IELTS Research Reports

Lynda TaylorTheir introduction and brief literature review conveniently highlight two important points regardingcurrent decision-making practices in this context. First, the literature appears to indicate two differentmodels of student selection. In one, the language requirement is treated as independent of other selectioncriteria, a simple accept-or-refuse decision with little attention paid to borderline cases. In the other,decision-making is richly complex with the final decision based upon multiple, interacting criteria.Which model was used appeared to depend partly on the context of use, perhaps dictated by the numbersof student applicants involved and the personnel resources available for the selection process. Secondly,the researchers identified a considerable variation in the test scores on English language proficiencymeasures accepted for university entry, both across and within higher education institutions. Theysuggest this may be due to contextual sensitivity to disciplinary, programme and institutional diversity, asrecommended by the IELTS partners, though they also acknowledge that it may result from the pressureacademic institutions find themselves under to recruit international students, sometimes leading to alowering of entry scores as a result.In terms of their research findings, Lloyd-Jones, Neame and Medaney found that the extensive varietyof selection procedures highlighted in the relevant literature was reflected within their own postgraduateinstitution. They suggest this variation derived from school affiliation and possibly former organisationalarrangements when there existed two separate campuses. While some parts of the institution dependedheavily on the outcome of formal English proficiency testing, others relied upon internal assessment bylinguist staff, e.g. through interviews, and still others operated a blend of the two approaches. Regardlessof school affiliation or programme, the researchers found evidence of complex decision-making inselection rationales built upon multiple and sometimes competing criteria, involving the integrationof language and academic abilities. In most cases, however, selection decisions were made on thebasis of several sources of evidence; they represented balanced judgements encompassing a variety ofcriteria considered in the round rather than singly or in isolation. The researchers explain their findingsin relation to several factors, including: contrasting approaches to selection between academic andadministration personnel, the former preferring complexity of judgement and the latter preferring asimpler and transparent system; the specific nature of the postgraduate applicant population, often olderand with richer background experience; the highly competitive nature of courses at this level meaningthat applicants were more likely to comply with entry requirements and borderline cases less frequent.The study comments that since postgraduate applicants differ substantially from the typical applicants forUK undergraduate courses, this, combined with questions of scale (i.e. fewer postgraduate applicants),may necessitate differing selection procedures and practices at the postgraduate level. Such insights areuseful for the IELTS partners when called upon to advise higher education institutions about how best touse IELTS scores when setting benchmark entry levels. While the study resonates with earlier findingsfrom joint-funded studies by Coleman et al (see Volume 5), Rea-Dickins et al (see Volume 7) andO’Loughlin (see Volume 8), it also questions the simple assumption that greater awareness or knowledgeabout English language proficiency assessment measures among the institution’s Course Directors willnecessarily result in better selection decisions and judgements.A key finding of this study was that test scores, even when in line with entry requirements, were noguarantee that a student could write satisfactorily in an academic genre, particularly for extended textssuch as the thesis. In this regard, it may be worth reflecting here that IELTS is primarily intended totest ‘readiness-to-enter’ the world of academic study; and though previous studies have identified ahealthy correspondence between features of the tasks of the IELTS Writing module and the writingtasks encountered by students during their academic studies (see Moore and Morton in IELTS ResearchReports, Volume 2, 1999), it might be unrealistic to expect the IELTS Writing test score to be a goodpredictor of writing ability at the highest level in a postgraduate context. Dissertation and thesis-writingskills will clearly need to be developed and refined during the course, according to the demands ofthe discipline area. Postgraduate students’ oral skills, on the other hand, did not appear to be a causefor concern.14 www.ielts.org