Volume 5, 2003, Paper 5
Paper 5: Assessing the impact of IELTS preparation programs on
candidates’ performance on the General Training reading and writing
test modules
Chandra Rao, Kate McPherson, Rajni Chand and Veena
Khan
The motivation for the study on which this paper is based came
from several concerns regarding the consistently poor performance
of Fiji candidates in the IELTS Reading and Writing modules. There
are several factors that could account for this poor performance,
with a major issue being inadequate test preparation. In this study
we carried out an initial assessment of English language skills (in
the form of a pre-test) of a sample of potential IELTS candidates.
These candidates participated in 30 hours of intensive preparation
classes focusing especially on the General Training (GT) Reading
and Writing test modules. At the conclusion of the preparation
program, the candidates did an exit test (the post-test), provided
written feedback on the program, and gave oral interviews. The pre
and post-test performance and interview data were collected and
analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed
that there was significant gain in the scores of candidates in the
Writing module. The gain in the Reading module was not as dramatic.
The researchers highlight the influence of several factors such as
time, motivation, anxiety and the nature of the skill itself on the
candidates’ performance during the preparation program, and in the
actual IELTS exam. This paper raises issues related to candidate
perceptions, the impact of intensive course preparation, and the
implications of such preparation on pre-test English language
competence.
