Beyond the IELTS test: Chinese and Japanese postgraduate UK experiences

Abstract

This case study explores the challenges that Master's students encounter when learning to write in academic English as part of a UK postgraduate course, after having achieved the required IELTS entry score. Interviews with six Chinese and Japanese learners at different stages of the Master's study revealed more sophisticated writing difficulties than they had previously experienced. Although students were largely managing their written work overall, there were recurring challenges with critical thinking, the transition to full academic compositions, using reading to inform academic writing, presenting evidence and conveying a clear written message over demonstrating lexical or grammatical range as required in IELTS writing. Furthermore, candidates on non-standard courses (e.g. film or finance) found their assignments to be quite unfamiliar; the use of one academic test for all disciplines may be disadvantageous to some. In summary, although IELTS had provided an important first step to help students develop basic writing skills, meeting university assessment expectations necessitated considerable further progress. The required support to achieve this may be somewhat underdeveloped in the existing model of international postgraduate study, for the participants in this paper. This research follows as part of a larger project, which focussed on IELTS test preparation in China and Japan (Clark 2018).

Authenticity and Validity of the Ielts Writing Test as Predictor of Academic Performance

“…Paul then concluded that IELTS scores were not adequate representation of students' ability to handle more sophisticated tasks specific to their respective disciplines, and stated that the correlation between IELTS Writing band scores and success in completing academic tasks remained unclear. Similarly, Clark and Yu (2020) uncovered that Japanese and Chinese Master's students in the UK found written university assignments much more sophisticated than IELTS writing tasks. In particular, they professed that academic writing tasks demand high levels of critical thinking, the use of readings as reference and the ability to present evidence and deliver a clear message, as opposed to IELTS writing which puts greater emphasis on lexical and grammatical range.…”

“…To maintain a high degree of authenticity, the first iteration of the IELTS academic test was offered with three specialized modules in Reading and Writing to cater for candidates' selected courses of study (Clapham & Alderson, 1997;Davies, 2008). However, limited success and administrative issues prompted the IELTS test makers to revise and generalize the test (Clapham, 1996), which consequently made it less authentic (Coombe et al, 2012) and thus disadvantageous for students from less relevant disciplines (Clark & Yu, 2020). Nevertheless, this trade-off between practicality and authenticity was deemed acceptable, since attempts to introduce subject-specific modules have failed and been left out of the current IELTS version (Charge & Taylor, 1997).…”

“…Therefore, it is recommended that the minimum IELTS individual band score for writing score required to enroll in university programs be raised (Feast, 2002;Müller, 2015;Paul, 2007), although Feast acknowledged that such decision may eventually result in significant financial losses from the universities' point of view. Alternatively, student candidates should undertake an academic writing skills preparation program along with their preparation for IELTS (Moore & Morton, 2005), as such support may not be adequately available in universities, particularly for overseas postgraduate students (Clark & Yu, 2020). It may also be suggested that the IELTS Writing test, particularly the second task, be reverted to an older version which integrated writing and reading skills (Wallace, 1997) to increase authenticity by covering the skills of accessing external sources (Moore & Morton, 2005).…”

Cultivating Iranian IELTS Candidates’ Writing Skills through Online Peer Feedback: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry

“…ese tests nowadays play a crucial role in many people's lives. ey are used for making critical decisions, such as admissions to universities, migration, and job employments [31]. IELTS exam measures test-takers' performance to use English in communicative contexts.…”

Test preparation pedagogy for international study: Relating teacher cognition, instructional models and academic writing skills

“…There is now an existing body of research on international student experiences suggesting that, for many, the transition and adjustment to meet local needs of an unfamiliar higher education course is a challenging and multifaceted endeavor (Andrade, 2009;Banerjee, 2003;Clark, 2018). Those entering higher education are expected to develop their academic English skills from the course outseta significant undertaking in some cases, particularly for academic writing (Clark & Yu, 2020). Implications for the study experience of attempting to do this while improving English language proficiency, building peer networks, overcoming financial difficulties and managing cultural adjustment are not to be underestimated (Khanal & Gaulee, 2019).…”