Wonderful new article (free to read) in “Educational Research and Evaluation” this week by Rachael Ruegg.  It examines the IELTS test and the in-house language test of a certain New Zealand university, and explores how well scores from those tests can predict academic success at the undergraduate level.  The article suggests that the predictive ability of reading, listening and speaking scores from both tests are equal.  But writing scores? Well, the author notes:  “IELTS writing scores demonstrated a non-significant negative effect on academic achievement, while EPT writing scores were strongly significantly predictive of academic achievement.”

Check out the article for a detailed comparison of the writing tasks on the IELTS and those on the in-house test.  The author suggests that the in-house test requires writing that is more challenging and requires more critical thinking.  They note:

“In the EPT writing test, both tasks require longer and more complex writing than the IELTS versions. This may contribute to their performance in university study, which usually involves producing written assignments that are significantly longer than the IELTS minimum length of 250 words (for the essay task) or 150 words (for the data writing task). Rather than specifying a word limit, students who sit the EPT writing tests are encouraged to write as much as they can within a 45-minute time frame for each essay, but with an emphasis on quality over quantity.”

The author suggests that the IELTS could be improved by increasing the length of its writing section:

“Suggested changes to the IELTS academic writing test include extending the time allowed and required length of both writing tasks, requiring greater complexity in written texts and demonstration of critical thinking skills in English, all of which are likely to provide more robust evidence of sufficient language proficiency for university study.”

That’s quite a suggestion in a world where English proficiency tests seem to be going in the opposite direction – embracing shorter and shorter writing tasks.

I’m reminded of how many international students at Columbia University are required to take a two-hour writing test before their studies begin (on top of the university’s TOEFL/IELTS/DET requirement). Someone ought to study the usefulness of that test.

IDP Education has released its fiscal results for the half-year ending December 31, 2023. The report indicates that the IELTS was taken 902,000 times in those six months, a drop of 12 percent compared to the same period last year. The report indicates that this drop was due to lower test volumes in India. I’ve written in this space about how IDP faces stiff competition from Pearson in that market. Interestingly, the report indicates that outside of India the number of tests administered actually increased by 17 percent.  Good lord, the drop in India must have been pretty big if the overall volume declined even though sittings in the rest of the world increased by a huge amount.

Investors will be happy to know that revenue from student placement is way, way up. That is due in part to a 56 percent increase in Canadian placements.

IDP’s share price jumped about 15% on the release of the report, but those gains were all wiped out within 48 hours.  Perhaps some of the early buyers weren’t aware of recent changes to the business of international education.

(Note that the above figure does not include IELTS tests taken via the British Council)

The Indian Express reports that new Canadian immigration rules will likely mean the end of the so-called “IELTS Wedding.”

When I summarized the changes a few days ago I didn’t even mention that spouses of most students will no longer be eligible for an open work permit in Canada. I guess that change is more meaningful than I earlier thought.

As regular readers know, a play about studying for the TOEFL won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2023. Perhaps we can expect a romantic comedy about the IELTS in the years ahead.

According to this report, the IELTS test was taken “more than 4 million” times in 2023.

Not sure how that figure is broken down between IDP and the British Council, but IDP’s most recent fiscal report says that they delivered 1.9 million IELTS tests for the year ending June 2023. British Council’s most recent corporate report says that they delivered 1.6 million tests for the 2021-22 fiscal year, but they have since ceded their Indian operations to IDP.

How does this figure compare to the past? I found a press release from 2018 saying that the IELTS was taken 3.5 million times that year.How does this figure compare to other tests? ETS boss Amit Sevak recently noted on a podcast that the TOEFL is taken about a million times a year. Meanwhile, the PTE was taken about 600,000 times in the first six months of 2023, according to Pearson’s most recent figures. Finally, I’ve estimated that the Duolingo English Test was taken about 650,000 times for the year ending Q3 of 2023… but that’s just an educated guess.

As promised, here are the prices for English tests in China:

  • IELTS: 2170 RMB ($303 USD)
  • TOEFL: 2100 RMB ($294 USD)
  • PTE: $310 USD

A few things are worth noting:

  1. Per Chinese law, the IELTS and TOEFL tests are administered in China via partnerships between their owners and China’s National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA). This inserts an extra level of bureaucracy into the whole process. This means that test-takers register for the tests via the NEEA website, get their scores via the same website, and pay the test fee directly to the NEEA. Test-takers are subject to the NEEA’s privacy policies. Moreover, at-home testing in China requires a clunky workaround. The NEEA also keeps some (a lot?) of the test fees, but I guess that’s the cost of doing business in China.

