Whether IELTS Is a Reliable and Valid Assessment Procedure for International English Test - Essay Example

Three central issues concerning any assessment instrument, or assessment procedure, are its validity, reliability and ‘backwash’ effect. This paper is going to discuss whether IELTS is a reliable and valid assessment procedure for international English test and what impact does it have on teaching and learning English worldwide? Does the IELTS really measure what we believe it is measuring? Is the result a student gets on IELTS a good measure of their English language ability in whatever the test is testing? Content validity IELTS does test adequately cover the domain that it is trying to test. It is not only based entirely on a written paper. We might then argue that IELTS assessment is adequate covering the domain as set out in the need of using English. Construct validity For example, IELTS claims to claims to measure “English using ability”, it really measures the variable that is claiming to be measuring. Predictive validity Participants’ result on this test is a good predictor of what they will be able to do in the future. For example, if we use results in IELTS examinations to identify the English speaking ability a student is allowed to take at A-level or higher education, then we are assuming the IELTS examination has predictive validity. We are assuming that it gives us valid information about student’s ability as to which students are likely to succeed at a higher level and which are not. William (2003) also suggests that we should ask about the validity of the conclusions drawn from the results of a test itself. Concurrent validity Some people also use the term concurrent validity, A test is said to have concurrent validity if its results are congruent to results of another test (or perhaps other tests) of the same knowledge or skill. TOFEL is another test. Reliability Variability of marker’s judgment/ Variability of students’ performance (Would a student’s result be very different if they did the testy on another day, or only a little different? Does the choice of questions included in the test make a big difference to the results that students get, or only a small difference? ) / Repeated measures (Because no test is completely reliable, one way to improve the overall reliability of assessment is to assess every student on several occasions, and take an average. This trends to even out the effect of variation in scores on a single test, and lead to a more reliable overall assessment. Backwash effect teaching to the test is a well-recognised phenomenon, whereby teachers give emphasis (perhaps undue emphasis) to aspects of the domain that they think are more likely to be tested. Or they may spend a lot of time on exam preparation, including tips on exam technique – rather than on developing students’ understanding more generally. The more an examination is ‘high stakes’, the more likely teaching to the test is. Some people would argue that this is really a matter of validity. If a test is valid, and therefore is testing the things we deem to be the most important learning outcomes, then we would actually want teachers to teach to the test. It is worth noting that English is a universal language that is currently spoken by over 1500 million of the world populace with some using it as a first and others as a second language (Crystal, 2003). IELTS universal English test which is designed for non-native English speakers that was established in 1989. The bodies that manage the test are Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council and IDP Education Pvt Ltd that have strongly held to the values and principles of English. IELTS and TOEFL are absolutely the best and universally recognised English Language tests. IELTS, as a high-stake standardized test play a vital and critical part in defining the impending academic life of many generations. By undertaking these English tests, the candidates’ scores tend to show their broad ability level as well as pertinent indication in decision-making process that is deemed significant in picking candidates for career, giving certificates, and allowing people to get admission in higher education organization. IELTS is categorised into Academic and General Training versions depending on the purpose each version serves. The Academic Version whose main purpose is to test students who want to enrol in higher learning institutions as well as professionals interested in studying or practising in English- speaking countries. ? The General Training Version’s aim is to help individuals who plan to assume programs different from the academic ones and others who intend to gain work experience or intend to migrate to foreign countries. The English test is widely used in many parts of the world including academic institutions and migration offices in different countries such as America and UK. Success in IELTS does not require minimum score and results are issued to all candidates with scores ranging between band 1 and 9 and every organization comes up with individual’s threshold although candidates who do not attempt are awarded band 0 score. In line with the scores in IELTS, organizations are required to only take into consideration reports that are not older than two years because of validity issues unless the user proves that the English level has been maintained. IELTS was used in testing more than a million candidates in a one year period only in 2007 thus making it a worldwide English language test for students who want to get to higher learning institutions and immigrants. Moreover, there has been a significant increase of candidates taking part in IELTS with 2009 recording 1.4 million participants and 2012 recording over 2 million participants thus evidencing the popularity of the test across the world. It is therefore apparent that the English language test is of great significance among many people and institutions because of its usefulness in making some crucial decisions such as in immigration departments. IELTS test structure usually require that people