8330 3y03 ieltsanuualreview2011 web

7/27/2019 8330 3Y03 IELTSAnuualReview2011 Web

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Annual Review 2011The leading Englishlanguage test for education, professionalregistration and migration

More people go moreplaces with IELTS


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IELTS is jointly owned by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations(Cambridge ESOL). The IELTS test is designed and set by some of the worlds leading experts in languageassessment to give a true picture of a candidates language skills.


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IELTS Annual Review 2011

News highlights 4

Conferences and events 6

Stakeholder engagement 8

IELTS research 9

Band score information 10

Contents


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News highlights

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A record 1.7 million testsHeightened demand for accurate and reliable testing of English language proficiency sawover 1.7 million IELTS (International English Language Testing System) tests taken in 2011.Thats 200,000 more tests than the previous year, indicating that more and more people arechoosing IELTS to make their study, work and travel ambitions a reality.

Our key markets globally have seen strong growth, but we also experienceddouble-digit growth in many emerging markets, demonstrating the increasing popularity of IELTS throughout the world.

Huge growth in the USACandidate numbers continue to increase in the US, with 2011 another record year. This ispartly due to increased test frequency at many of our US centres and the fact that so manyinstitutions either require or recommend an IELTS test result.

In the US alone, over 3,000 institutions and programmes accept IELTS scores, including theeight elite Ivy League institutions. Over 350 new programmes were added in 2011.


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Successful Facebook launchWe launched our IELTS Facebook page in November and by the end of the year over 15,000 candidates had

joined this lively community. They enjoy sharing tips,trying activities and quizzes, joining in discussions andmaking friends with other people preparing for the test.

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IELTS sets the standardfor migration Accepted as a preferred test by the Australian

Department for Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)for all categories of visa.

Chosen as one of two tests accepted by Citizenshipand Immigration Canada (CIC) as proof of languageproficiency for skilled migrant workers.

The only test accepted by Immigration New Zealandfor migration.

IELTS Online ResultsFollowing the launch of the IELTS online score resultspreview, test takers can view their IELTS scores13 days after taking the test, and before receiving their official Test Report Form.

Increased IELTS availabilityWith demand for IELTS at an all-time high, in 2011 weopened 19 new test centres in:

Australia

Azerbaijan

Canada

Indonesia Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Nigeria

Saudi Arabia

Trinidad and Tobago

Turkey

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States of America.


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Conferencesand eventsInternational educationeventsThis year we have been busy meetingdelegates and supporting a variety of international education events across the

world, including:

Going Global (Hong Kong)

NAFSA Annual Conference and

Expo (Canada)

ICEF Dubai Workshop

(United Arab Emirates)

ICEF North America Workshop (Canada)

CamTESOL (Cambodia)

Asia Pacific Association for International

Education (Taiwan)

English Australia (Australia)

Australian International Education

Conference (Australia)

QS-MAPLE (United Arab Emirates)

IATEFL, UK

ALTE, Poland

EAIE, Denmark

UKNARIC, UK

EducationUSA.

These events offer an opportunity for organisations that accept IELTS to gain adeeper understanding of the assessmentprocess, including what level of English

each band score represents. The events arealso an invaluable opportunity for us to getfeedback from our stakeholders.

Going Global conferenceThis years event was the first British CouncilGoing Global conference to take placeoutside the United Kingdom. Hosted in HongKong, the conference attracted around1,000 delegates from 70 countries, andconsiderable press attention.

IELTS was a platinum sponsor at the eventand led a panel discussion on differingperceptions towards English languagerequirements and tests for admissionspurposes in the US and Hong Kong.


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Australian InternationalEducation Conference (AIEC)This IDP event marked the 25th anniversary of boththe first AIEC conference and the introduction of thefull fee-paying international student programme inAustralia. It was a great opportunity for us to meetand reconnect with higher education staff fromall over the world, and give them the latest IELTSsupport tools.

NAFSA Conference & ExpoIELTS again supported this key annual event for international educators in North America as platinumsponsor and exhibitor. With record-breakingattendance of more than 8,000 participants, we wereable to engage with colleagues on all aspects of international education.

EducationUSA events

We were privileged to sponsor, present andparticipate in the EducationUSA Triennial Workshopin Qatar, at this critical time of transformation in theMiddle East and North Africa region. We providedcolleagues and US-bound students with vitalinformation on language proficiency requirements for US admissions and academic success.