  2. Many people view this partnership as the reason test fees are so high in China. As you can see, the cost of taking a TOEFL or IELTS test in China is way above the worldwide average (which is close to $230 USD). On the flip side, fees are set in RMB, so Chinese test-takers are protected against the slow and steady rise in value of the USD. When I started tracking prices a few years ago China was the most expensive place in the world to take the TOEFL. I think it is the ninth most expensive now.

  3. It seems like Pearson administers its tests on its own. I’ve always wondered how that is possible. The NEEA handles the whole registration process for all the major tests in China – the TOEFL, the IELTS, the GRE, the GMAT, the LSAT. Even the CAEL. Am I missing something here?

  4. Students looking for a good deal in China might try the CAEL, which is fixed at 1920 RMB (267 USD).

Which standardized English test is the most affordable?  Well, the Duolingo English Test is $59 and that’s the best deal (and probably always will be).  But what if you are locked into the IELTS, TOEFL and PTE tests?  Which one of those is the best deal? It seems that the PTE is the cheapest test.

To answer this question, I compared the prices in ten countries which send a lot of traffic to this website.  Note that I omitted Iran, China, Turkey and Russia for various reasons.

United States

This one is hard to track since sales tax is usually added to the price, and the cost of the IELTS differs from place to place.  But, basically, the prices seem to be:

  • IELTS: $280 (taxes included)
  • PTE: $235 +tax
  • TOEFL: $255 +tax

India

  • IELTS: $195
  • PTE: $191
  • TOEFL: $205

South Korea

  • IELTS: $220
  • PTE: $199
  • TOEFL: $220

Japan

  • IELTS: $193
  • PTE: $230
  • TOEFL: $245

Taiwan

  • IELTS: $240
  • PTE: $240
  • TOEFL: $245

Germany

  • IELTS: $273
  • PTE: $250
  • TOEFL: $265

France

  • IELTS: $277
  • PTE: $265
  • TOEFL: $270

Brazil

  • IELTS: $245
  • PTE: $225
  • TOEFL: $240

Indonesia

  • IELTS: $204
  • PTE: $200
  • TOEFL: $210

Mexico

  • IELTS: $239
  • PTE: $225
  • TOEFL: $250

Armenia

  • IELTS: $248
  • PTE: $210
  • TOEFL: $235

 

Average of the above countries (not counting the USA)

  • IELTS: $233
  • PTE: $223
  • TOEFL: $238

As I mentioned here a few days ago, it looks like ETS is updating its TOEFL/IELTS concordance tables. For this reason, there is currently a sweet offer for test-takers based in the USA and Australia.

Individuals who have taken both the TOEFL and IELTS within the last six months (and within three months of each other) may be eligible to receive a $100 Amazon gift card after sharing their score reports.

Those who have taken the IELTS only may be eligible to receive a $100 gift card plus a voucher to take the TOEFL for free.

Note that all tests must be taken at a test center, not at home.  

Details here for people in America.  And here for people in Australia.

Australian authorities have just released their new “Migration Strategy.” Notably, the IELTS requirement for student visas will increase to 6.0 (from 5.5). The IELTS requirement for a temporary graduate visa will be hiked to 6.5 (from 6.0). Score requirements for other tests are not mentioned in the document. These changes will go into effect “in early 2024.”

Applicants will also be required to pass something called a “genuine student test.” Exactly what that means has not been revealed.

More here after I dig through the document.

 

I was doing some IELTS tutoring earlier this week and I figured it would be fun to write a “review” of one of the numbered IELTS practice test books.  This is, I guess, a review of “IELTS 17” but it could be used as a review of any of the books… they are all pretty much the same (but new editions more closely match the current style of the test).

Any review must begin by thanking Cambridge for cranking out one of these books every year. Thanks to these books, people preparing for the IELTS have a ton of material to work with. The books keep pace with changes to the test, even though those changes are pretty minor.  As of the writing of this review, there are 18 such books.

Each book contains:

  1. A short introduction that describes the format of the test and how it is scored.
  2. Four practice tests with audio provided via QR codes
  3. Transcripts of the audio portions.
  4. Answer keys.
  5. Sample answer sheets
  6. Sample essays

There is also a single use code that will grant you access to a “resource bank” online that mostly duplicates the stuff available via the QR codes.

