IELTS Research Reports

Glenys Merrifield5.2 Summarising comments - the United KingdomAs was the case with Canada, eight of the ten UK registered professional bodies were involved inpublic health. Most had either conducted research or sought advice from language experts in order toestablish minimum standards of language proficiency in IELTS. Many were also guided by equivalentorganisations in-country or overseas, and some had attended a briefing session run by IELTS in aneffort to develop a better understanding of what the various band scores represented.There appeared to be a clear understanding by the UK associations about the importance of highquality communication skills, and many of the associations had conducted research into the languageneeds of their profession, although this was generally functionally based and driven by the need to setlanguage proficiency standards.5.2.1 Minimum IELTS band scoresTable 4 below sets out a comparison of IELTS test outcomes required by UK professional organisations.MinimumIELTS levelsGeneralTrainingModuleAcademicModuleListeningSpeakingWritingReadingOverallListeningSpeakingWritingReadingOverallBritishAcupunctureCouncilChartered Instituteof MarketingFaculty ofPublic HealthGeneral Dental Council- Dentists- Dental NursesGeneral MedicalCouncil Professional Linguistic AssessmentBoard (PLAB)6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.56.5 6.5N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.06.06.55.56.56.06.56.0N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0The College of Optometrists 7.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.06.55.5Health Professions Council - Speechand Language Therapists - All otherprofessionsNursing andMidwifery CouncilN/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 8.07.07.56.57.56.57.56.5N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.07.56.5Royal Pharmaceutical Society of GB N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0Table 4. Minimum levels of achievement in IELTS required by professional associations andregistration bodies in the UK52 www.ielts.org