Introductory lecture
The aim of the discipline: the main aim of the discipline is broaden and systematize the
knowledge of graduates on the international system of testing, some information on the
main international exams based on standardized testing (First Certificate in English
(FCE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), Certificate of Proficiency in English
(CPE), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Test of English as a
foreign language (TOEFL) with particular focus on IELTS.
Background to the course
In our globalised world, being able to speak one or more foreign languages is a
prerequisite, as employers on a national as well as on an international scale pay
attention to the foreign language skills of their future employees, focusing mostly on
English which is still the undisputed lingua franca of the modern work force; even
despite the European Councils attempts to further the diversity of languages.
Needless to say that for millions of learners around the world the ability to
communicate in English is the passport to economic prosperity, social mobility and
educational advancement. So, to increase their chances on the job-market, they devote
both time and money to having their English language skills assessed and attested.
Some facts about the role of English as a global language
English has now achieved global status. Whenever we turn on the news to find out
what's happening in East Asia, or the Balkans, Africa, or South America, practically
anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English. To
illustrate the point when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Middle East and addressed
Christians, Muslims and Jews, he spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Italian, not Hebrew,
not his native Polish but English.
English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is
the working language of the UN. It is the working language of 98 percent of
international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the
European Central Bank, though the bank is in Frankfurt.
Today 1.8 billion speakers use English. However, only 400 million of them can be
described as native speakers. This means that the number of other users of English has
multiplied at a rapid rate since Shakespeare's epoch. English plays an important role in
global relations because of the need for
countries to communicate with each other.
One of the more remarkable aspects of the spread of English around the world has been
the extent to which Europeans are adopting it as their lingua franca. English is spreading
from northern Europe to the south and is used as a second language in Sweden, Norway,
Netherlands and Denmark.
The role of motivation for learning English
The word motivation derived from a Latin word meaning to move. In common
usage motivation refers to a driving force that moves us to a particular action.
According to Oxford English
Dictionary, motivation is:
1. the reason or reasons behind ones actions or behavior.
2. enthusiasm.
*
A standardized test:
(1)
requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a
selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same
way, and
(2)
is scored in a standard manner, which makes it possible to
compare the relative performance of individual students or groups
of students.
A non-standardized test is flexible in format, variable
in difficulty and significance. Since these tests are developed by
individual instructors, the format and difficulty of these tests may
not be widely used by other instructors or institutions. A nonstandardized test may be used to determine the proficiency level of
students and to motivate students to study. In some instances, a
teacher may develop non-standardized tests that resemble
standardized tests.
In contrasts to non-standardized tests, standardized
tests are widely used, fixed in terms of scope, difficulty and
format, and are usually significant in consequences. Standardized
tests are usually held on fixed dates as determined by the test
developer, educational institution, or governing body, which may or
may not be administered by the instructor, held within the
classroom, or constrained by the classroom period.
A test may be developed and administered by an
instructor, a governing body, or a test provider. In some instances,
the developer of the test may not be directly responsible for its
administration.
Often, the format and difficulty of the test is dependent
upon the educational philosophy of the instructor, subject matter,
class size, policy of the educational institution, and requirements of
accreditation or governing bodies. In general, tests developed and
administered by individual instructors are non-standardized whereas
tests developed by testing organizations are standardized
Any test with important consequences for the
individual test taker is referred to as a high-stakes test. Highstakes testing is a term that was first used in the 1980s to describe
testing programs that have serious consequences for students or
educators. Tests are high-stakes if their outcomes-determine such
important things as promotion to the next grade, graduation, merit
pay for teachers, or school rankings reported in a newspaper. When
test results have serious consequences, the requirements for
evidence of test validity are correspondingly higher.
Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of
educational purposes. For example, they may be used to place
students in different academic programs or course levels, or to
award diplomas
and other educational certificates.
L e c t u re 2 . L a n g u a g e Tes t i n g
L a n g u a g e t e s t i n g ( i n t rod u c t o ry n ot e s )
reading, writing and speaking are independent from one another and can
therefore be assessed separately.
In contrast to this, the notion of integrative testing acknowledges the fact
that mastery of a languages formal system alone is not enough. For this
reason, integrative tests aim at adding a context-specific component to the
purely de-contextualized testing format. Typical tasks include essay
writing (e.g. as a response to a given statement) as well as an oral
interview. These tests may thus reflect natural linguistic behavior more
accurately and feature a more appropriate theoretic approach,
In the late 1970s, J o h n O i l e r proposed the so-called pragmatic tests 011
the basis of his Unitary Competence Hypothesis. He was convinced that
language proficiency was indivisible and could not be tested in part.
Pragmatic testing formats, such as close tests or dictation, related to
language proficiency as a unitary concept and thus reflected language
ability more aptly.
The earliest large scale assessment in the US was the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) that was launched in 1961 by Educational Testing, Service, ETS,
Princeton, New Jersey. This test was designed to assess the English language ability of
students applying for admission to US and Canadian colleges and universities. This test,
which is used widely around the world, is still in use although it is now only available in
the internet-based format.
