Language Tests in Australia Dr Amanda Müller

About this talk

I will give an overview of the language tests accepted in Australia for study, professional, and migration purposes. I will then focus specifically on the IELTS test, explaining its original purpose, how it has risen in popularity, its current uses, and which countries use it. I will explain the features of the test and discuss test-taker responses. I will also look at the OET test (Occupational English Test) and compare it to the IELTS test in order to provide an understanding of how testing can be quite specific to the situation.

The Australian Context

Three main reasons for testing: > Study TEQSA > Professional Registration AHPRA > Migration DIBP English language proficiency cannot be assumed: > 29% international university students (OECD 7.8%) > 520,000 international students in all education sectors > 12% language other than English at home > 44% Australians have a parent born overseas > 15.5% nurses trained overseas

Ways to establish English proficiency

> IELTS study, professional registration, migration > OET professional registration, migration, some study > TOEFL study, migration > CAE study, migration > PTE study, migration > other possible methods and tests that depend on purpose All the test are based on the four skills and they vary in their task types and ease of processing, e.g. predominantly multiple choice versus prose. The most common tests are IELTS and OET.

IELTS – A Chronology > International English Language Testing System > Partnership between International Development Program of

Australian Universities and Colleges (IDP) and the British Council (University of Cambridge Local Examinations)

> A result of opening full fee-paying places, it measures “English language skills of candidates intending to study in academic or training contexts in English-speaking countries”

> Released in 1989 > Academic version for university entry > General version for technical and business college entry > The main test endorsed for migration in 2001 > Used for professional registration at least 1999 onwards

IELTS administration

> AUD $330 > Conducted in person (passport, photo, and fingerprinting) > Usually takes a whole day to do the test > Tests offered every fortnight in Adelaide > Order of subtests: listening, reading, writing, speaking > 13 days for results > 1000 test centres in 148 countries > 4 million candidates annually > 13,500 organisations use it > Checks of test marker reliability, qualifications, question validity,

cross-cultural validity, cross-test reliability, plus research.

IELTS assessment

Rubric for writing 1.Task response 2.Coherence and cohesion 3.Lexical resource 4.Grammatical range and accuracy Rubric for speaking 1.Fluency & coherence 2.Lexical resource 3.Grammatical range and accuracy 4.Pronunciation

IELTS test-taker responses

> Fixation on the minimum standard > Multiple failed attempts > Peer-driven negative discourse (causing stress) > Lack of understanding of future linguistic demands to be met > Lack of perspective (particularly error rate, and pay rate)

OET – A Chronology

> Occupational English Test > Tim McNamara (of IELTS) and the Government’s Australian

National Office for Overseas Skills Recognition > Created late 1980s > 2013 sold to Cambridge Box Hill Language Assessment > 12 professions: dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing,

occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, speech pathology, and veterinary science

> Notably, OET uses a ranking grade system for the listening and reading sub-tests grades which is indexed against population performance on the speaking and writing sub-tests

OET administration > AUD $587 > Conducted in person (passport, photo) > Usually takes a whole day to do the test > Different tests by profession (speaking, writing) > Tests offered monthly > Order of subtests: listening, reading, writing, speaking > 7-10 working days for results > 60 test centres internationally (Aust/NZ, Japan, EU, North/South

America, India, Africa, UAE) > Under 100,000 test takers per year > 64 organisations use it (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore) > Item and marker reliability and validity checks, plus research

OET assessment Speaking 1. Overall communicative effectiveness 2. Intelligibility 3. Fluency 4. Appropriateness 5. Resources of grammar and expression

Writing 1. Overall task fulfilment 2. Appropriateness of language 3. Comprehension of stimulus 4. Linguistic features (grammar and cohesion) 5. Presentation features (spelling, punctuation and layout)

IELTS v OET - listening and reading

Very different vocabulary demands

Listening IELTS clear delineated answers to listen for OET knowledge of text types purpose is crucial must be able to answer with little structure, and take notes quickly and accurately Reading IELTS knowledge of academic organisation of information-giving helps finding answers OET good comprehension is necessary

IELTS v OET - writing and speaking

Very different vocabulary demands

Speaking IELTS personal information and give an opinion OET professional information gathering and have an appropriate patient interaction Writing IELTS describe/interpret a graphic, and give an opinion OET write a letter from patient notes to handover to another professional

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Questions and comments?

EXAMPLES OF

SUBTEST QUESTION FORMATS

IELTS writing

> 60 minutes > 2 sections (minimum 150 words and 250 words)

- describe, summarise, or explain the information and processes in a graph, table, chart or diagram

- essay in response to a prompt for a point of view, argument, or problem.

> Responses should be written in an academic, semi-formal/neutral style.

OET writing

> 45 minutes > 1 task > Profession-specific content > Task type: write a letter which uses information from a patient

history > 2-3 independent assessors

IELTS speaking

> 11-14 minutes > Responses are tape-recorded for marking > 3 parts

- introductory conversation and interview (4-5 minutes) - individual opinion monologue (3-4 minutes) in response to a cue card (1 minute to prepare, 2 minutes to talk) - two-way discussion (4-5 minutes) where the examiner asks further questions connected to the topic of Part 2.

OET speaking

> 20 minutes > Ungraded warm-up > Responses are tape-recorded for double-marking > 2 parts of 5 minutes each

- Both parts are health professional/patient exchanges using prompt cards directing both the candidate and tester

> 2-3 independent assessors

IELTS listening

> 30 minutes > 40 questions > 4 sections

– dyad social conversation – social monologue – education group conversation (tutor/students) – lecture

> A variety of voices and native-speaker accents are used > Task types: multiple choice, matching, labelling, gap

completions, short-answer questions

OET listening

> 50 minutes > 20-28 questions > 2 sections

- patient consultation with a health professional - presentation on a health-related topic

> Task types: note-taking task using headings, labelling, gap fill, matching, and open-ended or fixed-choice questions

IELTS reading

> 60 minutes > 40 questions > 3 sections (total text length is 2,150-2,750 words) > Each section contains one long authentic text, sometimes with

diagrams, graphs or illustrations and a glossary > Task types: multiple choice, true/false/not given, yes/no/not

given, matching information/headings/features/sentence endings, gap completion, diagram labels, short-answer

OET reading

> 60 minutes > 55 questions > 3 sections (about 2200 words in total)

- 1 section using a number of different text genres for a sentence gap completion summary passage

- 2 sections of health-related texts and multiple choice questions

> Task types: gap fill, multiple choice

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THANK YOU

Dr Amanda Müller Lecturer, English for Special Purposes

Email:

amanda.muller@flinders.edu.au

Address: Flinders University School of Nursing & Midwifery

GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001 Australia