The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) English proficiency test has been the focus of increasing research since its inception in 1989. While research has contributed to a better understanding of test construction and has highlighted the limitations of individual test scores for predicting academic success, few studies have focused on students’ perceptions of the academic module of IELTS. The present study attempts to address this gap in the research by investigating student expectations of an IELTS preparation course. The study, adopting a multi-method approach using surveys and interviews, investigated ten international students enrolled in a twelve-week academic IELTS preparation course in a language school affiliated to a university in Auckland, New Zealand. The study found that students have high expectations not only of an IELTS preparation course, but of the IELTS band score they will achieve. The study also found that student expectations of the course were met at least to some extent. Various factors contributed to the fulfilment of students’ expectations including a focus on speaking and listening activities and the use of formative practice tests. Although all four language skills were recognised by the students prior to the course as being important, speaking and listening were identified as those most expected to be improved. By the end of the course, however, reading and writing skills were acknowledged to be most important, suggesting a growing awareness of the importance of literacy skills, both for achieving an appropriate IELTS score and for further academic study. Although limited by the number of participants, the findings have significance for the development and delivery of academic IELTS preparation courses. Firstly, although there is value in focusing on listening and speaking skills, given the change in students’ perceptions, academic literacy skills perhaps need a predominant focus. Related to this focus, challenging reading activities and related vocabulary development should be an integral part of the course. Secondly, the inclusion of practice IELTS tests provides an important formative component of preparation courses. Finally, the study suggests that administration staff and teachers need to better prepare students to have realistic expectations of an achievable IELTS band score.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) English proficiency test has been the focus of increasing research since its inception in 1989. While research has contributed to a better understanding of test construction and has highlighted the limitations of individual test scores for predicting academic success, few studies have focused on students’ perceptions of the academic module of IELTS. The present study attempts to address this gap in the research by investigating student expectations of an IELTS preparation course. The study, adopting a multi-method approach using surveys and interviews, investigated ten international students enrolled in a twelve-week academic IELTS preparation course in a language school affiliated to a university in Auckland, New Zealand. The study found that students have high expectations not only of an IELTS preparation course, but of the IELTS band score they will achieve. The study also found that student expectations of the course were met at least to some extent. Various factors contributed to the fulfilment of students’ expectations including a focus on speaking and listening activities and the use of formative practice tests. Although all four language skills were recognised by the students prior to the course as being important, speaking and listening were identified as those most expected to be improved. By the end of the course, however, reading and writing skills were acknowledged to be most important, suggesting a growing awareness of the importance of literacy skills, both for achieving an appropriate IELTS score and for further academic study. Although limited by the number of participants, the findings have significance for the development and delivery of academic IELTS preparation courses. Firstly, although there is value in focusing on listening and speaking skills, given the change in students’ perceptions, academic literacy skills perhaps need a predominant focus. Related to this focus, challenging reading activities and related vocabulary development should be an integral part of the course. Secondly, the inclusion of practice IELTS tests provides an important formative component of preparation courses. Finally, the study suggests that administration staff and teachers need to better prepare students to have realistic expectations of an achievable IELTS band score.

This study investigated the role of gestures, smiles, and eye contact on scores assigned to English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) speakers during standardized face-to-face speaking tests. Four English-as-a-first-language examiners and four EAL test-takers participated in simulated IELTS Speaking Tests. Qualitatively, an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Quantitatively, scores were holistically (overall scores assigned) and analytically (by criterion). Nonverbal cues were examined by the total number of cues produced by all test-takers, the frequency of production by test-taker, the frequency of production of subcategories of nonverbal cues by test-taker, and by production alongside speech or in isolation. Mimicry of nonverbal cues generated by test-takers was investigated. Test-takers’ lexical range was also analyzed vis-à-vis the scores assigned to the criterion lexical resource. Conclusions drawn from the triangulation of data sources indicate that nonverbal cues may have played a role in the assessment of the criteria fluency and coherence and pronunciation. This study adds to the current body of literature on second language assessment, which has suggested that variables other than language proficiency may play a role in scores assigned to test-takers during face-to-face speaking tests. / Graduate / 0290 / 0282 / 0288

This thesis aims at studying customer perceived value in language test training industry through an empirical research on four dominate IELTS training institutes in China. Customer questionnaires are used to get customers’ preferences about language test training service, as well as their perceived value of each institute. Based on that, a measurement of each institute’s performance according to the customer preferences is conducted. After analysis, the strength and weakness of each institute is clearly showed, followed by relative explanations and suggestions for their weaknesses.

