Volume 4, 2003, Paper 5
Paper 5: The impact of IELTS on preparation for academic study
in New Zealand
John Read and Belinda Hayes
This article reports an investigation of the impact of IELTS on
the preparation of international students for tertiary study in New
Zealand. The research was carried out in two phases, moving
from a broad overview of the national scene to a specific focus on
two particular IELTS preparation courses.
The first phase was a survey of the provision of IELTS
preparation in the tertiary/adult sector. A questionnaire was
mailed to 96 language schools, with a response rate of 81%.
The schools included language departments and centres associated
with public tertiary institutions as well as numerous private
language schools. Among the respondents, 60 schools offered
some form of IELTS preparation, mainly to international students of
Asian origin. IELTS preparation was structured in three main
ways: as a separate part-time course that was relatively short; as
an optional component of a full-time General English programme; and
integrated into an extended full-time course in English for
academic purposes.
The questionnaire was followed up by 23 interviews with teachers
engaged in IELTS preparation at the larger language schools in four
of the main cities. The interviews probed the structure and
delivery of IELTS preparation in greater depth, as well as
exploring the relationship between preparing students for the test
and preparing them adequately for academic study through the medium
of English. The participants reported that students really
needed to be at an upper-intermediate level of General English
proficiency before being able to benefit from IELTS preparation and
have a realistic chance of passing the test, but there was often
pressure to accept students whose proficiency was lower than
that. Even students who gained the minimum band score for
tertiary admission were likely to struggle to meet the demands of
English-medium study in a New Zealand university or
polytechnic. IELTS courses varied a great deal in the extent
to which they could incorporate academic study skills which were
not directly assessed by the test. Despite its limitations,
the teachers generally recognised that IELTS was the most suitable
test available for the purpose.
The second phase of the research was a classroom study of two
IELTS preparation courses at different language schools in
Auckland. Data was gathered over a one-month period by
employing two different observation instruments as well as teacher
interviews and a questionnaire, student questionnaires and pre and
post-testing using retired versions of IELTS. One course was
a separate IELTS preparation course, which focused almost entirely
on giving the students information about the test, advice on
test-taking strategies and multiple practice tests. The other
one was one of a sequence of IELTS preparation courses offered by
the second school to students in its General English
programme. It followed a topic-based approach and gave
attention not only to the test tasks but also to the development of
language knowledge and academic skills. The research
instruments revealed a number of substantial differences between
the two courses and in the way the two teachers felt IELTS had
influenced their teaching.
