IELTS Research Reports

Wayne Sawyer and Michael Singhstandard changes nothing. One academic felt that ‘7’was not adequate because students already at thatscore were not being set up for success. Thus the question for this group also became, ‘What does theIELTS test mean?’In particular, if students are coached to pass it, what does it represent in terms oflanguage ability? It becomes a hurdle to jump, they argue, not a reliable picture of actual ability.8 DISCUSSIONThe literature on language testing and teacher education – particularly the work of Elder – suggestssome important principles in relation to language testing in teacher education. Elder (1993a, p 237)has identified the following ‘desirable features of teacher communication’:■■■■■■■■■■■■■■intelligibilityfluencyaccuracycomprehensionuse of subject-specific languageuse of the language of classroom interactionoverall communication effectivenessIn addition, she has usefully elaborated on a ‘partially indicative’(Elder, 1994b, p 10) inventoryderived from Ellis (in Elder, 1994b, p 6ff) of typical teacher tasks in terms of language use.These include:■■■■■■■■message-oriented interactions: e.g. explaining, categorising, labelling, presentinginformation, narratingactivity-oriented interactions e.g. giving instructionsframework interactions: e.g. directing, disciplining, explaining, questioning, responding,rephrasingextra-classroom language use: e.g. selecting and preparing material, simplifying texts,writing memos, talking to parents, reading professional development material, attendingprofessional development seminars (Elder, 1994b, pp. 6-9)Moreover, Elder (1994a) has indicated the importance of taking account of discipline-specificcompetence in testing language – in the case of teacher education, recognising that languagecompetence involves creating the necessary conditions for classroom learning to take place,which may, for example, necessitate simplifying language in the real-world situation. The needfor subject-specific language support was also highlighted by the participants in Hyatt and Brooks(2009, pp 46-47, 54-55).To Elder’s lists should be added the aspects of language identified by our interviewees. The rangeof English language skills needed by LBOTE teachers was identified by our cohort of studentinterviewees as including:■■■■■■becoming familiar with colloquial language and the Australian idiom - both with respectto their fellow (local) students and with respect to their practicum pupilsthe academic English demands of their course, anddifferences of accent and pronunciation.118 www.ielts.org