We also participated in the EducationUSA Connectswebinar series, which gave international students theopportunity to learn more about US study and interact

directly with educational experts, from the comfort of their own homes.

EAIE CopenhagenIELTS was platinum sponsor of this very importantevent in Europe. More than 4,200 international highereducation professionals from 87 countries met inCopenhagen to exchange ideas and discover newtrends and best practices. During the NewcomersReception and from the exhibition stand, IELTS

representatives spoke with nearly 50% of the audience.


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Stakeholder engagementAs well as maintaining contact throughregular newsletters, we have met face toface with hundreds of teachers, higher education professionals, immigrationauthorities, professional registration bodiesand other test users.

Information sessions in

Australia, New Zealandand CanadaThis year, we held 22 information sessionsacross 16 cities in Australia, New Zealandand Canada with close to 700 participantsattending. They included staff from higher education (in admissions, teachingand learning, and academic support),professional associations, employers,language teachers and secondary schools.

Regular government meetings werealso held, as well as group sessions for members of the Migration Institute of Australia.

Face-to-face meetings inthe UKIn 2011 we held two large seminars inLondon to give universities, colleges,professional registration bodies andimmigration authorities informationabout IELTS. We also met with keystakeholders throughout the year includingrepresentatives from the Australian,Canadian, New Zealand and UKimmigration authorities, the medical andlegal professional registration bodies, anduniversities and colleges throughout

the UK.


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IELTS research

Paula Winke

Hyojung Lim

The e ects o testwiseness onL2 Listening Test per ormance: avisual (eye-tracking) and attentional

investigation

Michigan State University,USA

Talia Isaacs

Pavel Trofimovich

Guoxing Yu

Examining the linguistic aspectso speech that most e fciently discriminate between the upper levels o the revised IELTS

pronunciation scale

University o Bristol, UK

Paul Seedhouse Speaking eatures that distinguishIELTS pro iciency levels

Newcastle University, UK

Jill Murray

Ken Cruickshank

Judie Cross

Stakeholder perceptions o IELTS as a gateway to the pro essional

workplace: the case o employerso overseas trained teachers

Macquarie University, Australia

Tim Moore

Janne Morton

Chris Wallis

Literacy practices in the pro essional workplace: Implicationsor the IELTS General TrainingReading and Writing tests

Swinburne University o Technology, Australia

Research grantsEvery year, the IELTS partners welcome applications for grant funding from educationalinstitutions and suitably qualified individuals. In 2011, the following projects were awardedgrant funding:

Research reportsTwo new IELTS Research Reports were published in 2011 Volume 11 and Volume 12. Theseries now contains over 80 research reports from the grant-funded programme, from thepast 16 years. They can be downloaded free of charge atwww.ielts.org/researchers/research.aspx

Caroline Clapham IELTS Masters AwardIn 2011, the Caroline Clapham IELTS Masters Award went to Kellie Frost, for her dissertationsubmitted to the University of Melbourne entitled Investigating the validity o an integrated

listeningspeaking task: A discourse-based analysis o test takers oral per ormances.

In 2012, IDP: IELTS Australia and British Council will double the amount of grant fundingavailable for each IELTS-related research project for projects up to two years in length.


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IELTS is assessed on a 9-band scale and reports scores both overall and by individual skill.Overall band scores for Academic and General Training candidates in 2011 are showntogether with scores for individual skills according to a variety of classifications. These figuresare broadly in line with statistics for previous years.

Academic and General Training candidatesThe following table shows the split between the Academic and General Training candidaturein 2011.

Band score information

2011

Academic 78.3%

General Training 21.7%


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Mean band scores for female candidates

Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Academic 6.1 6.1 5.6 5.9 6.0

General Training 6.2 5.7 5.9 6.2 6.1

Gender Candidates receive an overall band score as well as individual scores for each testcomponent (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking).

These figures show the mean overall and individual band scores achieved in 2011 byAcademic and General Training candidates according to their gender.

Note that actual test scores are reported in whole and half bands only (e.g. 6 or 6.5).

Mean band scores for male candidates

Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Academic 5.9 5.8 5.4 5.7 5.8

General Training 6.3 5.7 5.8 6.3 6.1


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Reason for taking IELTSThe following tables show the distribution of scores achieved by various groups of

candidates, which may be of interest as an indication of how an individual candidate hasperformed relative to other members of a grouping to which he or she belongs, though thecategories reported here are necessarily very broad.