This case study examined both the implications of using genre pedagogy on students’ writing performance in IELTS-like tests as well as students’ perceptions of the genre method in the context of IELTS preparation course. The data were writing samples and the interviews with the students as well as the instructor’s teaching daily field notes. The implications and students’ perceptions of genre method were found relating to a variety of factors, such as students’ prior experience in IELTS preparation course. This study also proposed some future research directions such as the integration of IELTS preparation into the ESL courses. / Graduate

This research seeks to discover what happens to students’ English language skills while studying in English-medium classes in UAE universities, and to look at how this compares with what instructors and students think happens to students’ English proficiency during the four years of study. This is explored through a retrospective panel study using a test/retest method to investigate score gains on the IELTS exam after four years of undergraduate study. Student and teacher beliefs about how English-medium instruction (EMI) affects language proficiency, the need for language support after admission, and the selection and delivery of course materials are discussed in conjunction with the research findings, leading to recommendations for institutions whose primary goal in using EMI is to increase proficiency. This research continues the exploratory research of Elder and O’Loughlin (2003) and O’Loughlin and Arkoudis (2009) regarding score gains in IELTS after a course of study, but this study is situated in a society where the language of instruction is not the language of communication for the students outside the university and at home. The research findings indicate that there is a statistically significant score gain in all four of the English-language skill areas that are tested by the IELTS exam after four years of EMI for the participants in this study. The most gain occurred in the area of speaking, followed by reading, writing and then listening. Results from questionnaires and interviews indicate that students and teachers have different perceptions regarding language ability and the problems associated with the use of English for instruction. Students generally do not feel that studying in English causes problems for them, and they rate their ability in listening, reading, writing and speaking as good to excellent. On the other hand, teachers do not feel their students’ language ability meets expectations for students studying in an English-medium environment and think that their students are especially weak in the areas of writing and listening. Teachers feel that they must make adaptations to course content and assessment criteria due to students’ language ability. The research indicates that institutions whose goal it is to increase language proficiency through EMI need to have clear instructional goals in place for language development along with support systems for teachers and learners throughout the entire educational experience and not just in pre-academic support programs.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the world’s leading high stakes test that assesses the English Language Proficiency of candidates who speak languages other than English and wish to gain entry into universities where English is the language of instruction. Recently, over 3000 institutions in the United States accepted the IELTS test to be an indicator of language proficiency (IELTS, 2012a). Because of this preference for the IELTS test, and its worldwide recognition, there has been an increase in the number of students who are taking the test every year. According to the IELTS website, more than 7000 institutions around the world trust the test results and, not surprisingly, more than 1.7 million candidates take the test every year in one of the 800 recognised test centres across 135 countries (IELTS, 2012a). These candidates include people who seek not only to obtain admission to universities, but also for immigration authorities, employers of certain companies and government agencies. Acknowledging this popularity and importance to learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), this qualitative study has investigated the construct validity of the academic writing module in the IELTS test from the perspectives of the stakeholders (i.e. candidates, lecturers and markers). The aim was to understand why some Saudi students fail to cope with demands of the university despite the fact that they have achieved the minimum requirements in IELTS. In this study, data was collected in two phases in two different settings through open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured observations and semi-structured interviews. Phase I was carried out in the Department of English Language (DEL) at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, while Phase II was conducted in one university in the UK. The sample of the study included: 8 students, 6 university lecturers and one marker. In this study, data were analysed and coded into themes by using NVivo 9. The results of this case study have shown that the stakeholders were doubtful about the issue of readiness of students, which is claimed by IELTS, and they wanted the test to be clearer about how the students were going to cope with university demands upon gaining entry. In addition, with respect to the content validity of the test, this study found that the tasks in the academic writing test to a large extent do not reflect the kind of tasks candidates are likely to encounter at university. Furthermore, this study pointed out that response validity, on the part of students who may not have understood the rubric of the tasks, is another important factor affecting the students’ performance. Also, the findings of this study suggested that scoring validity could have a significant effect on the students’ scores because of the inconsistency of markers during the scoring process as they may have sometimes failed to assign the students to their corresponding level of proficiency. Consequently, the study provided a set of implications as well as recommendations for future research.