undertaking IELTS undergo all the modules in order to achieve a band score that is shown in the Test Report Form. All candidates who go through IELTS must always be tested in listening and speaking tests. On the other hand, contents of both reading and writing depend on the form of IELTS the candidate undertakes because the purposes of the tests usually differ in each form of IELTS. Looking at listening module, it is clear that it comprises of four different parts whose complexity increases from one part to the other and every section may either be in monologue or dialogue form and the overall section takes 40 minutes including 30 minutes testing and 10 minutes for taking the completed answers to the answer sheet. Moreover, every section commences with a brief introduction describing the situation and the speakers involved in the test as well as a few minutes to peruse the queries. The first three modules usually have breaks between them, which enable users to consider other parts of the test even though every section has an opportunity of being heard once. Reading Academic module’s reading test is categorised into three with 3 texts containing 13 or 14 questions with an overall 40 questions. On the other hand, General test has three brief parts with almost up to 5 texts to read. Source texts in reading test are customised and well integrated into the EALTS to meet some of the most significant things being evaluated such as changing styles relations between texts and test items that are highly valued. Moreover, vital issues regarding text genuineness in tests are widened and the completed work is submitted for assessment. During the submission stage, which is also known as at the preliminary pre-reading meeting, direction is given candidates on how to revise their items and changing texts before issuing response on texts that are found to be incorrect and editing some of the work submitted hence playing a significant role in training (IELTS,2007a). Item writing requires a high-level training programs and thorough understanding of the instructions in order to qualify. In addition, training helps in equipping the item writers in different ways including the provision of technical abilities of language and styles required in the test (IELTS, 2007a, p.1). Usually, the texts appearing on the IELTS are credible sources that offer candidates with materials deemed vital in undertaking the test. The English language test has played an important role in decision-making process and therefore individuals undertaking the tests can always be evaluated on different issues even though there is a huge challenge experienced in setting the tests and producing the best material. However, despite the success of the IELTS process, some issues cannot be solved by it such as failure to test what candidates would do within a short period within the few months in college instead, it tests the ability of the students to cope in college. It is significant to collect ideas from different sources and identify other vital information regarding the test that relate to what students expect to learn in the university. Writing module offers candidates two distinct tasks where in the first instance, a student describes diagrams and in the second part, the candidate attempts to react to opinions. Usually, Training module involves two tasks including writing a letter or explaining a situation and writing an essay. While considering the reliability and legitimacy of the writing test, topics are never chosen. It is always required that examiners go through the writing task independently while concentrating more on the second task then after testing, writing scores and other scores are summed up then averaged to get the overall band. It is worth noting that in the past, writing test has usually shown high level of reliability which according to experts, has been achieved through training and certification of people who rate IELTS after every two years. Rating for the tests has experienced some inconsistencies especially for the inter-ratter and single ratter correlation (Shaw, 2004). There are always different types of feedback that can be received from the test depending on whether it is the paired examiner or senior examiner rating even though Blackhurst (2004) asserts that average correlation ascertained is almost .91. Mikan (2004) feels that it is indeed a challenging task to address the existing problem of inconsistency in rating tests thus making it hard to ascertain various degree of performance among candidates. For instance, written texts may not be appropriate because of some form of unfairness associated with it. As much as trustworthiness of rating is guaranteed, physical training and re-issuance of certificate procedure after every two years is also provided. Unceasing checking is always ensured to enhance the quality of writing and speaking modules as well as confidentiality while the chosen centres globally offer representatives that work together in assessing some of the work completed within a specific period in every test centre. Test behaviours and other evaluations are further carried out by senior examiners and thoroughly scrutinized for different things and issues for quality purposes before returning the scripts to the centers. In IELTS writing, the task 1 requires students to write according to the chart given, which, however, does not mean to list all the information. Instead, candidates need to describe the most significant characteristics shown in the chart as well as generalize its overall trend, exemplified by exam questions in 2013 IELTS test. For example, there appeared 15 tests on histograms including one with 24 sets of data which contain large amount of information with the change of the trend shown in all data as well as specific comparisons between data. Furthermore, in 9 tests on pie chart in 2013, there are 6 ones with simultaneous appearance of pie charts, which means that candidates have to not only clearly describe proportions of each part in each chart but also compare between data of different graphics including a