IELTS Research Reports

5 An empirical investigation of the process ofwriting Academic Reading test items for theInternational English Language Testing SystemAuthorsAnthony GreenRoger HawkeyUniversity of Bedfordshire, UKGrant awarded Round 13, 2007This study compares how trained and untrained item writers select and edit reading texts to makethem suitable for a task-based test of reading and how they generate the accompanying items.Both individual and collective test editing processes are investigated.ABSTRACTThis report describes a study of reading test text selection, item writing and editing processes, withparticular reference to these areas of test production for the IELTS academic reading test. Based onretrospective reports and direct observation, the report compares how trained and untrained item writersselect and edit reading texts to make them suitable for a task-based test of reading and how they generatethe accompanying items. Both individual and collective test editing processes are investigated.For Phase 1 of the study, item writers were invited to respond to a questionnaire on their academicand language teaching and testing background, experience of IELTS and comments on its readingmodule (see Appendix B). Two groups of participants were selected: four officially-trained IELTSitem writers (the experienced group) and three teachers of English for academic purposes who hadprepared students to take IELTS, but had no previous experience of item writing for the IELTSacademic reading module (the non-experienced group). In Phase 2 of the project both groups wereasked to select and prepare texts and accompanying items for an IELTS academic reading test, and tobring their texts and items to separate interview and focus group sessions. In the first of these sessions,participants were interviewed on how they had selected and edited their texts and how they hadgenerated the items. In a second session, the item writers worked in their two groups to further refinethe texts and items to make them more suitable for the test (as the trained item writers would normallydo in a test editing meeting).The analyses of the texts and accompanying items produced by each group, and of the discussions atall the Phase 2 sessions have produced valuable insights into the processes of text selection, adaptationand item writing. The differences observed between the experienced and non-experienced groups helpto highlight the skills required for effective item writing for the IELTS academic reading test, while atthe same time suggesting improvements that could be made to the item production process so that itmight more fully operationalise the IELTS reading construct.IELTS Research Reports Volume 11269