Speaking of the QR codes, it pleases me greatly that Cambridge provides access to the necessary audio without a limited-use code. That means that library patrons and second-hand shoppers can use the books. That compares favorably to the most recent official TOEFL prep material. Those books are useless for library patrons as the audio files can only be downloaded four times.

My only quibble is that the books are pretty expensive considering their slim size.

A few notes for teachers and students:

  1. There are 18 editions of this book as of the writing of this review. Each edition has different tests.
  2. Editions 13 and above are generally considered to be the most accurate books, as they match slight changes to the end of the listening section.
  3. That said, editions 6-12 are pretty darn close to the real test.
  4. Editions 1-5 should be avoided as they are quite out of date.

The folks behind IELTS recently published a white paper encouraging institutions to think carefully about the language tests they accept. The paper seems, in part, like an effort to push back at the use of AI and automated scoring in language tests.

It says:

“In order to effectively address each element of the socio-cognitive framework and to ensure all aspects of a language skill are elicited, it is vital to move beyond simple multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions to incorporate more diverse tasks that activate the skills and abilities expected of students by higher education institutions.”

Regarding the use of AI and “algorithmic scoring” in language testing, the authors note:

“…unlike algorithmic scoring… the IELTS Speaking test cannot be ‘hacked’ using gaming techniques that can trick mechanical evaluators into mistakenly evaluating speech as high quality when it is not.”

It notes that algorithmic scoring “requires students to generate predictable patterns of speech in response to fixed tasks,” unlike the IELTS speaking section which “gives the student the best opportunity to be assessed on their communicative proficiency.”

Of writing assessment, the paper notes:

“Given the nature of writing and its importance to learning new knowledge and communicating ideas, there are few shortcuts that can provide the same level of evaluation as an expert trained in writing assessment.”

The paper includes a side-by-side comparison of the two IELTS writing tasks and five “algorithmic scoring” tasks. Weirdly, the authors couldn’t name the test containing those five tasks.

Also included is an infographic about claimed shortcomings of AI-generated reading tasks and a note about the challenge of assessing reading skills “in a truncated period of time.”

The paper has some stuff about listening, but I think you get the point. Beyond singing the praises of IELTS, it really seems like BC and IDP are pushing back at recent trends in the testing industry. And at their competitors.

The closing remarks (which are highly recommended reading) include this:

“While there may be assessments on the market that promise quicker results, more entertaining formats, or easier pathways, the question institutions and students alike must ask is: at what cost?”

There are also a few words about “inherent duty.”

I’m not informed enough to know if the above criticisms are valid, but it is good when testing companies justify their existence and their products. It is also good for tests to be quite different from each other. The last thing we need is a blob of samey tests used for all possible purposes.

Will this make a difference? Well, I haven’t seen any evidence that institutions actually read this sort of stuff. University leaders seem to pay scant attention to the details of the tests they accept – it’s hard enough to get them to adjust scores to match new concordance tables or to stop “accepting” tests that ceased to exist years ago. But things could change.

I read in a press release that ApplyBoard will partner with the British Council “to help bridge the gap between the testing and application phases of the international education experience.” It says that people taking the IELTS through the British Council “will receive personalised study-abroad matching through ApplyBoard.”

I don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounds fun. And is probably a great opportunity for ApplyBoard to further expand beyond its traditional niche of putting people in Canadian schools.

I like that the British Council is partnering with ApplyBoard, even though that firm is a direct competitor to their close pals at IDP Education.

I also appreciate that ApplyBoard is linking up with the IELTS, despite being owned, in part, by the folks behind the TOEFL.

Once, a very long time ago, I wrote a bunch of articles about the TOEFL for a partnership between Applyboard and that test. But the project was canceled and most of my articles are (presumably) still sitting in a virtual filing cabinet somewhere in southern Ontario. They were pretty good articles.

The paper-based IELTS has been suspended in Iran since August 1. Some test-takers have been told that the suspension is due to concerns about cheating at test centers. The computer based version (also delivered at test centers) is still available, and registrants for the paper version can switch for free.

People in Iran are frustrated, as testing has been a real challenge in their country for some time. As I wrote in March, seemingly hundreds of individuals who took the TOEFL iBT Test in Iran faced unexpected cancellations of their scores. Some received notice of the cancellations months after taking the test, and lost offers of admission to prestigious schools abroad.