111. C o m m u n i c a t i v e l a n g u a g e t e s t i n g
The C o m m u n i c a t i v e Tes t i n g a p p r o a c i i , first formulated by Canale and Swain
and took into account the interactive, direct and authentic nature of language. With
regard to actual testing, this means that we should aim at providing candidates with
authentic stimuli and tasks as well as testing them while they are engaged in some sort
of communication, be it active or passive.
As for the theory of Communicative Testing, Canale and Swain divided general
language competence into four sub-competencies: grammatical competence, strategic
competence, discourse competence and sociolinguistic competence, a concept which
was elaborated by Lyle Bachman in 1990 and revised by Bachman and Palmer in 1996.
Their model holds that general language knowledge consists of two sub-domains,
organizational knowledge including grammatical and textual knowledge on the one
hand, and pragmatic knowledge including functional and sociolinguistic knowledge on
the other.
Communicative language testing dominates the field and it is Bachman and Palmers
concept which "has been accepted as the definition of language competence used by
testers that is often used as a basis for test construction although it lacks empirical
evidence.
Portfolio evaluation, observation and simulation are used in language testing (it is
called alternative assessment) which holds that a persons language skills cannot be
sufficiently assessed by a single test as general language ability is complex. Even the
best test can only hint at what the testee can really do. Therefore, multiple assessment
procedures are needed so that a broader and more valid language perspective can be
sampled.
Communicative language tests are intended to be a measure of how the testees use
language in real life situations.
contexts correspond to various sectors of social life that the CEFR calls domains. Four
broad domains are distinguished: educational, occupational, public, and personal.
A language user can develop various degrees of competence in each of these domains
and to
The I n t e r n a t i o n a l E n g l i s h L a n g u a g e Tes t i n g Sy s t e m , or I E LTS , is an
international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English
language speakers.
It is jointly managed by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council
and IDP Education Pvt Ltd, and was established in 1989. IELTS is one of the two major
English-language tests in the world, the other being the TOEFL.
I D P E d u c a t i o n is one of the world's leading international education organisations
offering student placement in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.
IDP Education has 45 years' experience in international higher education and has
successfully placed over 400,000 international students all over the world.
IDP has more than 80 offices in 31 countries and 550 trained counsellors.
IDP is also a co-owner of the world's most popular high stakes English language test IELTS. More than 2.2 million IELTS tests were undertaken around the world in 2013
and over 9000 organisations rely on IELTS including governments for migration
assessment, universities for admissions and employers and professional registration
bodies.
IELTS Australia Pty Ltd manages a network of more than 200 IELTS test centres in
over 35 countries. There are over 1000 IELTS test centres globally. IDP Australia
partners with University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and the British Councilfor
IELTS tests.
There are two versions of the IELTS: the A c a d e mi c Ver s i o n and the G e n e r a l
Tra i n i n g Ver s i o n :
T h e Ac a d e mi c Ver s i o n is intended for those who want to enroll in universities and
other institutions of higher education and for professionals such as medical doctors and
nurses who want to study or practise in an English-speaking country.
T h e G e n e r a l Tra i n i n g Ver s i o n is intended for those planning to undertake nonacademic training or to gain work experience, or for immigration purposes.
IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South
African academic institutions, over 3,000 academic institutions in the United States, and
various professional organizations across the world. It is also a requirement for
immigration to Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, IELTS, TEF, or CELPIP are
accepted by the immigration authority.
No minimum score is required to pass the test.
An IELTS result or Tes t R e p o r t F o r m is issued to all candidates with a score from
"band 1" ("non-user") to "band 9" ("expert user") and each institution sets a different
threshold.
There is also a "band 0" score for those who did not attempt the test. Institutions are
advised not to consider a report older than two years to be valid, unless the user proves
that he has worked to maintain his level.
Therefore, if you score 6.5 in the Listening Sub-test 5 in the Reading Sub-test 7 in the
Writing Sub-test and 6 in the Speaking Sub-test Your total score is 24.5
By averaging the scores (dividing the total score 24.5 by 4) in the example above, you
would achieve an Overall Band Score of 6.0 (which is 6.125 rounded down).
You will usually receive your results within two weeks of the date of your test.
If you want to take the examination again, you must wait a minimum of three months,
yet there is no limit to the number of times you can sit for the IELTS examination.
In 2007, IELTS tested over a million candidates in a single 12-month period for the first
time ever, making it the world's most popular English language test for higher education
and immigration. In theory tests performed on native English speakers must show 9.0
results in 100%. However, this result has never been achieved.
In 2009, 1.4 million candidates took the IELTS test in over 130 countries, in 2011 there
were 1.7 million candidates whereas in 2012, 2 million candidates were tested.
The IELTS incorporates the following features:
A variety of accents and writing styles have been presented in test materials in order to
minimize linguistic bias.
IELTS tests the ability to listen, read, write and speak in English.
Band scores are used for each language sub-skill (Listening, Reading, Writing, and
Speaking). The Band Scale ranges from 0 ("Did not attempt the test") to 9 ("ExpertUser").
The speaking module is a key component of IELTS.
It is conducted in the torm of
a oneto-one interview with an examiner. The examiner assesses the candidate as he or she is
speaking, but the speaking session is also recorded for monitoring as well as re-marking
in case of an appeal against the banding given.
IIELTS is developed with input from item writers from around the world. Teams are
located in the USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other Englishspeaking nations.