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This research aims to illuminate how the successful IELTS takers perform their IELTS reading test and provide a useful guidance for anyone concerning about IELTS reading test. This study is motivated by two research questions: (1) What test-taking strategies frequently used by Vietnam test takers in performing IELTS reading tasks? (2) How are those English test-taking strategies related to test takers' performance? The research employed multiple methods including a broad survey questionnaire of 100 participants and a thorough interview of 06 English language learners who had taken the IELTS test and gained at least 7.0 for reading skill to point out the common reading strategies used by high score test takers and indicate the influence of them on the test takers' performance. The findings from the research illustrate the variety in application of test-taking strategies and the impact of strategies on the results when taking the test. The findings also prompt an encouragement to learn and sharpen basic approach when learners take reading tests, especially in IELTS reading, so that they can improve their reading skill.

The testing of reading comprehension seems deceptively simple when compared to the testing of other abilities. The basic problem is that the language tester is expected to set tasks that will not only lead the candidate to use reading skills but will also result in behavior that provides clear evidence of the successful use of those skills. This paper aims to evaluate the IELTS Academic Reading Module Test in detail, examining its validity and reliability and discussing how far its format, operations, conditions, and techniques meet its purpose. The paper focuses mainly on the test scoring rules, which appear to be strict in terms of spelling, grammar, and the number of words required for written responses. It concludes with some recommendations on ways in which the validity and reliability of IELTS reading scoring rules could be improved.

Journal of Language and Education

Although IELTS is coordinated under a framework for test development and validation, there is some controversy about exam results’ correlation with students’ post-admission intellectual, academic and professional performance. The theoretical part of the research aims to investigate the extent to which the IELTS reading component relates meaningfully to interpretations of validity. The empirical part addresses questions about perceptions of the impact of the IELTS reading preparation on adjustment to the challenges of academia and further academic performance and variances in these perceptions depending on the area of study and the level of language mastery. While having quite different views on assessing IELTS validity, the researchers agree that academic success is enhanced through and based on extensive substantive reading. The methodology relied on both qualitative and quantitative data derived from an anonymous online questionnaire: 133 international students with Russian citize...

2011

The study reported here was concerned with the issue of test development and validation as it relates to the IELTS Academic Reading test. Investigation was made of the suitability of items on the test in relation to the reading and general literacy requirements of university study. This was researched in two ways - through a survey of reading tasks in the two domains, and through interviews with academic staff from a range of disciplines. Tasks in the two domains were analysed using a taxonomic framework, adapted from Weir and Urquhart (1998), with a focus on two dimensions of difference: level of engagement, referring to the level of text with which a reader needs to engage to respond to a task (local vs global); type of engagement referring to the way (or ways) a reader needs to engage with texts on the task (literal vs interpretative). The analysis found evidence of both similarities and differences between the reading requirements in the two domains. The majority of the IELTS ta...

The process of language learning is a complex process, associated with many factors. Due to the complexity of language learning process and its different dimensions, any elaboration should be narrowed down. Therefore, the present study aimed to see whether using reading comprehension tasks could significantly improve the students' reading comprehension ability or not. To this purpose, 72 English students were selected. After receiving the treatment and using reading comprehension tasks, their reading abilities were compared to those who had received the traditional teaching process. The results demonstrated that those students who had received the reading comprehension processing tasks performed significantly better than those who had received traditional reading approach in the control group. The findings of the study have some implications for language teachers as well as syllabus designers to improve reading ability of language learners.

This paper is critically evaluates the IELTS writing-test (academic module), to assess the suitability of it as an assessment of English proficiency for international students intending to enter English-speaking-universities (specifically-Australia, America, and-the-United-Kingdom). The paper begins by providing a background to IELTS and its writing-test; followed by a discussion on its strengths and weaknesses, to then assess its suitability. The paper concludes that IELTS needs to find ways of making its writing tasks more comparable to the types of tasks found in English-speaking-universities, if it is to be a suitable form of assessment.

Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2021

International English Language Testing System (IELTS), joint property of the British Council, IDP (IELTS Australia), and Cambridge Assessment English, as one of the most critical high-stakes tests, has become an indispensable part of any person who strives to study, work, or live in an international community. The pivotal importance of IELTS should not go unnoticed as it is used for making critical life-changing decisions about test takers . The reported data underscores that the number of IELTS candidates has been increasing exponentially, reaching three million candidates annually in 2016 . Since its inception in 1989, IELTS has provided a fertile ground for the parties involved in teaching, testing, and publishing. It goes without saying that IELTS has become a lucrative business as, for instance, the annual revenue from IELTS for IDP was reported to be around 185 million dollars in 2017 . Accordingly, it should come as no surprise that we are also witnessing an increasing number of publications. The hard truth is that a vast majority of the available books, aiming to help test takers get high band scores, are written based on one size fits all strategies, lacking any trace of research-based materials development theories. Surprisingly enough, in this unfortunate situation, a new title published by Routledge in 2021, that is, Developing Writing Skills for IELTS: A Research-Based Approach, is worth reviewing. As the title speaks for itself, the book is written based on a research approach. Sin Wang Chong, one of the authors of the book under review, has extensively published in writing instruction. The book is divided into two parts: the first part consists of 13 chapters, and the second part acts as an answer bank with eight chapters. The first chapter of part one gives a synopsis of IELTS and the

gentileza y paciencia y la colaboración que prestaron en la elaboración de este texto.