IELTS Research Reports

Lynda TaylorCONCLUSIONOnce again, the contents of this latest volume of IELTS Research Reports illustrate the extent to whichIELTS continues to offer researchers fruitful ground for investigations of different types. The sixstudies reflect a range of situated language assessment contexts and address diverse research questions.In all cases, the studies offer valuable reviews and summaries of the recent literature in their area ofinvestigation and they demonstrate a variety of methodological approaches - all of which should be ofinterest and relevance to the wider research community. The methodological challenges and practicalconstraints encountered by the researchers, and the ways in which they resolved these, are particularlyenlightening. The discussion and results from each study help to broaden and enhance our understandingof the IELTS test and each report highlights avenues for further investigation and exploration.Researchers who are considering applying for future grant funding from IELTS Australia and The BritishCouncil may like to note some of the suggestions made, perhaps drawing on the methodologies andinstrumentation described in this volume to undertake similar studies in their own context.Finally, the studies published in Volume 11 are a good example of the collaboration which can beachieved between the IELTS test producers and members of the wider applied linguistics, languageeducation and language testing research communities as part of a joint commitment to sharing knowledgeand understanding not only about the quality and usefulness of IELTS but also about the nature andbusiness of language proficiency assessment more broadly.Dr Lynda TaylorIELTS Editor-in-Chief – University of Cambridge ESOL ExaminationsNovember 201020 www.ielts.org