- a conversation and a monologue. The other two will be on academic subjects or educational context- a conversation and a monologue. Assessment will be based on factual information, opinion and attitudes of speakers, purpose of utterances grasped and the ability to grasp development of ideas. There will be 40 questions. MCQs, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, sentence completion, etc. are the types of tasks available. Each question carries one mark.
MCQs will have three or more options to choose from. Global comprehension or comprehension of specific points is used to test a wide range of skills. Matching questions test the candidate’s abilities to relate and connect facts in the listening passage, to listen for details, to follow a conversation, etc. Planning, mapping and diagram-labelling questions assess candidate’s abilities to understand and relate descriptions to visual representation, to follow spatial directions, locations, etc. Questions that use form/note/table/flow-chart and summary completion test candidate’s comprehension and attention to details. In a given outline, candidates will have to fill in the required information. In this type of questions, the instructions are crucial and have to be strictly followed to avoid negative marking. Sentence completion intents to test the candidate’s ability to identify key information in a listening text. They will have to complete the given sentence using information from the listening passage. A word limit is given and has to be strictly adhered to. Short answer questions test candidate’s ability to comprehend factual information from listing. Again, word limit applies here. Assessment is done by trained and certified markers and analysed by Cambridge English Language Assessment.
IELTS Reading
Reading has two kinds of tests- Academic reading and General Purpose reading.
IELTS Academic Reading
Academic reading test is for one hour, and has forty questions. Candidates are given three reading passages. Task types used are multiple choice, identifying information, identifying the writer’s views/claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion and short-answer questions. Texts used are selected from books, journals, newspapers and magazines on general interest topics. Passages can have narrative, descriptive, or discursive/argumentative style. Texts may contain logical arguments and non-verbal information. Questions are given in the same order as information appears in the text. For MCQs, four, five or seven alternatives will be given. They test global and local comprehension. Identifying information and writer’s opinion, candidates prove their ability to locate and recognize information conveyed in the text. Opinion tasks are used with argumentative tests. Matching information tests candidate’s ability to identify specific information where matching headings tests the ability to identify main /supporting ideas. Matching questions test candidate’s ability to relate information. For this, skimming, scanning and reading for detail are necessary skills. Matching sentence endings tests candidate’s ability to understand main ideas within sentences by selecting the best option to complete the given sentence. There will be more options than the number of questions raising the level of challenge. Sentence completion questions test candidate’s ability to locate specific details in a text. Completion of summary/note/flow-chart/table asks candidates to complete the given summary, etc. with information from the text. Understanding of main ideas, collocation, etc. are tested with this type of tasks. Diagram labelling asks candidates to label the given diagram based on the text. Understanding of detailed description and ability to transform information into other forms are tested with this type of tasks. Short answer question test candidate’s ability to locate specific information within the text.
IELTS General Purpose Reading
There are three sections in this one-hour general purpose reading test. Maximum score is forty marks. The first section has two or three short texts. It tests candidate’s social survival skills to retrieve information from notices, tables and advertisements. The second section is to test candidate’s skills in workplace survival. Materials used will be like job descriptions and staff training materials. The third section involves general reading with more complex structures. Descriptive and instructive materials of general nature are selected. The types of questions are the same in Academic Reading test. The difference is in the materials used which raise or lower difficulty level of the test.
IELTS Academic Writing
This is a one-hour test with two questions to be answered. First question is to describe some visual information (charts, tables, diagram, device or process) in their own words, and second question is to respond to a point of view or argument or problem. The first answer expects the use of academic or semi-formal neutral style including most relevant information from the given data. About 150 words must be written in about 20 minutes in sentences (not as broken sentences, or notes). The second answer must be focused and relevant to the question. About 250 words are expected in about 40 minutes.
Each task is assessed independently by certified examiners who are approved by British Council. Performance descriptors are clearly stated. First question is assessed on the criteria of task achievement (how well task-requirements are fulfilled), coherence and cohesion (logical sequencing and linking of ideas and fair use of cohesive devices), lexical resource (range and accuracy of vocabulary use) and grammatical range and accuracy. Second question is assessed on the same criteria except for that of task completion. It is replaced by task response which sees how the candidate develops a position in relation to the given question, how ideas are supported by evidence, etc.
