Lecture 1.

Introductory lecture
The aim of the discipline: the main aim of the discipline is broaden and systematize the
knowledge of graduates on the international system of testing, some information on the
main international exams based on standardized testing (First Certificate in English
(FCE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), Certificate of Proficiency in English
(CPE), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Test of English as a
foreign language (TOEFL) with particular focus on IELTS.
Background to the course
In our globalised world, being able to speak one or more foreign languages is a
prerequisite, as employers on a national as well as on an international scale pay
attention to the foreign language skills of their future employees, focusing mostly on
English which is still the undisputed lingua franca of the modern work force; even
despite the European Councils attempts to further the diversity of languages.
Needless to say that for millions of learners around the world the ability to
communicate in English is the passport to economic prosperity, social mobility and
educational advancement. So, to increase their chances on the job-market, they devote
both time and money to having their English language skills assessed and attested.
Some facts about the role of English as a global language
English has now achieved global status. Whenever we turn on the news to find out
what's happening in East Asia, or the Balkans, Africa, or South America, practically
anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English. To
illustrate the point when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Middle East and addressed
Christians, Muslims and Jews, he spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Italian, not Hebrew,
not his native Polish but English.
English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is
the working language of the UN. It is the working language of 98 percent of
international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the
European Central Bank, though the bank is in Frankfurt.
Today 1.8 billion speakers use English. However, only 400 million of them can be
described as native speakers. This means that the number of other users of English has
multiplied at a rapid rate since Shakespeare's epoch. English plays an important role in
global relations because of the need for
countries to communicate with each other.
One of the more remarkable aspects of the spread of English around the world has been
the extent to which Europeans are adopting it as their lingua franca. English is spreading
from northern Europe to the south and is used as a second language in Sweden, Norway,
Netherlands and Denmark.
The role of motivation for learning English
The word motivation derived from a Latin word meaning to move. In common
usage motivation refers to a driving force that moves us to a particular action.
According to Oxford English
Dictionary, motivation is:
1. the reason or reasons behind ones actions or behavior.
2. enthusiasm.
*

It is of interest to dwell on the notion of motivation which is so important for learning

English and for taking different international exams evaluating students competence
and proficiency.
Motivation is studied by Gardner who developed the so called socio-educational model
and stressed the significance of motivation as a contributing factor in foreign language
studying. Motivation is defined as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of
learning a language.
Gardner highlights two different types of motivation: Integrative and Instrumental
Motivation.
1) Integrative motivation: the desire to learn a language in order to communicate with
people from another culture that speak that language; the desire is also to identify
closely with the target language group. Students who are most successful when learning
a target language are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the
culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in
which the language is used. When someone becomes a resident in a new community
that uses the target language in social interactions, integrative motivation is a key
component in assisting the learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language.
It becomes a necessity, in order to operate socially in the community and become one of
its members. It is also theorized that "integrative motivation typically underlies
successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a native-like pronunciation". This
motivation represents the desire of the individual to become bilingual, while at the same
time becoming bicultural.
2) Instrumental motivation: the desire to learn a language because it would fulfill
certain utilitarian goals, such as getting a job, passing an examination, etc. This
motivation is in contrast to integrative motivation. This is generally characterized by the
desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of an L2. With
instrumental motivation the purpose of language acquisition is more utilitarian, such as
meeting the requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job,
requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation
work or achieving higher social status.
It is the main reason of learning English in the RK.
Both types of motivation (integrative and instrumental) are essential elements of
success.
Currently, there is no doubt about the need for foreign languages at the functional level,
including educational mobility. Targets in this process affect the interests of both
students and teachers.
The main directions of foreign language teaching in higher educational institutions are
as follows:
to prepare students for life and work in today's post-industrial information society;
to promote their social adaptation to the ever-changing world;
to help students in their self-determination, in the choice of the further education and
self development in accordance with their aptitudes, abilities and abilities.
In this regard the question of training students in educational institutions in accordance
with the European standards for passing international exams in English is of great
importance. It should be noted that students and graduates of educational institutions
who have successfully passed these exams are in demand in today's conditions for
employment and they are able to continue their education abroad.

