Tag: Ielts

EAP changes: notes from the front line

“The challenges and disturbances of the last few years are inspiring English Language Learning players to splurge on next-generation materials for a digital native cohort”

Students’ English language skills drive admissions and outcomes in the international education sector. The events of the last two years are triggering a re-set in approaches to English learning, even changing the language skills that candidates acquire, writes Stephen Haggard of Digital Learning Associates, a supplier of materials to the global EAP sector.

“[There is a] real concern that we seem to be making it too hard for international students to thrive”

As the year draws to a close, it is a good time to review the news that made the most impact.
Funnily enough, it’s not a Brexit story that has stuck in my mind, but the drip, drip of news stories about accusations of cheating, directed against international students in general and Chinese students in particular.

In January, for example, there was the notorious email from the University of Liverpool international advice and guidance team about exam conduct, which translated the word “cheating” into Chinese but no other foreign language, on the grounds that Chinese students were “usually unfamiliar with the word” in English. A student petition condemned the email as “racially discriminative”.

However, underlying these headline stories is a real concern that we seem to be making it too hard for international students to thrive when they come to the UK to study…

“How young people are integrated into Boarding school life is arguably as important as their IELTS score”

A recent study by University of York highlighted that while the threshold for English competency for degree study in the UK is IELTS 5.5 this is not necessarily the level that would allow a student to thrive in UK Higher Education.

It found that international students with an average IELTS of between 6.5 and 7.5 had an average English vocabulary just under half the size of that of the home students and their difficulties with reading and writing were far greater than those reported on the same tests for home students with dyslexia.
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TOEFL’s rapid retreat from Vietnam: How computerisation allowed IELTS to dominate

“Let this be a warning to educational technologists…no matter how dominant a stake you hold, you serve the market and it could eat you for lunch”

The computerization of the TOEFL exam allowed the IELTS to dominate Vietnam, says Deren Temel, Manager of International Development at SEAMEO RETRAC in Ho Chi Minh City. In this week’s PIE blog, Temel discusses “the TOEFL exam’s self-inflicted collapse” in Vietnam, and asks readers to lend their insight in the comments.

Before we get into the strategic disaster that dethroned the TOEFL exam’s dominant position in Vietnam’s English credentials market, lets set a few things straight. Credentials are certificates, exam scores, or degrees that describe someone’s prior learning and/or skill level. The international recognition of credentials allows students to continue their education across borders.
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