IELTS Research Reports

Gaynor Lloyd-Jones, Charles Neame and Simon MedaneyNo clear consensus emerged amongst Course Directors about the predictive relationship betweenentry test scores and subsequent academic progress. A minority of Course Directors were outspokenlysceptical of inferring too much from a single test score and the majority could quote narratives ofstudents where there was little correlation between English entry test scores and academic outcomes.This was true whether test scores were high or low. In describing selection rationales, Course Directorsfrequently referred to their own experience and sometimes of their colleagues, for instance, of studentsfrom a particular country or institution and this implicit knowledge appeared to play a considerablepart in selection decisions. Selection decisions represented balanced judgments encompassing a varietyof criteria which were considered in the round rather than singly or in isolation. In summary, thereported behaviour of Course Directors was congruent with that of Admissions Tutors in Banerjee’sstudy (1995) and with the inconclusive results of studies of the relationship between English tests andacademic outcomes.Course Director’s knowledge of English tests and structure varied amongst the interviewees but onlyone expressed interest in learning more about the available tests of English language proficiency. Aminority of respondents were resistant to further development activities of this type, perceiving them asunnecessary. All Course Directors knew the institutional and School requirements for NNES applicants.Course Directors in SAS possessed less detailed knowledge of tests but such knowledge was redundantbecause linguist staff were responsible for making decisions on English language competence. Thesefindings echo the findings in studies by Coleman et al (2003), Rea-Dickins et al (2007) and O’Loughlin(2008) but in the current study Course Directors regarded their knowledge as sufficient to the task inhand. It therefore contests the assumption, in the context of the present study, that greater awarenessand knowledge of English will improve selection decisions and judgements. The findings in relation toCourse Director’s knowledge of English tests were congruent with the balanced judgement model ofdecision making and also reflected their view that a single test result contributed to, but did not solelydetermine, whether an offer should be made to an individual applicant.The generally poor view of NNES students’ writing abilities was evidence that test scores, evenwhen in line with entry requirements, were no guarantee that a student could write satisfactorily in anacademic genre, particularly for extended texts such as the thesis. Because of this issue, the assessmentof writing skills was a matter of concern but one for which nobody had a clear solution. Whilst aselection interview provides useful information about oral skills, it does not contribute to assessmentsof writing skills. Student SAS2 from the Summer Programme whose English language was assessedby interview and was later suspected of having a learning disability exemplifies the attendant risksof some current practices. However, the assessment of writing skills is easier said than done when itis remembered that application forms, submitted papers or prepared texts are subject to questions ofauthenticity. The attempts of some Course Directors to engage students in electronic interaction orspontaneous writing exemplify their unease about assessments of writing. Writing assessment wasanother instance where Course Directors would resort to implicit knowledge and experience about anapplicant’s former educational background and HEI as evidence in selection decisions.There was also ample evidence that Course Directors had responded to the present situationthrough the consideration and introduction of many modifications to their courses in order to ensureearly identification of students most at risk and to facilitate students’ writing skills early on in theprogramme. The outcomes of these initiatives were mixed. The introduction of a portfolio with aninitial literature review was reported as having improved students’ writing skills. On other courses,there had been less success. There was only one course where the opportunities for writing text, priorto the thesis, were limited and which might be contributory to the occasional poorly written thesis.174 www.ielts.org