Volume 5, 2003, Paper 2
Paper 2: A comparative study of IELTS to ascertain its
viability for the Malaysia private secondary school market
Cynthia Celestine, Cheah Su Ming, Geetha Rajaratnam,
and Dr. Norazina Ismail
This study sought to determine the suitability and viability of
introducing the IELTS test to private secondary schools in Malaysia
and to determine the most appropriate module for this cohort.
The study was conducted with 151 randomly selected students from
private colleges in the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The results from the comparative study of the statistical data
showed that secondary school students were able to perform when
given either the Academic or General Training module, although it
appeared that the candidates with high English proficiency had a
tendency to do better in the Academic test. Analysis of the data
also strongly suggested that the preparation for the national
English language test, SPM 1119 English prepared and equipped the
candidates with a good foundation in language skills to do either
IELTS module.
