IELTS Research Reports

Wayne Sawyer and Michael Singh‘visible’ by this test. The particular test picks up comprehension and interpretation problems and alsoreveals some students who have been out of the academic milieu for a while.Another Faculty threw into focus some of the problems with internal testing:Until two years ago, we were able to use an oral proficiency test that was designed as partof a research project. So it is a validated instrument and it produced reliable results. Westarted to get more and more international students, but (the) only … person organising andconducting the test… started to get exhausted. We simply couldn’t find the time to do (thetest). We were often doing these interviews by phone to places like Hong Kong and Japan,coming in all sorts of hours to assist the students who were there. The Dean decided that (it)was a workload issue, and we just had to stop.The details of this internal test are worth noting:■■■■■■■■■■■■■■it contained material from students’ subject specialisms (‘What does the diagram show?What topic would you be teaching about using this text? What knowledge do you haveabout this topic?’)students were given 15 minutes for preparation, during which time they were alsoasked to think about an issue about which they wanted to ask the two assessors(e.g. classroom management)this issue was discussed and then students were asked to summarise the academics’responses and to ask further clarifying questionsstudents were assessed on this discussion and on the subject-specific discussion in termsof both speaking and listeningthe two raters moderated their resultsscoring system: doesn’t need any support; needs some support; needs moderate support;needs a significant amount of support - those in the last category would not survive inthe courseoccasionally, a writing assessment task was also required if a student was regardedas ‘borderline’.This test is an example of an interesting and well-targeted response to the issue of student testing ifissues of academic workload can be addressed. One other Faculty had conducted interviews in thepast with all prospective students, but has had to cut this back to now interviewing only internationalstudents and only those whose applications in some way suggest they might need extra support.7.4 What interventions have you put into place to support these students in termsof English language proficiency? How have these been funded?In one Faculty, students are tested during orientation, and this is followed by the provision ofacademic seminars for students identified as in need. Seminars are run by the Learning AssistanceUnit and tend to focus on: reading skills, interpretation/analysis, writing, using evidence and a coursefocused on spoken language in teaching. Students identified on the screening test also have sixtyhours of mentoring by fellow (local) students, who undertake this mentoring as part of a professionalexperience unit. ‘Spoken language and teaching’ is a module taught after their first (stand-alone) weekon practicum. Classes discuss the language they saw on practicum and role-play scenarios. Thesesessions are compulsory for all mentors and mentees. The strongest parts of this program, the108 www.ielts.org