Academic candidates: Reason for taking IELTSOverall band score and candidates in %

Academic Below4 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9

For employment 1% 1% 3% 6% 11% 19% 22% 20% 11% 4% 1% 0%

For higher educationextended course (threemonths or more)

2% 3% 8% 15% 21% 20% 15% 9% 5% 2% 1% 0%

For higher educationshort course (threemonths or less)

2% 4% 10% 17% 20% 17% 13% 9% 5% 2% 0% 0%

For immigration 1% 1% 2% 5% 11% 17% 20% 18% 13% 7% 3% 1%

For other educationpurposes 2% 4% 10% 16% 20% 19% 14% 9% 5% 2% 0% 0%

For personal reasons 2% 4% 8% 15% 20% 20% 16% 10% 5% 2% 0% 0%

For professionalregistration (notmedical)

1% 1% 2% 4% 7% 13% 21% 22% 16% 8% 3% 0%

For registration asa dentist 1% 1% 2% 4% 6% 13% 21% 23% 16% 9% 3% 0%

For registration asa doctor 0% 1% 1% 2% 5% 11% 20% 24% 19% 11% 4% 1%

For registration asa nurse (includingCGFNS)

0% 0% 1% 2% 7% 17% 27% 24% 13% 5% 2% 0%

Other 2% 3% 8% 13% 17% 19% 16% 12% 7% 3% 1% 0%


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General Training candidates: Reason for taking IELTSOverall band score and candidates in %

General Training Below4 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9

For employment 4% 4% 7% 12% 17% 19% 15% 11% 7% 3% 1% 0%

For higher educationextended course (threemonths or more)

5% 7% 11% 14% 18% 19% 13% 7% 3% 1% 0% 0%

For higher educationshort course (threemonths or less)

4% 4% 7% 13% 21% 23% 15% 8% 3% 1% 0% 0%

For immigration 2% 2% 4% 8% 14% 20% 18% 14% 9% 5% 3% 1%

For other educationpurposes 5% 8% 13% 14% 19% 20% 12% 6% 3% 1% 0% 0%

For personal reasons 4% 3% 7% 12% 19% 22% 16% 10% 5% 2% 1% 0%

For professionalregistration (notmedical)

1% 1% 3% 5% 12% 24% 22% 17% 10% 5% 1% 0%

For registration as adentist 1% 3% 5% 7% 12% 20% 16% 18% 10% 6% 1% 1%

For registration as adoctor 2% 2% 5% 9% 16% 21% 16% 13% 8% 6% 2% 1%

For registration asa nurse (includingCGFNS)

1% 2% 4% 10% 14% 23% 22% 12% 6% 3% 2% 0%

Other 5% 4% 8% 13% 19% 20% 14% 8% 4% 2% 1% 0%


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Place of origin

These figures show the mean overall and individual band scores achieved in 2011 byAcademic and General Training candidates from the top 40 places of origin, listedalphabetically.

Mean band score for the most frequent countries or regions of origin (Academic)

Academic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Bangladesh 5.9 5.6 5.6 5.9 5.8

