Some really great research this month from Alina Reid in support of the new ISE Digital Test from Trinity College London. The research examines how the test’s new integrated reading/writing task connects to real-life academic writing.
This is important in a world where testing companies are quick to claim that their tests are “fit for purpose” without really supporting that claim. Indeed, the author references studies which seem to question the validity of both the IELTS and TOEFL independent writing tasks.
In the case of Trinity’s test, 64% of surveyed EAP instructors agreed that the task in question resembled the assignments they give in their classes. Which is good, but not great. A greater share – 86% of respondents – agreed that the task engages similar skills and strategies that are used in their classes. That’s a bit better.
Said one respondent:
“…if students are able to write reasonably well [at] this level, they could be equipped with many of the skills and strategies required to write lengthier assignments. You will have concrete evidence as a teacher of the capability of the student in terms of understanding texts, choosing relevant information from sources, synthesizing, and paraphrasing by answering a question like this.”
But another:
“This task does not reflect the real needs of university students. University students need to engage with extensive reading and evaluate the suitability of texts. They would never have to write something so short in forty minutes. Instead, they would have weeks to work on a more extensive research task which would result in a longer piece of academic writing. Shorter texts are more simple to organize and may not emphasize the importance of coherence.”
Personally, my perspective is similar to the latter comment. Tests can be great measures of one’s ability to use the English language. But I’m wary of claims that any two or three hour test can indicate the ability of a student to do meaningful academic work. Especially when a test maker just asks us to take their word for it.