IELTS Research Reports

Introductionsuch as those by Moore, Morton and Price in the Australian context, and by Weir and his colleagues inthe UK, undoubtedly have important implications for the future development of the IELTS AcademicReading test.5 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PROCESS OF WRITING IELTS ACADEMICREADING TEST ITEMSThe study by Anthony Green and Roger Hawkey explores an aspect of the IELTS test that has so farreceived relatively little attention under the joint-funded research program. While a few previous studieshave focused on the characteristics of texts and test items, there has been little investigation of the actualprocesses that item writers go through in choosing texts and creating items, and the way these contributeto the quality of test material. This study thus breaks new ground for IELTS and is a welcome additionto the growing body of research relating to the Academic Reading test, complementing previous fundedresearch studies that have explored test content and design. Furthermore, this study helps to explainsome of the characteristics of the IELTS texts and the types of reading identified by the Weir et al studiespublished in IELTS Research Reports, Volume 9 (2009).Green and Hawkey investigated the text selection, item writing and editing processes involved in thedevelopment and production of material for the IELTS Academic Reading test. Using the methodologyof retrospective reports and direct observation, they set out to compare how trained and untrained itemwriters, both individually and collectively, select and edit reading texts to make them suitable for atask-based test of reading and how they generate the accompanying items. Both written (flowchart) andoral (interview and focus group) data were gathered on item writer processes and products (draft andedited reading texts and items), and both deductive and inductive approaches to analysis were employed.The investigation was useful in identifying differences across the item writer groups and also betweenindividuals within the groups. Both the experienced and non-experienced writers seemed to pass throughsimilar stages when selecting texts and constructing items, though the researchers noted that those inthe experienced group were able to articulate their experience more explicitly and in greater detail, andalso generated higher-quality test material. The latter group also manifested a repertoire of gambits forefficiently exploiting source texts and task types, including the willingness to confidently edit texts forreasons of accessibility or cultural neutrality, reshaping them as necessary to meet the requirements ofthe test items. The expertise of the experienced test writing group appears to have been significantlyinfluenced by their item writer training, by the item writer guidelines which guided their activity and bytheir collaborative approach during editing, which involved not only being able to freely critique eachother’s material but also make constructive proposals for improving another’s work.This study provides the field with some valuable insights into the processes of text selection, adaptationand item writing for a test of reading comprehension ability, as well as more generally into the natureof expertise. The differences observed between the experienced and non-experienced groups help tohighlight the skills that are required for effective item-writing. Overall, the researchers report beingfavourably impressed by the conscientiousness and professionalism of the trained IELTS item writersthat they interviewed and observed and by the quality of the texts and the items that they produced.This should be a source of encouragement for the IELTS test producers who have undertaken extensiveinvestment over the years to develop rigorous policy and procedures for item writer selection, trainingand monitoring; it also strengthens the view that such expertise is collective in nature, rather than residingin individuals, and it supports the IELTS partners’ decision to have IELTS item-writing teams basedin different parts of the English-speaking world.IELTS Research Reports Volume 1117