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.

It is worth digging into the documents (here and here) released by the Australian Department of Home Affairs re: the REOI for English language tests for visa applications. A few things stand out.

  1. While the process for selecting tests for Australian visas is well documented, the process for selecting tests for Canada’s SDS remains a mystery. Later today I’ll pay $5 and ask Canada to send me everything they’ve got.

 

  1. The Australian requirements seem to value customer experience and nudge testing firms towards being better versions of themselves. That’s nice. It also mandates that ample research into the validity of the tests be published. I counted 45 requirements stated by the department, most of which are really useful. I’m particularly impressed by the request (with some caveats) that concordance studies have more than 1000 participants. I’m also pleased that currently-accepted tests have to go through the same comprehensive procedure.

 

  1. Wholly at-home tests will not be considered. However, the government will “consider accepting an English language test that includes only one test component delivered remote-proctored online, noting this one component need not necessarily be conducted in a test centre.” That’s interesting. I am certain that all firms would love to give test-takers the option of doing R/L/W at a test center, while doing all of the speaking at home.

 

  1. One of the testing firms asked “Can an English language test that is currently undergoing revision and refresh, which is yet to be completed in the next 18 months, be submitted under this REOI process.” That may have been asked by ETS in light of changes to the TOEFL. The response was curt: “No. The Department will evaluate tests submitted as part of a Response to this REOI as being complete at the point of submission.” Whoops! HOWEVER, that seems to have been overridden by a memo from June 2023 which allows firms to revise their REOI response to include “in certain cases, a ‘new test’ or a ‘new ‘product’.” I think it will be okay, folks; my reading of this is that Australia-bound students should be able to submit new TOEFL scores again by mid-2024.

 

When the process is complete I hope at least one Australian reader will submit a Freedom of Information request so we can get our mitts on even more details.

People with an interest in the business of language testing might want to keep an eye on this REOI from the Australian Department of Home Affairs.

Opened in 2022, it concerns the updating of acceptable tests for Australian visas. Currently, visa applicants may submit IELTS, PTE-Academic, OET, Cambridge C1 advanced or TOEFL scores (TOEFL scores only from tests administered before July 26).

This REOI may result in the acceptance of other test scores, though it isn’t clear which testing companies have expressed interest. Assuming that wholly at-home tests are off the table, I’d love to see both the CAEL and “Skills for English” tests accepted. Not because some tests are better than other tests, but because more choice in the market is generally a good thing.

I can’t find it in writing, but I think the results of this REOI will be implemented in mid 2024.

Always one step ahead of their Canadian brothers and sisters, the Australians broke up the IELTS monopoly on language testing for visas back in 2014/15 (yes, I know the OET was accepted in some cases back then).

There are a few fun features of the REOI that made me chuckle. I’ll highlight those in a separate post.

Now in Open Access at “Language Testing” is a summary of the enquiry (aka score review) and resit policies of all our favorite language tests (Cambridge English Qualifications, Duolingo, IELTS, LanguageCert, PTE, PSI Skills for English, TOEFL, Trinity).

It was done by William S. Pearson of the University of Exeter.

Really useful information to have.

If you are curious about how happy the language testing industry is about changes to the SDS system in Canada, consider the following:

  1. Canada issued 590,570 study permits in 2022. The number of study permits issued increased year over year by 5% in Q1 of 2023 and a whopping 35% in Q2 of 2023.
  2. Immigration minister Marc Miller estimated today that the total number of study permit holders in Canada will hit “about 900,000” in 2023. Compare that to the 948,000 international students currently studying in the USA, according to the most recent Open Doors Statistics.

Almost everyone applying for study permits has access to the SDS system at this point.

My point here is that it’s a pretty big deal for everyone involved in language testing that SDS applicants can pick from a wide range of language tests, and are no longer forced to use IELTS scores. Other language tests certainly have opportunities to grow their market share as a result of this change.

(data source)

IDP Education has just published its financial report for the year ending June 2023. Some highlights:

  1. IDP delivered 1.93 million IELTS tests during the year. That’s up 1% from 1.91 million tests last year.
  2. Revenue from testing is up 7%. Revenue growth is up mostly because the average cost of taking the IELTS increased by six percent during the year.
  3. IELTS revenue in India is down 5%. No word on the decline in testing volume, but it must be more than 5%, given price increases. I guess the other companies are successfully chipping away at IDP’s dominance in this market. Good for them.
  4. IELTS revenue is up a big 18% outside of India. Testing volumes are up 22% outside of India.
  5. These figures do not include IELTS tests administered by the British Council. Remember that IELTS is a two-headed beast, and that test takers can opt to get the test from IDP or BC (though not in every market).  Those figures will be available later this year.

It is fascinating to see a test like the Pearson PTE grow by 50% in a year, while the IELTS grows by only about 1%. We are certainly witnessing a sea change in the way language testing is done. I predict a more consumer-friendly environment moving forward (but I fear consolidation).

Those changes to the Student Direct Stream (SDS) are now in effect. The IELTS monopoly is broken, and students may now also use scores from the TOEFL, PTE, CAEL and CELPIP tests. This is very, very good for students. Monopolies, as we know, are bad.

I just noticed one other change, which is that students using IELTS scores are no longer required to achieve a score of 6.0 in each of the four skills. Now they only need to achieve an overall score of 6.0. That’s probably too low, but I guess it won’t really matter too much as few schools (other than the sketchy degree mills) will admit students with band scores below 6.0.