description of multiple, addition and subtraction of data. In terms of writing the exam paper, there is a trend of writing "without skills" and "without templates". Confronted with any kinds of exams, candidates are accustomed to talking "test-taking skills" on and on, which includes both metal adjustment for the test and tips for answering specific questions. And from the 2013 test, it has been found that how to improve their own strength is the increasingly popular and most practical problem challenging the candidates. Speaking module comprises of three sub-sections including interview during where candidates may be asked about common things such as hobbies and reasons for taking IELTS and other general topics such as clothing but in the second section, students are normally issued with some topics with a minute of preparing before speaking about the given topic. The last part is about discussion that sees examiners asking the candidates questions that relate to what had previously discussed in the second part. This last section is more abstract and regarded as more challenging by the candidates and the candidate is evaluated on very technical areas of the English language such as grammatical usage and fluency; things that are done in preparation classes. The preparation classes’ courses are crucial because many students would always want to study even though there is a serious issue for teachers on the short courses that attract many students yet offering ample articulacy practice. Take speaking and writing for example, due to the accelerated pace of the speaking test usually within 8 to 10 minutes, it determines the candidates success in the test to "have a substantial dialogue with the examiner" in part 1, while many candidates found "no time to finish the paragraph in their memory," and that "the examiner turns out to expect me to talk about the topic, rather than the mechanical answer", the same case with part 2 and part 3 which test candidates presentation skills rather than paragraphs reciting. And in writing, trend of "without templates" is very obvious because "memorised answer" was never accepted by the examiner, "effectively organized language along with logically illustrated viewpoints" have become the priority for IELTS candidates. Planning time Wigglesworth and Elder (2010) argue that the amount of planning set does not in any way affect exploration of the scores and the discourse investigation and that there is no variance discovered between the two analyses. However, the results may imply that planning time does not really help the candidates constructively as it may be deemed but it remains vital in minimizing anxiety or any obstacle that may hinder performance of the candidates. Planning time therefore, may greatly help in improving the results of every candidate that takes the test by allowing them a chance to do their best (Wigglesworth & Elder, 2010). Examiner’s feedbacks after overseeing the test show that most candidates are confused during the planning time. Lack of pressure in a monologic case may show that candidates take control of their speech in the process and that the practice is beneficial even in the zero planning condition (Yuan & Ellis, 2003). Duration All the three modules take approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes where time is divided among listening, recording and transferring answers to the OMR as reading but writing and speaking takes 60, 60 and between 11 and 15 minutes respectively. The initial modules are usually completed within a day though accompanied by lack of breaks and speaking session is carried out upon the advice from the test centre within a specific period. The tests are made in such a way that all the significant qualities that can be derived from non-users are covered or taken care of. In addition, the test normally rated on a 9 band score and all the bands are awarded in correspondence to the level of English language aptitude. Issues that are often faced in awarding the bands include issues such as rounding up to the next half band when the four different skills averages are ending with .25 and to the next whole band when it is .75. Locations and test dates. There are 500 locations found within 121 countries where IELTS is carried out making the test to experience the quickest growth in the global perspective with up to 48 test dates annually. Candidates taking the tests have hugely gone up in the last decade and the test centres have experienced high demand and tests are carried out almost four times a month and retake control that existed before has since been withdrawn leaving no limit for retake. Culture/ culture specific Taylor (2002) explains that being that IELTS is used universally, it is apparent that it recognizes the necessity of accounting for language deviation that are consistent with English-language skills is concerned nevertheless the concept in the definition is inseparable from other languages. Taylor (2002) asserts that cultures have different perception and treatment of language in terms of style and argument. This is possible because different people from different cultural variations may use languages for some specific functions compared to others such as different application of reasoning among various cultures. People from different cultures may differ in the application of indirectness devices; structural designs as well as the level of accountability readers should have some great writing and spoken English skills. According to Taylor (2002), in her discussion ‘guiding principles’ of IELTS , she asserted that in the case of IELTS acts as universal path that every student who wish to pursue education or other programs in English speaking countries and the tests are always set by highly qualified group of writers. It is also important to remember that IELTS candidates may take three different English spoken contexts. IELTS may be taken in the context of different English spoken IELTS test is certainly partisan because it focuses on sorting and selecting the needs of the societal needs (Davies 2003:361). Read More