2. Who owns IELTS?
British Council
IDP: IELTS Australia
Cambridge ESOL
3. What is IELTS?
A test of communicative proficiency in English:
for study or work in English
tests all four language skills
A test of international English:
Cultural or linguistic bias minimised
content produced and checked internationally
variety of accents used
A task based test:
model of communicative competence
whole text contexts, not discrete point
performance-based
5. Who recognises IELTS?
Institutes of further and higher education in
United States, United Kingdom, Australia,
Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa,
Ireland
Professional Bodies world-wide including:
Ministry of Defence, General Medical Council in
United Kingdom
Medical Council and Department of Immigration,
Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in Australia
New Zealand Immigration Service
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
6. What makes IELTS a useful test?
IELTS provides:
a profile of a candidate's skills in all four
language areas
an overall band score
IELTS tests:
the full range of proficiency levels, from non-
user to expert user
7. Why can IELTS results be trusted?
Quality controls:
test production process
examiner training and certification
centre management
security and integrity
ongoing research
monitoring
centralised verification of results
8. What do IELTS candidates have to do?
Candidates must do all four test modules:
Listening
Reading
Writing
Speaking
9. Test Format
Listening
30 minutes, 4 sections, 40 items
General Training Reading
60 minutes, 3 sections, 40 items
Academic Reading
60 minutes, 3 sections, 40 items
General Training Writing
60 minutes, 2 tasks
Academic Writing
60 minutes, 2 tasks
Speaking
11 - 14 minutes, 3 parts
10. Listening Module
Tests:
specific and overall comprehension
inference
salient information
Same for Academic and General Training candidates
Variety of contexts (general and study)
Variety of formats (dialogues and mini-lectures)
11. Reading Module
Tests detailed and general comprehension
Academic and General Training Modules
Academic Module: academic texts
General Training module: general and study-
related texts
12. Writing Module
Academic and General Training Modules
Tests:
ability to write English appropriate to context and
task
use of language in a variety of contexts and topics
skills at sentence, paragraph and whole text level
Candidates rated on:
task fulfilment
coherence and cohesion
communicative quality
vocabulary and sentence structure
13. Speaking Module
Same for Academic and General Training candidates
Tests ability to communicate through speech in general
English contexts
One-to-one interview
Range of topics and contexts
Range of skills and patterns of interaction
3 parts:
question and answer on personal topics
unassisted short talk on a given topic
two-way discussion on more abstract issues
14. What do the bands mean?
9 band scale
9 - expert user
8 - very good user
7 - good user
6 - competent user
5 - modest user
4 - limited user
3 - extremely limited user
2 - intermittent user
1 - non-user
15. IELTS Results
Test Report Forms (TRFs)
two year validity
overall and module bands
results available within two weeks
results can be sent to receiving institutions
no ‘pass’ mark
security enhanced paper
Online Verification Service
16. IELTS is ...
a reliable and valid test of English language
proficiency
a test of communicative ability
a test of all four language skills
a task-based test in which candidates perform
interactive language tasks
17. For more information
IELTS Candidate Information
IELTS Handbook
IELTS Annual Review
IELTS website: www.ielts.org
IELTS Specimen Materials
IELTS Research Reports
18. British Council Georgia
34 Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi 0108 Georgia
Tel: 99532 250407 Fax: 99532 989591
e-mail: ielts@ge.britishcouncil.org