IELTS General Training Writing
Like in Academic Writing, here too we have two writing tasks. The first task is to respond to a situation in the form of an informal, semi-formal or formal letter in at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. Common day to day situations will be presented. The skills needed would be asking or giving factual information, expressing likes, dislikes, needs and wants, and making requests or suggestions. Test takers’ ability to write standard letters, organize and link information appropriately, cohesively and coherently is tested. The second task is to respond to a point of view or argument or a problem. It requires at least 250 words, and candidates can take about 40 minutes. Answering might involve providing factual information, presenting a solution, justifying an opinion or an argument, evaluating an evidence, etc. General topics are used. Answering requires the use of more abstract and complex ideas than task 1. Irrelevance and short text would attract negative marks.
Assessment criteria and performance descriptors are the same as in Academic Writing test.
IELTS Speaking
Speaking test is an oral interview with an examiner. The test is recorded for evaluation and quality maintenance. It lasts about 14 minutes. There are three parts with specific functions.
Part 1 is introduction and interview. Test taker is asked his/her name, details about family, and other familiar everyday topics to put him/her at ease and to introduce them to each other. Ability to speak of everyday topics, state opinions and experiences are tested in this part. This part takes four to five minutes.
Part 2 takes about three to four minutes. But this time, the candidate will have to speak on a given topic in detail. Candidate prepares for a minute, speaks for two and then answers interviewer’s questions. This part tests the candidate’s ability to speak coherently at length about a topic without prompts, using appropriate language. Candidate may have to speak about his/her personal experiences also.
Part 3 is a discussion about the same topic in part 2 in a general, but deeper manner. The focus of the test is on the ability to express and justify opinions and to analyse, speculate about and discuss issues. This takes four to five minutes.
Marking is done by certified IELTS examiners. Performance descriptors are prepared. Fluency refers to the ability to speak fairly continuously at a fair rate to make coherent and connected speech. Coherence refers to logical sequencing, marking stages of a discussion, narration, argument and use of cohesive devices. Lexical resource means range and accuracy of appropriate choice of vocabulary. Ability to circumlocute is also noted. Grammatical range and accuracy refers to appropriate use of grammatical resources. Length and complexity of spoken sentences, use of subordinate clauses, range of sentence structures, number of errors made and their effect on communication are the measures of grammatical ability. Pronunciation is measured by the amount of strain listener has to put in, amount of unintelligible speech and influence of L1.
IELTS claims to be fair to candidates of all nationalities, cultural backgrounds, genders or special needs by trialling the test questions extensively with people from various backgrounds all over the world. It assesses language skills, not specialist skills. It is not based on any particular text book or syllabus, but on general knowledge of English language and its use. To ensure quality and safety, IELTS has established procedures to verify candidate’s identity. The tests are unique- no candidate gets the same test twice. Assessment involves double marking and has other security features. Results are available online.
The test development has the following stages.
a. Commissioning of language specialists to work on the test. Test development starts with test specifications and characteristics of four IELTS components. This team of specialists guides test writers by providing information on specific requirements, approach to test writing, and selection of appropriate materials.
b. Pre-editing is the stage where initial materials submitted by test writers are edited for topic, level of language, style, level and focus of task. Suggestions for revision are given to the writers.
c. Based on pre-editing feedback, test material is worked on and resubmitted. This material is either sent for further revision or for pre-testing.
d. Pre-testing stage gives the test to representative groups of test-takes from around the world. Information on item difficulty and ability to distinguish between strong and weak candidates is gathered. Based on this information, decisions are made whether to accept or not to accept particular materials for testing.
e. Standards fixing stage involves testing new listening and reading materials with representative test-taking groups. This ensures that the difficulty levels of the materials are appropriate to provide same measures of language ability in all band scores. Once this is done, materials are ready for use in tests.
f. Test construction and grading is the final stage. Papers for all four tests are constructed. Test construction is based on item difficulty (mean of all items and that of individual items), range of skills tested, balance of task types, range of cultural perspectives and range of voices and accents in the listening versions. Data from tests is collected to ensure accurate grading and to feed into quality improvement.
The IELTS Academic version is for people who wish to pursue higher education or to register for professional services in an English speaking country. The test content is academic in nature. The General Training version of the test is for those who go to an English speaking country for intermediate education, work experience or some training programme. Australia, Canada, US and UK take this test as the criterion for allowing migration. The test content is designed to test basic survival skills in everyday living situations.
