IELTS Research Reports

An empirical investigation of the process of writing Academic Readingtest items for the International English Language Testing SystemElizabeth UK1 AUS1 NZ1Successful items focus onkey points of the text andinvolve the strategies thatwould be used by a goodreader of that text.Clear keys; appropriatelevel; well-sequenced (ifappropriate); targetingsalient information, well cuedwithout giving the answeraway; written according toitem specific guidelines;independent; well writtensurrounding text (whenappropriate).Successful items are onesthat don't need to have a lotof work done on them afterthey have been submitted.-Ability to identify andevaluate texts from a varietyof academic subject areasand to exploit texts using thespecified item types.More successful writersfollow the guidelines, ensurethat their texts will yieldsufficient items before theybegin, have time to do thejob, pay meticulous attentionto detail, repeatedly prooftheir work, are good writersof English themselves, listenwell at meetings and haveclear headsHaving the knack of choosingthe right parts of the text totest; being helpful to otherwriters; knowing a good textwhen they see oneLess successful writersdo not satisfy some of thecriteria above and may havetheir own agenda about whatIELTS should test.I enjoy most aspects of thiswork, particularly the varietyof content.The texts are generally moreinteresting than other ELtexts, which makes it moreenjoyable looking for them.The task types are morevaried and there is somechoice; writing questions isless mechanical than it is forother papers.I enjoy editing texts;attending meetings; findinga good fit between text anditems. I dislike the fact thatI am not as good at writingitems as I would like to be.I enjoy the challenge offinding a suitable text, editingor adapting it, writing the bestitems possible, and workingwith a small and committedteam of like-mindedprofessionals who are verygood at what they do.There isn’t much I dislikeabout this paper!Finding the texts is mostchallenging. The rest isrelatively straightforwardthough teamwork isnecessary to produce goodworking items.Some task types aremore difficult to write thanothers; namely: summarycompletion, paragraphheadings and sentencecompletion with a box.Other task types are morestraightforward to write.Finding and editing texts isthe easy part.After the creative part is overit always feels tedious whenthe feedback comes backafter a considerable timelapse, to have to re-visit thecommission and input all therecommended changes.IELTS Research Reports Volume 11339