The ability to write in a second language is one of the major skills required in academic settings. However, research about the effectiveness of academic programs on second language writing in long term perspective is rather scarce and the findings are mixed (e.g. Archibald, 2001; Elder & O’Loughlin, 2003; Hu, 2007; Knoch et al., 2014, 2015; Storch 2007). The present study aimed to contribute further empirical evidence about the effectiveness of academic training on the development of the writing skills of Vietnamese second language learners enrolled in an undergraduate English program. The investigation was designed in view of the L2 writing standards set by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and in reference to the specificities of the Vietnamese English language educational system. The sample involved a total of 90 participants, 30 from each of the following CEFR English language proficiency levels: B1, B2, and C1. The instrument was modeled after the IELTS Academic Module Writing Task 2 which requires test-takers to write a minimum of 250-word essay on a given prompt. The participants’ essays were scored by two independent raters following the IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors. The data was analyzed through 5 one-way ANOVAs, which aimed to compare the three levels of proficiency, B1, B2, and C1, on their overall writing scores, and on each of the two macro (Task Response and Cohesion and Coherence) and micro sills (Lexical Resources and Grammatical Range and Accuracy) The results revealed two main trends. First, it was found that the writing skills of Vietnamese L2 learners of English have shown a significant improvement in the course of their study, across proficiency levels. Second, the development was of a bigger magnitude between levels B1 and B2 and on a smaller scale between levels B2 and C1. The latter trend appears more meaningful when juxtaposed with the expected IELTS writing band score ranges for each of the three CEFR levels investigated in the present study. Specifically, the obtained scores matched the CEFR standards at level B2, but were above the expected minimum score for level B1 and below the minimum expected score for level C1. These findings carry valuable implications for the specific Vietnamese educational context, highlighting both the strengths and lacks of the English language writing curriculum. They pinpoint issues related to the placement of students in CEFR levels without specific empirical data as well as raise questions about the time, effort, and teaching practices necessary to secure learners’ progress from lower to higher proficiency, particularly after level B1. Another contribution of the study is that it examined developments in L2 academic writing both on the macro and micro level, and has, thus, offered a more comprehensive picture of the different components of the writing skill and their development through a course of study. In contrast, existing research has either looked at the writing skill in a holistic way or focused on one or some of its elements, but has rarely approached writing as a balanced composite of macro and micro skills.

abstract: ABSTRACT The teaching of formulaic sequences (FSs) to improve speech fluency is a time honored tradition in the field of English as a Second Language (ESL). However, recent research seems to indicate that certain discourse markers, specifically transition and personal stance markers, are more useful than other FSs. This study is an attempt to partially replicate (on a very small scale) one of these studies to see if the findings are similar when the standardized test materials are from the Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) rather than the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The hope is that teacher researchers could have access to readily available, standardized assessment materials with which to create their own research studies consisting of a standardized pretest and posttest. Four students of various levels in an Intensive English Program (IEP) were given a practice listening and speaking exam utilizing TOEFL preparation materials found online. The results were analyzed to see if there was a noticeable correlation between the use of the specified discourse markers on the speech portion of the test and the performance of the students on the listening portion of the test. The findings show some discrepancy between the two studies' results. It appears possible to have a high perceived fluency rate and still have a lower overall speaking fluency when taking into account listening comprehension and various other measures. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. English 2014

Uppsatsen har undersökt kinesiska läroböcker för det internationella engelskaprovet IELTS. Läroböckerna har analyserats enligt ett kodningschema och teorier inom SLA (Second Language Acquisition). Uppsatsens resultat visar att de kinesiska läroböckerna inte följde SLA:s rekommendationer för optimal inlärning av främmande språk och lämnar därför stort utrymme för förbättring.