IELTS Research Reports

Glenys MerrifieldThe United Kingdom is a particularly strong market for IELTS, and stakeholder satisfaction is evidentin the fact that association staff are knowledgeable about the test and its outcomes, and sufficientlyconfident of its reliability to use it exclusively as their English language assessment benchmark.Associations which specified IELTS as the only acceptable language assessment system and thosewhich processed high numbers of applicants tended to have a more detailed knowledge of the test andthe band scores.European legislation which exempts European nationals from language assessment has posed aproblem for many of the UK and Irish associations. As language testing has now been largely devolvedto employers, this is a potentially new market for IELTS in the UK and Ireland. In addition, if thereshould be review of European Union legislation on language testing, it would be in the interests of theIELTS partners to lobby policymakers to position IELTS as the major international English languagetesting system accepted.Canada is a growing market for the IELTS, which has been challenging the more traditional TOEFLand TOEIC tests in the country. Associations are becoming more familiar with IELTS and what theband scores signify, and are developing trust in the system and the outcomes. Security is also a highpriority, particularly for the health professions. Provincial regulatory bodies can be targeted withinformation packages and seminars to assist them in decision-making on standards and to furtherfamiliarise them with IELTS.Providers were generally clear in their understanding of the general day-to-day communicationpatterns between professionals and those with whom they would come into contact. However, none ofthe respondents was able to reference any in-depth research into the language skills required to operateeffectively in the profession which they represented. Given that this is a relatively new use of IELTS,it may be to the advantage of the IELTS partners to develop a body of research which could then feedinto the writing of content and questions for future tests.For some associations, there appears to be a lack of understanding of the difference between theGeneral Training Module and the Academic Module. Education and information packages would gosome way towards remedying this issue, which constitutes a risk for both associations and IELTS.The most common attitude of participants in this study tended to be that IELTS was designed and runby professionals in the field of linguistics and language assessment, and as long as it was working forthe associations, it was an effective tool and they would continue to work with it.62 www.ielts.org