I also noticed that students submitting an IELTS score need 6.0, students submitting a TOEFL score need an overall score of 83. That seems a bit high. According to the conversion tables published by ETS, an IELTS score of 6.0 matches a TOEFL score of 60.

Similarly, students submitting a PTE score need an overall score of 60. But according to the conversion tables published by Pearson, an IELTS score of 6.0 matches a PTE score of 46.

Again, this probably doesn’t matter since accepting schools do a better (but not perfect) job at properly matching score requirements but I think it is worth noting.

“Language Testing” just published an article about using the TOEFL and IELTS tests to predict academic success at university. The authors’ meta-analysis of 32 studies indicates that there is a weak positive correlation with academic achievement and no significant difference between the predictive power of each test.

Note the following conclusion, though:

Although significant, the overall correlation was low; thus, practitioners are cautioned from using standardized English-language proficiency test scores in isolation in lieu of a holistic application review during the admissions process.

Perhaps the test creators would agree that the tests should be used only to assess a test-taker’s ability to use academic English, and not be used to predict their academic success. Indeed, there are other tests which can be used for the latter purpose.

It appears that test takers can now register for “IELTS Online,” which is a version of the IELTS test that can be taken from home.  The registration page is right here.  It appears that the speaking section is offered only on Wednesdays, while the rest of the test is offered only on Thursdays.   Yes, that means the test must be completed across two separate days. The cost seems to be $229 USD. 

Sadly, registration seems to be limited to certain countries.  I’ve used my VPN to confirm that IELTS Online is currently available in Japan and Korea.  I have confirmed that it is not available in the United States and India.  Those are just the countries I have tested so far.  I’ll run a few experiments to figure out which other countries I can register from.

Honestly, though, don’t be surprised if this changes in the near future.  I don’t see any details about this on the main IELTS page, and I only know about the registration page because it was sent to me.  The only additional details provided right now seem to be in Japanese.

Update:  A test-taker guide to the Online Test is now available.

Update:  IDP has some unlisted YouTube videos with more information.  Find them here:

 

The British Council recently funded a study comparing the IELTS Academic Test and the Duolingo English Test.  You can read the study here.  The authors of the report suggest that the DET has some weaknesses.  They conclude:

Our analysis demonstrates that, compared to IELTS, DET test tasks under-represent the construct of academic language proficiency as it is commonly understood, i.e., the ability to speak, listen, read, and write in academic contexts. Most of the DET test tasks are heavily weighted towards vocabulary knowledge and syntactic parsing rather than comprehension or production of extended discourse, though the recent addition of Interactive Reading addresses this lack somewhat.

But they do note that:

Scores on the two tests are correlated, which might suggest that DET is a reasonable substitute for IELTS, given its accessibility and low cost. Of course, knowledge of lexis and grammar are essential enabling skills for higher-order cognitive skills, and a test that focuses on these lower-level skills can be useful for making broad distinctions between low, intermediate, and high proficiency learners. However, potential test users should be aware of the limitations of DET in terms of predicting academic success.

The study was done by researchers working out of Georgia State University.

It has been announced that IDP CEO Andrew Barkla will step down in September. He has served in that position since 2015. This means that both ETS and IDP will be getting new leadership around the same time.

Barkla made headlines in 2019 when he became the highest paid CEO in Australia, earning about 38 million dollars in compensation.

The bottom line is that Barkla’s tenure as CEO has been an astounding success.  He took the company public in 2015 with a value of $3.40 per share, and brought it to a high of $38.88 in November of last year.  Everyone involved has made a lot of money.

That said, I can’t help buy wonder why the IELTS didn’t get a permanent computer based version until 2017, and why it still doesn’t have a home edition.  That sort of technological tardiness has surely cost the firm some amount of shareholder value over the past few years.

 

This month’s issue of “Language Testing” includes a review of IELTS.  Like… the whole test.  Test reviews are the best part of that journal, and this one is no exception.  Check it out for an overview of the test, its history and its validity argument.

It isn’t exactly a glowing review, as the author raises some interesting questions regarding the validity of the IELTS as a test for immigration in four countries with multiple classes of immigrants which sometimes experience abrupt changes in immigration policy.  The author also highlights some of the compromises that have been made in allowing the academic and general training modules to share speaking and listening sections.

The review also highlights how testing organizations “can lose control of how their test is used” by discussing how Australian immigration officials have gradually cranked up score requirements mostly to control the number of visa granted (instead of attempting to reflect the level of English needed to participate in society).

The author seems to have a mixed opinion of the validity of each of the specific sections of the test.

It isn’t all negative.  I don’t want you to think that. There are some kind words about the potential for positive washback here.

What I find most striking is that the IELTS is, to some extent, a test stuck in the late 1980s.  Consider how ETS managed to modernize itself by introducing the TOEFL CBT in 1998 and the TOEFL iBT in 2005. Consider also how they are currently (and successfully) trying to do the same thing with at-home testing.  IDP, in contrast, seems much slower to adapt to the changing world.

An update for those waiting for the IELTS Online (aka the home edition). The IELTS website has been updated and now saysIELTS Online will be available in 2022 in limited countries.”

It used to say “IELTS Online will be available from early 2022.

I think we can read this as a delay to the roll-out of the new test.

Also notable is that the website now says “you will receive your results 3-6 days after taking IELTS Online.

The original version said “you will receive your results 3-5 days after taking IELTS Online.”