Challenging the power invested in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS): Why determining ‘English’ preparedness needs to be undertaken within the subject context

Pilcher, Nick; Richards, Kendall

Abstract

Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide base international student recruitment on the assumption their preparedness in ‘English’ is assured if they reach a certain level in tests such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). This assumes an abstract objectivist view of language that sees the ‘English’ as removable for testing in any context. However, in an individual subjectivist view of language, ‘English’ is inextricably linked with context, i.e. subject content that symbiotically connects thought and meaning. In this paper, we outline these views of language and consider the ‘English’ of IELTS. Next we detail interviews and focus groups we conducted with lecturers in subject areas of Design, Nursing, Engineering, Business, Computing, and Psychology. These researched the ‘English’ required in subjects and the thinking underpinning it. We then present and discuss results around three themes of ‘How ‘English’ is specific to the content of subjects’; ‘How the ‘English’ of subjects is underpinned by unique ideological and psychological elements’ and; ‘How the non-textual elements of different subjects are intertwined with their ‘English’’. Our results illustrate why we need to challenge the power invested in IELTS, and why determining English preparedness needs to be undertaken within the subject context.

Citation

Pilcher, N., & Richards, K. (2017). Challenging the power invested in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS): Why determining ‘English’ preparedness needs to be undertaken within the subject context. Power and Education, 9(1), 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743817691995

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 10, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 8, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 24, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 24, 2017
• Journal: Power and Education
• Electronic ISSN: 1757-7438
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743817691995
• Keywords: English, higher education, International English Language Testing System, international student recruitment
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/669675