Volume 4, 2003, Paper 3
Paper 3: Task design in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: The
effect of quantity and manner of presentation of information on
candidate writing
This paper reports on a study into task difficulty in
the IELTS Academic Writing Task 1. The study examined firstly, the
extent to which the difficulty of the task is affected by the
amount of information provided to the candidate and secondly, the
extent to which the difficulty of the task is affected by the
presentation of the information to the candidate.
Kieran O'Loughlin and Gillian
Wigglesworth
In the Academic Writing Task 1 candidates are required to
examine a diagram or table, and to present the information in their
own words (IELTS 2000). Four tasks, which differed in terms
of the amount of information the candidates were required to
process to complete the task, were developed for the study.
Two of the tasks included less information on which candidates
could base their responses and the other two included more
information. Within each of these two types of tasks,
one was designated as the control, and the other was designated as
the experimental task. Five different versions of each of the
two experimental tasks were developed. These versions
differed in the way the stimulus material was presented to
candidates. The control tasks were designed as benchmark
tasks and administered to all candidates. The experimental
tasks were administered to selected subgroups of the cohort.
Two hundred and ten students, who were enrolled in English for
Academic Purposes (EAP) courses in Melbourne or Sydney, completed
four of the Writing tasks (the two control tasks and two other
experimental tasks). All scripts were double rated by trained
and qualified IELTS raters. Analyses of the test scores and
the scripts themselves were then undertaken.
The test score analyses indicated that there were no substantial
differences in difficulty between the tasks, either in terms of the
amount of information presented or in terms of the differences in
presentation of the tasks. Analyses of the written texts
produced by the students focused on whether there were any
systematic differences in their written performances across
different proficiency levels (high, middle and low).
Responses from all three proficiency groups to the task with less
information showed greater complexity overall than the task with
more information. The trend was less clear overall in
relation to accuracy. However, the high proficiency group
showed a strong tendency to display greater accuracy in response to
the task with more information. It appears, therefore, that
tasks providing less information actually elicit more complex
language. Since the goal of these tasks is to produce as high
a performance from the candidate as possible it can be concluded
that this is best achieved through using simpler tasks.
