IELTS Research Reports

Learning to play the ‘classroom tennis’ well:IELTS and international students in teacher educationMoreover, Elder has elaborated on a ‘partially indicative’(Elder, 1994b, p 10) inventory derived fromEllis (in Elder, 1994b, p 6ff) of typical teacher tasks in terms of language use. These are derived fromstudies of L2 teachers, and therefore aimed specifically at the teaching of a language and addressteacher use of the target language. They include medium-oriented interactions, message-orientedinteractions, activity-oriented interactions, interactions which create a framework within whichteaching can take place and extra-classroom language use. LBOTE teachers operating in Englishand teaching subject content in a number of curriculum areas are not focused on medium-orientedinteractions to the same degree as L2 teachers, however other areas of the inventory are usefullysuggestive for considering the tasks which LBOTE teachers have to address while teaching subjectcontent in a language which is not their L1. These tasks include:■■■■■■■■message-oriented interactions: e.g. explaining, categorising, labelling, presentinginformation, narratingactivity-oriented interactions: e.g. giving instructionsframework interactions: e.g. directing, disciplining, explaining, questioning, responding,rephrasingextra-classroom language use: e.g. selecting and preparing material, simplifying texts,writing memos, talking to parents, reading professional development material, attendingprofessional development seminars (Elder, 1994b, pp 6-9)In Australia the history of providing teacher-specific language-proficiency scales has tended to belargely related to proficiency for prospective teachers of foreign languages rather than of the Englishlanguage proficiency of international student-teachers across the full range of curriculum areas (Elder1993c; Elder, 1994a, 199b; Elder et al, 1994; Wylie and Ingram, 1995a, 1995b; Iwashita and Elder,1997; Consolo, 2006). However, there do exist in Australia two quite widely used scales of Englishlanguage proficiency focusing specifically on the language of the classroom and the proficienciesassumed to be needed in that context. Both are for teachers fully or partly trained overseas who areseeking registration in Australia and both test the usual four macro-skills (reading, writing, speakingand listening). One of these tests is the version of the International Second Language ProficiencyRating (ISLPR) for teacher professional registration (cf ISLPR nd). In this test, speaking skills arejudged throughout an interview on education-related topics, including the socialisation of youngpeople. Some tests may include a simulation in which candidates take on the role of a teacherinteracting with a student (the tester) about some aspect of the educational process (e.g. classroombehaviour). Listening is related to texts on education and the socialisation of young people, whichmay be news stories, news commentaries, interviews, talk-back, documentary material, communityannouncements or advertisements. The reading test is selected from curriculum materials (e.g.syllabuses or text-books), research reports, material from the media or professional journals (e.g. newsstories, editorials, ‘letters to the editor’, columnists’ opinions, feature stories), community information(e.g. brochures), advertisements or material related to conditions of employment (e.g. newslettersfrom an employer or union). Candidates are also asked to read aloud a short text, which is likelyto be a school notice delivered to the classroom, or a self-contained section of a textbook or a ‘bigbook’ (depending on the candidate’s teaching specialisation). The writing test in one section posits anaudience of students, parents, colleagues or other members of the immediate school community, orofficers in the education system. A second task is to write a memo, report, article or open letter (e.g.a letter to the editor of a newspaper) in which candidates will be expected to express opinions abouteducation or the socialisation of young people (ISLPR nd).IELTS Research Reports Volume 1187