The most popular international exams

There is a wide range of tests and examinations designed to measure the Englishlanguage competence of people whose mother tongue is not English. The majority of
them originate in the UK or the USA. Many of them focus on the candidate's ability to
function in a specific environment, though some are of a more general nature.
Academic (required by universities and colleges of higher education)
Business or Work (required by companies)
General (for the candidate's personal interest or required by some government or other
agencies, for example for immigration purposes)
Young Learners (for the candidate's personal interest or future career)
There are different international exams:
1) University of Cambridge ESOL (English for speakers of other languages)
Examinations
(KET, PET, FCE, CAE, CPE)
Cambridge Key English Test (KET) is a basic English language test on the level A2.
Cambridge Preliminary English Test (PET) certifies English language skills on the
level B1 which you need to cope with situations in every-day life and the working
environment.
- The First Certificate (FCE) on the B2 level is the worldwide most
popular test to proof proficiency in the four competencies
(listening, reading, speaking, and writing).
- The Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) is a certificate on
advanced level (Cl) and recognized by many universities as proof of
academic language skills.
- Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) opens the door to
British universities and many other universities of English speaking
countries
2) IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
IELTS tests the complete range of English language
skills that students usually encounter when studying or training in
the medium of English. All candidates take the same Listening and
Speaking Modules. There is an option of either Academic or
General Training Reading and Writing Modules. Academic is
suitable for candidates planning to undertake higher education
study. General Training is suitable for candidates planning to
undertake non-academic training or work experience, or for
immigration purposes. IELTS is accepted by most Australian,
British, Canadian, New Zealand and increasingly American
academic institutions for admissions purposes. The grade required
depends on the particular institution. IELTS is also accepted by
many professional and governmental organizations.
3) TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language)
TOEFL assesses the English language proficiencies of a
prospective student orally and in writing. Foreigners who wish to
study at an Anglo-American university have to meet a test result

required by the particular university. The TOEFL is partly required

for admission to the English language degree programs of German
universities. The test includes 3 parts: listening and reading
comprehension, speaking and written expression.
4) TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication)
TOEIC measures the English language proficiency in reading, listening and
grammar skills in business English. The "TOEIC Speaking and WritingTest" is an objective assessment of all four language competencies. The
reading and listening test is paper-based, the speaking and writing test is
internet-based. There are internationally standardized language certificates
that enable students to study and work abroad.
Australia, Austria, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Switzerland, the USA and the UK have
the highest percentages of international students among their students. Over the past
three decades, the number of international students has increased fivefold from 0.8
million worldwide in 1975 to 4.1 million in 2010. This growth has accelerated during
the period, mirroring the processes of economic and social globalization. The global
increase in the number of international students reflects the necessity of taking
international exams for them.

The notion of test

A test or examination (informally, exam) is an
assessment intended to measure a test- taker's knowledge, skill,
aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics
(e.g., language competence).
A test may be administered orally, on paper, on a
computer, or in a confined area that requires a test taker to
physically perform a set of skills. Tests vary in style, rigor and
requirements. For example, in a closed book test, a test taker is
often required to rely upon memory to respond to specific items
whereas in an open book test, a test taker may use one or more
supplementary tools such as a reference book or calculator when
responding to an item.
A test may be administered formally or informally. An
example of an informal test would be a reading test administered by
a parent to a child. An example of a formal test would be a final
examination administered by a teacher in a classroom or an I.Q. test
administered by a psychologist in a clinic.
Standardized tests
A standardized test is any test that is administered and
scored in a consistent manner to ensure legal defensibility.
Standardized tests are often used in education, professional
certification, psychology, the military, and many other fields.