The test is organized as two parts on two days. Listening, reading and writing tests will be completed on the same day in a 2 hours and 45 minutes’ continuous test. Speaking test is conducted within two weeks before or after this according to the plan of the test centre.
IELTS Listening
Listening test is for 30 minutes. There will be four recordings. Two of them will be on everyday social contexts- a conversation and a monologue. The other two will be on academic subjects or educational context- a conversation and a monologue. Assessment will be based on factual information, opinion and attitudes of speakers, purpose of utterances grasped and the ability to grasp development of ideas. There will be 40 questions. MCQs, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, sentence completion, etc. are the types of tasks available. Each question carries one mark.
MCQs will have three or more options to choose from. Global comprehension or comprehension of specific points is used to test a wide range of skills. Matching questions test the candidate’s abilities to relate and connect facts in the listening passage, to listen for details, to follow a conversation, etc. Planning, mapping and diagram-labelling questions assess candidate’s abilities to understand and relate descriptions to visual representation, to follow spatial directions, locations, etc. Questions that use form/note/table/flow-chart and summary completion test candidate’s comprehension and attention to details. In a given outline, candidates will have to fill in the required information. In this type of questions, the instructions are crucial and have to be strictly followed to avoid negative marking. Sentence completion intents to test the candidate’s ability to identify key information in a listening text. They will have to complete the given sentence using information from the listening passage. A word limit is given and has to be strictly adhered to. Short answer questions test candidate’s ability to comprehend factual information from listing. Again, word limit applies here. Assessment is done by trained and certified markers and analysed by Cambridge English Language Assessment.
IELTS Reading
Reading has two kinds of tests- Academic reading and General Purpose reading.
IELTS Academic Reading
Academic reading test is for one hour, and has forty questions. Candidates are given three reading passages. Task types used are multiple choice, identifying information, identifying the writer’s views/claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion and short-answer questions. Texts used are selected from books, journals, newspapers and magazines on general interest topics. Passages can have narrative, descriptive, or discursive/argumentative style. Texts may contain logical arguments and non-verbal information. Questions are given in the same order as information appears in the text. For MCQs, four, five or seven alternatives will be given. They test global and local comprehension. Identifying information and writer’s opinion, candidates prove their ability to locate and recognize information conveyed in the text. Opinion tasks are used with argumentative tests. Matching information tests candidate’s ability to identify specific information where matching headings tests the ability to identify main /supporting ideas. Matching questions test candidate’s ability to relate information. For this, skimming, scanning and reading for detail are necessary skills. Matching sentence endings tests candidate’s ability to understand main ideas within sentences by selecting the best option to complete the given sentence. There will be more options than the number of questions raising the level of challenge. Sentence completion questions test candidate’s ability to locate specific details in a text. Completion of summary/note/flow-chart/table asks candidates to complete the given summary, etc. with information from the text. Understanding of main ideas, collocation, etc. are tested with this type of tasks. Diagram labelling asks candidates to label the given diagram based on the text. Understanding of detailed description and ability to transform information into other forms are tested with this type of tasks. Short answer question test candidate’s ability to locate specific information within the text.
IELTS General Purpose Reading
There are three sections in this one-hour general purpose reading test. Maximum score is forty marks. The first section has two or three short texts. It tests candidate’s social survival skills to retrieve information from notices, tables and advertisements. The second section is to test candidate’s skills in workplace survival. Materials used will be like job descriptions and staff training materials. The third section involves general reading with more complex structures. Descriptive and instructive materials of general nature are selected. The types of questions are the same in Academic Reading test. The difference is in the materials used which raise or lower difficulty level of the test.
IELTS Academic Writing
This is a one-hour test with two questions to be answered. First question is to describe some visual information (charts, tables, diagram, device or process) in their own words, and second question is to respond to a point of view or argument or problem. The first answer expects the use of academic or semi-formal neutral style including most relevant information from the given data. About 150 words must be written in about 20 minutes in sentences (not as broken sentences, or notes). The second answer must be focused and relevant to the question. About 250 words are expected in about 40 minutes.
Each task is assessed independently by certified examiners who are approved by British Council. Performance descriptors are clearly stated. First question is assessed on the criteria of task achievement (how well task-requirements are fulfilled), coherence and cohesion (logical sequencing and linking of ideas and fair use of cohesive devices), lexical resource (range and accuracy of vocabulary use) and grammatical range and accuracy. Second question is assessed on the same criteria except for that of task completion. It is replaced by task response which sees how the candidate develops a position in relation to the given question, how ideas are supported by evidence, etc.
