IELTS Research Reports

Lynda TaylorThe notion of consequential validity that developed during the 1990s found partial expression in theemergence of ethical standards and codes of practice. Examples of these include the Association ofLanguage Testers in Europe (ALTE) Code of Practice (1994), the AERA/APA/NCME Standardsin the US (1999), the International Language Testing Association’s (ILTA) Code of Ethics (2000),and the European Association of Language Testing and Assessment’s (EALTA) Guidelines for GoodPractice (2006) – all of which are available online. All these associations seek to make explicit theobligations of test producers with respect to the users of their tests; at the same time, they advocate ashared responsibility on the part of test users (i.e. learners, teachers, receiving institutions, employers,government agencies, etc) for the appropriate use of tests and test results. The overall aim is tomaximise positive test washback and impact, and to minimise any negative effects for individualsand for wider society.It was against this background that, following the last major IELTS revision in 1995, CambridgeESOL acknowledged the importance of conducting impact studies on IELTS, a high-stakes test with aninternational gate-keeping function. With support from the other IELTS partners, and with expert inputfrom specialists at the University of Lancaster, Cambridge initiated a long-term research agenda - theIELTS Impact Study – which established the investigation of impact as a priority for internally conductedand commissioned work as well as for externally funded studies. Attention focused on researchingvarious impact-related issues, including: stakeholder attitudes among key user groups; the use of testscores; the nature of score gains; and the provision of test preparation courses and materials. Outcomesfrom some of this research were published in Impact Theory and Practice by Roger Hawkey (2006),Volume 24 in the UCLES/CUP Studies in Language Testing series.Since 1995 a substantial number of impact-related research proposals have received grant-funding andother types of support from the IELTS partners; these too have contributed to a growing body of researchevidence that provides valuable insights into IELTS and consequential validity. Given the test’s largescalenature and its high-stakes gate-keeping role worldwide, accumulation of this body of evidenceis essential to confirm the extent to which the test is functioning as intended and to identify any issueswhich may need to be addressed. With the worldwide expansion of higher education and employmentopportunities for students and professionals, the IELTS candidature has grown exponentially since1995; in consequence, IELTS test preparation courses, teaching materials and other resources – oncequite limited in nature – have mushroomed beyond all expectations. A complex educational, socialand economic infrastructure has thus built up around the test and so the study of consequential validityremains a high priority for the IELTS partners.The remaining studies in Volume 11 explore issues of construct validity within specific componentsof the IELTS test – Academic Reading and Writing. Two of the three studies investigate the cognitiveprocesses engaged in by test takers when completing the reading and writing test tasks, while the thirdstudy reports insights into the process of creating test items and tasks for the Academic Reading module.This work builds on earlier cognitive validity studies for IELTS (see Volumes 6, 7 and 9) but it alsobreaks new ground by exploring the very nature of the test-writing process itself and the complex factorsthat shape the creation of appropriate tasks and test items for the IELTS Reading module.The Academic Reading and Writing variants of IELTS have their roots in the earlier ELTS test (theEnglish Language Testing Service) of the 1980s. From 1989 onwards IELTS continued the traditionof subdividing the overall language proficiency construct for operational test administration purposesinto the 4 main components of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, maintaining variants of theReading and Writing subtests oriented towards academic, university-based education. Over the past 20years, the individual skills-based modules have evolved in light of findings from the ongoing validationand research activities sponsored or undertaken by the IELTS partners (see, for example, Taylor andFalvey’s 2007 account of changes to the IELTS Speaking and Writing components). The modules havealso been revised to take account of advances in technology (e.g. computer-based testing), measurement8 www.ielts.org