A standardized test:
(1)
requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a
selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same
way, and
(2)
is scored in a standard manner, which makes it possible to
compare the relative performance of individual students or groups
of students.
A non-standardized test is flexible in format, variable
in difficulty and significance. Since these tests are developed by
individual instructors, the format and difficulty of these tests may
not be widely used by other instructors or institutions. A nonstandardized test may be used to determine the proficiency level of
students and to motivate students to study. In some instances, a
teacher may develop non-standardized tests that resemble
standardized tests.
In contrasts to non-standardized tests, standardized
tests are widely used, fixed in terms of scope, difficulty and
format, and are usually significant in consequences. Standardized
tests are usually held on fixed dates as determined by the test
developer, educational institution, or governing body, which may or
may not be administered by the instructor, held within the
classroom, or constrained by the classroom period.
A test may be developed and administered by an
instructor, a governing body, or a test provider. In some instances,
the developer of the test may not be directly responsible for its
administration.
Often, the format and difficulty of the test is dependent
upon the educational philosophy of the instructor, subject matter,
class size, policy of the educational institution, and requirements of
accreditation or governing bodies. In general, tests developed and
administered by individual instructors are non-standardized whereas
tests developed by testing organizations are standardized
Any test with important consequences for the
individual test taker is referred to as a high-stakes test. Highstakes testing is a term that was first used in the 1980s to describe
testing programs that have serious consequences for students or
educators. Tests are high-stakes if their outcomes-determine such
important things as promotion to the next grade, graduation, merit
pay for teachers, or school rankings reported in a newspaper. When
test results have serious consequences, the requirements for
evidence of test validity are correspondingly higher.
Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of
educational purposes. For example, they may be used to place
students in different academic programs or course levels, or to
award diplomas
and other educational certificates.

The following are representative examples of the most

common standardized tests:
Achievement tests are designed to measure the knowledge and skills
of students to determine the academic progress they have made over
a period of time.
Aptitude tests attempt to predict a students ability to succeed in an
intellectual or physical endeavor by, for example, evaluating
language proficiency, abstract reasoning, motor coordination, or
musical talent. Aptitude tests are forward-looking" in that they
typically attempt to forecast or predict how well students will do in
a future educational or career setting.
College-admissions tests are used in the process of deciding which
students will be admitted to a collegiate program. While there is a
great deal of debate about the accuracy and utility of collegeadmissions tests, and many institutions of higher education no
longer require applicants to take them, the tests are used as
indicators of intellectual and academic potential, and some may
consider them predictive of how well an applicant will do in
postsecondary program.
International-comparison tests are administered periodically to
representative samples of students in a number of countries,
including the United States, for the purposes of monitoring
achievement trends in individual countries and comparing
educational performance across countries. (TIMSS).
Psychological tests, including IQ tests, are used to measure a
person's cognitive abilities and mental, emotional, developmental,
and social characteristics. Trained professionals, such as school
psychologists, typically administer the tests, which may require
students to perform a series of tasks or solve a set of problems.
Psychological tests are often used to identify students with learning
disabilities or other special needs that would qualify them for
specialized services.

L e c t u re 2 . L a n g u a g e Tes t i n g
L a n g u a g e t e s t i n g ( i n t rod u c t o ry n ot e s )

L a n g u a g e Tes t i n g is the study of how individual uses a particular

language. It tests proficiency and effectiveness of use. The assessment is
useful when applied to ability to communicate in schools and the
workplace.
"Language Testing is the practice and sludy of evaluating the proficiency
of an individual in using a particular language effectively."
Language assessment or language testing is a field of study under the
umbrella of applied linguistics. Its main focus is the assessment of first,
second or other language in the school, college, or university context;
assessment of language use in the workplace; and assessment of language
in the immigration, citizenship, and asylum contexts. The assessment may
include listening, speaking, reading, writing, an integration of two or more
of these skills, or other constructs of language ability. Equal weight may
be placed on knowledge (understanding how the language works
theoretically) and proficiency (ability to use the language practically), or
greater weight may be given to one aspect or the other.
T h e h i s t o ry o f t e s t i n g
The history of testing can be traced back a long way. Play is one of the
basic phenomena constituting the human condition and in play humans
compete against each other and test their abilities. Game and play reveal
the positive aspect of testing from the testees perspective, which is often
forgotten. However, testing in its broader sense is part of our everyday
life. In playful activities, we learn to set and achieve goals, to enjoy
victory as well as to cope with defeat.
Accounts of language testing can be found throughout the history of
mankind. Probably the first evidence is found in the Old Testament, when
the Gileads use a Shibboleth to distinguish between friends and enemies.
This story also indicates that, in testing, there is always a standard people
are expected to meet. In this case, it was the standard of being able to
pronounce the word shibboleth correctly.
The beginning of language testing dates back more than two millennia and
for certain purposes, people have always relied 011 certain l a n gu a g e t e s t s .
This story also indicates that, in testing, there is always a standard people
are expected to meet. In this case, it was the standard of being able to
pronounce the word shibboleth correctly.
The history of modern language testing, however* is relatively young.
The growing demand for soldiers with foreign language skills due to World
War I caused the US army to develop the Army Alpha tests as a tool to
measure peoples linguistic abilities. Nevertheless, it was not until the
1940s, that language testing became an object for scientific research, with
R o b e r t L a d o s Measurement in English as a Foreign Language in 1949
in the field of language testing.
Robert Lado went on to do further research and in 1961 presented his
views in Language Testing. His approach promoted a concept of testing
which was reinforced by theory and practice within psychometrics. It is
based 011 the assumption that the four basic language skills listening,

reading, writing and speaking are independent from one another and can
therefore be assessed separately.
In contrast to this, the notion of integrative testing acknowledges the fact
that mastery of a languages formal system alone is not enough. For this
reason, integrative tests aim at adding a context-specific component to the
purely de-contextualized testing format. Typical tasks include essay
writing (e.g. as a response to a given statement) as well as an oral
interview. These tests may thus reflect natural linguistic behavior more
accurately and feature a more appropriate theoretic approach,
In the late 1970s, J o h n O i l e r proposed the so-called pragmatic tests 011
the basis of his Unitary Competence Hypothesis. He was convinced that
language proficiency was indivisible and could not be tested in part.
Pragmatic testing formats, such as close tests or dictation, related to
language proficiency as a unitary concept and thus reflected language
ability more aptly.
The earliest large scale assessment in the US was the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) that was launched in 1961 by Educational Testing, Service, ETS,
Princeton, New Jersey. This test was designed to assess the English language ability of
students applying for admission to US and Canadian colleges and universities. This test,
which is used widely around the world, is still in use although it is now only available in
the internet-based format.
111. C o m m u n i c a t i v e l a n g u a g e t e s t i n g
The C o m m u n i c a t i v e Tes t i n g a p p r o a c i i , first formulated by Canale and Swain
and took into account the interactive, direct and authentic nature of language. With
regard to actual testing, this means that we should aim at providing candidates with
authentic stimuli and tasks as well as testing them while they are engaged in some sort
of communication, be it active or passive.
As for the theory of Communicative Testing, Canale and Swain divided general
language competence into four sub-competencies: grammatical competence, strategic
competence, discourse competence and sociolinguistic competence, a concept which
was elaborated by Lyle Bachman in 1990 and revised by Bachman and Palmer in 1996.
Their model holds that general language knowledge consists of two sub-domains,
organizational knowledge including grammatical and textual knowledge on the one
hand, and pragmatic knowledge including functional and sociolinguistic knowledge on
the other.
Communicative language testing dominates the field and it is Bachman and Palmers
concept which "has been accepted as the definition of language competence used by
testers that is often used as a basis for test construction although it lacks empirical
evidence.
Portfolio evaluation, observation and simulation are used in language testing (it is
called alternative assessment) which holds that a persons language skills cannot be
sufficiently assessed by a single test as general language ability is complex. Even the
best test can only hint at what the testee can really do. Therefore, multiple assessment
procedures are needed so that a broader and more valid language perspective can be
sampled.
Communicative language tests are intended to be a measure of how the testees use
language in real life situations.

They test productive skills and receptive skills.

In testing productive skills, emphasis is placed on appropriateness rather than on ability
to form grammatically correct sentences.
In testing receptive skills, emphasis is placed on understanding the communicative
intent of the speaker or writer rather than on picking out specific details.
And, in fact, the two are often combined in communicative testing, so that the testee
must both comprehend and respond in real time. In real life, the different skills are not
often used in isolation. Students in a class may listen to a lecture, but they later need to
use information from the lecture in a paper. In taking part in a group discussion, they
need to use both listening and speaking skills. Even reading a book for pleasure may be
followed by recommending it to a friend and telling the friend why you liked it.
Few tests are completely communicative; many tests have some elements of
communicativeness. For example, a test in which testees listen to an utterance on a tape
and then choose from among three choices the most appropriate response is more
communicative than one in which the testees answer a question about the meaning of
the utterance. The tests when the testees are face- to-face with the interlocutor (rather
than listening to a tape) and are required to produce an appropriate response are more
communicative.
Communicative tests are often very context-specific.
A test for testees who are going to British universities as students would be very
different from tests for testees who are going to the company's branch office in the
United States.
If at all possible, a communicative language test should be based on a description of the
language that the testees need to use. Though communicative testing is not limited to
English for Specific Purposes situations, the test should reflect the communicative
situation in which the testees are likely to find themselves. In cases where the testees do
not have a specific purpose, the language that they are tested on can be directed toward
general social situations where they might be in a position to use English.
This basic assumption influences the tasks chosen to test language in communicative
situations. A communicative test of listening, then, would test not whether the testee
could understand what the utterance, "Would you mind putting the groceries away
before you leave" means, but place it in a context and see if the testee can respond
appropriately to it.
If students are going to be tested over communicative tasks in an achievement test
situation, it is necessary that they be prepared for that kind of test, that is, that the course
material cover the sorts of tasks they are being asked to perform. For example, you
cannot expect testees to correctly perform such functions as requests and apologies
appropriately and evaluate them on it if they have been studying from a structural
syllabus. Similarly, if they have not been studying writing business letters, you cannot
expect them to write a business letter for a test.
Tests intended to test communicative language are judged, then, on the extent to which
they simulate real life communicative situations rather than on how reliable the results
are. In fact, there is an almost inevitable loss of reliability as a result of the loss of
control in a communicative testing situation. It, tor example, a test is intended to test the
ability to participate in a group discussion for students who are going to a British
university, it is impossible to control what the other participants in the discussion will
say, so not every testee will be observed in the same situation, which would be ideal lor

test reliability. However, according to the basic assumptions of communicative language

testing, this is compensated for by the realism of the situation.
There is necessarily a subjective element to the evaluation of communicative tests. Real
life situations don't always have objectively right or wrong answers, and so band scales
need to be developed to evaluate the results. Each band has a description of the quality
(and sometimes quantity) of the receptive or productive performance of the testee.
L e c t u r e 3 . E d u c a t i o n a l s t a n d a r d s i n f o r e i g n l a n g u a g e l e ar n i n g
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment, abbreviated as CEFR or CEF, is a guideline used to describe achievements
of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries (for
example, Colombia and the Philippines). It was put together by the Council of Europe
as the main part of the-project "Language Learning for European Citizenship" between
1989 and 1996. Its main aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing
which applies to all languages in Europe. In November 2001 a European Union Council
Resolution recommended using the CEFR to set up systems of validation of language
ability. The six reference levels are becoming widely accepted as the European standard
for grading an individual's language proficiency.
In 1991 the Swiss Federal Authorities held an Intergovernmental Symposium in
Ruschlikon, Switzerland, on "Transparency and Coherence in Language Learning in
Europe: Objectives, Evaluation, Certification". This symposium found that a common
European framework for languages was needed to improve the recognition of language
qualifications and help teachers cooperate, eventually leading to improved
communication and cooperation among language teachers in Europe.
As a result of the symposium, the Swiss National Science Foundation set up a project to
develop levels of proficiency, to lead on to the creation of a "European Language
Portfolio" - certification in language ability which can be used across Europe.
A preliminary version of the Manual for Relating Language Examinations to the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was published in
2003. This draft version was piloted in a number of projects, which included linking a
single test to the CEFR, linking suites of exams at different levels, and national studies
by exam boards and research institutes. Practitioners and academics shared their
experiences at a colloquium in Cambridge in 2007 and the pilot case studies and
findings were published in Studies in Language Testing (SiLT). The findings from the
pilot projects then informed the Manual revision project during 2008/09.
The CEFR adopts an action-oriented approach that, according to Carlos Cesar Jimenez
of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, can be traced back to theoretical
proposals made by philosophers of language such as Ludwig Wittgenstein in the 1950s
and sociolinguists such as Dell Hvmes. The approach regards language users as social
agents who develop general and particular communicative competences while trying to
achieve their everyday goals.
The CEFR divides general competences in knowledge (descriptive knowledge), skills,
and existential competence with particular communicative competences in linguistic
competence, sociolinguistic competence, and pragmatic competence. This division does
not exactly match previously well-known notions of communicative competence, but
correspondences among them can be made.
General and particular communicative competences are developed by producing or
receiving texts in various contexts under various conditions and constraints. These

contexts correspond to various sectors of social life that the CEFR calls domains. Four
broad domains are distinguished: educational, occupational, public, and personal.
A language user can develop various degrees of competence in each of these domains
and to
The I n t e r n a t i o n a l E n g l i s h L a n g u a g e Tes t i n g Sy s t e m , or I E LTS , is an
international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English
language speakers.
It is jointly managed by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council
and IDP Education Pvt Ltd, and was established in 1989. IELTS is one of the two major
English-language tests in the world, the other being the TOEFL.
I D P E d u c a t i o n is one of the world's leading international education organisations
offering student placement in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.
IDP Education has 45 years' experience in international higher education and has
successfully placed over 400,000 international students all over the world.
IDP has more than 80 offices in 31 countries and 550 trained counsellors.
IDP is also a co-owner of the world's most popular high stakes English language test IELTS. More than 2.2 million IELTS tests were undertaken around the world in 2013
and over 9000 organisations rely on IELTS including governments for migration
assessment, universities for admissions and employers and professional registration
bodies.
IELTS Australia Pty Ltd manages a network of more than 200 IELTS test centres in
over 35 countries. There are over 1000 IELTS test centres globally. IDP Australia
partners with University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and the British Councilfor
IELTS tests.
There are two versions of the IELTS: the A c a d e mi c Ver s i o n and the G e n e r a l
Tra i n i n g Ver s i o n :
T h e Ac a d e mi c Ver s i o n is intended for those who want to enroll in universities and
other institutions of higher education and for professionals such as medical doctors and
nurses who want to study or practise in an English-speaking country.
T h e G e n e r a l Tra i n i n g Ver s i o n is intended for those planning to undertake nonacademic training or to gain work experience, or for immigration purposes.
IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South
African academic institutions, over 3,000 academic institutions in the United States, and
various professional organizations across the world. It is also a requirement for
immigration to Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, IELTS, TEF, or CELPIP are
accepted by the immigration authority.
No minimum score is required to pass the test.
An IELTS result or Tes t R e p o r t F o r m is issued to all candidates with a score from
"band 1" ("non-user") to "band 9" ("expert user") and each institution sets a different
threshold.
There is also a "band 0" score for those who did not attempt the test. Institutions are
advised not to consider a report older than two years to be valid, unless the user proves
that he has worked to maintain his level.
Therefore, if you score 6.5 in the Listening Sub-test 5 in the Reading Sub-test 7 in the
Writing Sub-test and 6 in the Speaking Sub-test Your total score is 24.5
By averaging the scores (dividing the total score 24.5 by 4) in the example above, you
would achieve an Overall Band Score of 6.0 (which is 6.125 rounded down).

You will usually receive your results within two weeks of the date of your test.
If you want to take the examination again, you must wait a minimum of three months,
yet there is no limit to the number of times you can sit for the IELTS examination.
In 2007, IELTS tested over a million candidates in a single 12-month period for the first
time ever, making it the world's most popular English language test for higher education
and immigration. In theory tests performed on native English speakers must show 9.0
results in 100%. However, this result has never been achieved.
In 2009, 1.4 million candidates took the IELTS test in over 130 countries, in 2011 there
were 1.7 million candidates whereas in 2012, 2 million candidates were tested.
The IELTS incorporates the following features:
A variety of accents and writing styles have been presented in test materials in order to
minimize linguistic bias.
IELTS tests the ability to listen, read, write and speak in English.
Band scores are used for each language sub-skill (Listening, Reading, Writing, and
Speaking). The Band Scale ranges from 0 ("Did not attempt the test") to 9 ("ExpertUser").
The speaking module is a key component of IELTS.
It is conducted in the torm of
a oneto-one interview with an examiner. The examiner assesses the candidate as he or she is
speaking, but the speaking session is also recorded for monitoring as well as re-marking
in case of an appeal against the banding given.
IIELTS is developed with input from item writers from around the world. Teams are
located in the USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other Englishspeaking nations.