IELTS General Training Writing
Like in Academic Writing, here too we have two writing tasks. The first task is to respond to a situation in the form of an informal, semi-formal or formal letter in at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. Common day to day situations will be presented. The skills needed would be asking or giving factual information, expressing likes, dislikes, needs and wants, and making requests or suggestions. Test takers’ ability to write standard letters, organize and link information appropriately, cohesively and coherently is tested. The second task is to respond to a point of view or argument or a problem. It requires at least 250 words, and candidates can take about 40 minutes. Answering might involve providing factual information, presenting a solution, justifying an opinion or an argument, evaluating an evidence, etc. General topics are used. Answering requires the use of more abstract and complex ideas than task 1. Irrelevance and short text would attract negative marks.
Assessment criteria and performance descriptors are the same as in Academic Writing test.
IELTS Speaking
Speaking test is an oral interview with an examiner. The test is recorded for evaluation and quality maintenance. It lasts about 14 minutes. There are three parts with specific functions.
Part 1 is introduction and interview. Test taker is asked his/her name, details about family, and other familiar everyday topics to put him/her at ease and to introduce them to each other. Ability to speak of everyday topics, state opinions and experiences are tested in this part. This part takes four to five minutes.
Part 2 takes about three to four minutes. But this time, the candidate will have to speak on a given topic in detail. Candidate prepares for a minute, speaks for two and then answers interviewer’s questions. This part tests the candidate’s ability to speak coherently at length about a topic without prompts, using appropriate language. Candidate may have to speak about his/her personal experiences also.
Part 3 is a discussion about the same topic in part 2 in a general, but deeper manner. The focus of the test is on the ability to express and justify opinions and to analyse, speculate about and discuss issues. This takes four to five minutes.
Marking is done by certified IELTS examiners. Performance descriptors are prepared. Fluency refers to the ability to speak fairly continuously at a fair rate to make coherent and connected speech. Coherence refers to logical sequencing, marking stages of a discussion, narration, argument and use of cohesive devices. Lexical resource means range and accuracy of appropriate choice of vocabulary. Ability to circumlocute is also noted. Grammatical range and accuracy refers to appropriate use of grammatical resources. Length and complexity of spoken sentences, use of subordinate clauses, range of sentence structures, number of errors made and their effect on communication are the measures of grammatical ability. Pronunciation is measured by the amount of strain listener has to put in, amount of unintelligible speech and influence of L1.
Figure 1- IELTS Score band
The final score is generated by averaging individual test scores of the four skills. It ranges from 0 to 9 as shown in Figure 1. The test score has a validity of two years.
IELTS claims to be fair to candidates of all nationalities, cultural backgrounds, genders or special needs by trialling the test questions extensively with people from various backgrounds all over the world. It assesses language skills, not specialist skills. It is not based on any particular text book or syllabus, but on general knowledge of English language and its use. To ensure quality and safety, IELTS has established procedures to verify candidate’s identity. The tests are unique- no candidate gets the same test twice. Assessment involves double marking and has other security features. Results are available online.
The test development has the following stages.
a. Commissioning of language specialists to work on the test. Test development starts with test specifications and characteristics of four IELTS components. This team of specialists guides test writers by providing information on specific requirements, approach to test writing, and selection of appropriate materials.
b. Pre-editing is the stage where initial materials submitted by test writers are edited for topic, level of language, style, level and focus of task. Suggestions for revision are given to the writers.
c. Based on pre-editing feedback, test material is worked on and resubmitted. This material is either sent for further revision or for pre-testing.
d. Pre-testing stage gives the test to representative groups of test-takes from around the world. Information on item difficulty and ability to distinguish between strong and weak candidates is gathered. Based on this information, decisions are made whether to accept or not to accept particular materials for testing.
e. Standards fixing stage involves testing new listening and reading materials with representative test-taking groups. This ensures that the difficulty levels of the materials are appropriate to provide same measures of language ability in all band scores. Once this is done, materials are ready for use in tests.
f. Test construction and grading is the final stage. Papers for all four tests are constructed. Test construction is based on item difficulty (mean of all items and that of individual items), range of skills tested, balance of task types, range of cultural perspectives and range of voices and accents in the listening versions. Data from tests is collected to ensure accurate grading and to feed into quality improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment