Volume 2, 1999, Paper 2
Paper 2: The effect of background disciplines on IELTS
scores
Cynthia Celestine and Cheah Su
Ming
Three hundred and ninety-eight IELTS candidates were randomly
selected from the IDP Education Australia offices in the Klang
Valley of Malaysia to participate in an IELTS research project
which was carried out to determine whether background discipline
had any effect on the scores attained in the IELTS test. The
results which were derived from the statistical test: the t-test
and the p-value test of significance concluded that in most cases,
where English language proficiency levels were significantly
affected by their background disciplines. In addition, on the
question of whether preparation taken will enhance the IELTS scores
achieved by candidates with different background disciplines, it
was found that the average unprepared candidate stood an equally
good chance of attaining the same grade as the average prepared
student.