Brazil 6.8 6.9 6.2 6.9 6.7

China (Peoples Republic) 5.8 5.9 5.2 5.3 5.6

Colombia 6.2 6.4 5.7 6.4 6.2

Cyprus 6.4 5.9 5.7 6.2 6.1

Egypt 6.3 6.1 5.8 6.3 6.2

France 6.9 7.1 6.0 6.5 6.7

Germany 7.5 7.2 6.5 7.2 7.2

Greece 7.2 6.9 6.1 6.5 6.7

Hong Kong SAR 6.7 6.7 5.8 6.0 6.4

India 6.3 5.8 5.6 6.0 6.0

Indonesia 6.3 6.4 5.6 6.0 6.1

Iran 5.8 5.7 5.6 6.2 5.9

Iraq 5.4 5.3 5.2 6.0 5.5

Italy 6.5 7.0 5.8 6.3 6.5

Japan 6.0 6.0 5.3 5.6 5.8

Jordan 5.7 5.5 5.2 6.0 5.7

Kazakhstan 5.9 5.9 5.6 6.0 5.9

Korea, South 6.2 6.1 5.4 5.7 5.9

Kuwait 5.3 4.9 4.8 5.6 5.2

Malaysia 7.2 7.1 6.2 6.6 6.9

Mexico 6.7 6.8 5.9 6.5 6.6

Nepal 6.3 5.8 5.7 6.0 6.0

Nigeria 6.1 6.0 6.2 7.0 6.4

Oman 5.3 5.1 5.0 5.7 5.4

Pakistan 5.8 5.5 5.6 6.0 5.8

Philippines 7.0 6.6 6.2 6.8 6.7

Qatar 4.8 4.6 4.5 5.3 4.9

Romania 7.2 7.0 6.2 6.8 6.9

Russia 6.6 6.6 5.9 6.6 6.5

Saudi Arabia 4.9 4.8 4.7 5.6 5.1

Spain 6.7 6.9 6.0 6.5 6.6

Sri Lanka 6.6 6.1 5.9 6.5 6.3

Sudan 5.9 5.7 5.5 6.2 5.9

Taiwan 5.9 6.0 5.5 5.9 5.9

Thailand 5.9 5.9 5.3 5.7 5.8

Turkey 6.0 5.9 5.3 5.8 5.8

United Arab Emirates 4.9 4.8 4.7 5.4 5.0

Uzbekistan (Republic of) 5.7 5.6 5.0 5.5 5.5

Vietnam 5.9 6.1 5.6 5.7 5.9


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Mean band score for the most frequent countries or regions of origin (General Training)

General Training Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Bangladesh 6.1 5.4 5.8 6.2 5.9

Brazil 6.4 6.3 6.1 6.7 6.4

China (Peoples Republic) 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.8 6.0

Colombia 5.7 5.7 5.6 6.0 5.8

Egypt 6.3 5.9 5.9 6.4 6.2

France 6.9 6.9 6.3 6.8 6.8

Germany 7.0 6.6 6.4 7.2 6.8

Ghana 4.8 4.3 5.7 6.5 5.4Hong Kong SAR 6.7 6.4 5.9 6.2 6.4

India 6.4 5.6 5.8 6.2 6.1

Indonesia 6.6 6.3 5.9 6.3 6.4

Iran 5.8 5.4 5.8 6.3 5.9

Iraq 5.7 5.2 5.4 6.2 5.7

Italy 6.2 6.1 5.8 6.4 6.2

Japan 6.0 5.6 5.5 5.8 5.8

Jordan 5.9 5.5 5.5 6.3 5.9

Kenya 6.7 6.1 6.6 7.2 6.7

Korea, South 5.8 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.5

Lebanon 6.3 5.7 5.9 6.6 6.2

Malaysia 7.3 6.9 6.5 7.0 7.0

Mauritius 6.5 5.9 6.2 6.7 6.4

Mexico 6.3 6.3 6.0 6.6 6.3

Nepal 6.3 5.6 5.9 6.2 6.1

Nigeria 5.8 5.7 6.5 7.0 6.3

Pakistan 6.2 5.5 6.0 6.4 6.1

Philippines 6.2 5.7 5.9 6.3 6.1

Romania 6.5 6.3 5.9 6.2 6.3

Russia 6.4 6.3 6.0 6.4 6.3

Saudi Arabia 4.6 3.8 4.4 5.0 4.5

Singapore 7.7 7.3 6.9 7.5 7.4

South Africa 7.4 7.0 7.3 8.4 7.6

Sri Lanka 6.3 5.7 5.8 6.3 6.1

Taiwan 6.3 5.8 5.8 6.2 6.1

Thailand 5.6 5.2 5.3 5.6 5.5

Turkey 5.8 5.5 5.5 5.8 5.7

Ukraine 5.8 5.6 5.5 6.0 5.8

United Arab Emirates 4.3 3.5 4.3 4.9 4.3

United States of America 8.0 7.6 7.7 8.6 8.0

Venezuela 6.3 6.3 6.1 6.4 6.3

Vietnam 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.8


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These figures show the mean overall and individual band scores achieved in 2011 byAcademic and General Training candidates from the top 40 first language backgrounds,listed alphabetically.

Mean band scores for the most common first languages (Academic)

Academic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Arabic 5.1 5.0 4.9 5.7 5.2

Bengali 6.0 5.6 5.6 6.0 5.9

Bulgarian 7.1 6.8 6.1 6.8 6.8

Burmese 6.4 6.3 5.7 6.0 6.1

Chinese 5.9 6.0 5.3 5.4 5.7

English* 7.3 6.9 6.6 7.5 7.1

Farsi 5.9 5.7 5.6 6.3 5.9

French 6.7 6.9 5.9 6.5 6.6

German 7.5 7.3 6.5 7.2 7.2

Greek 7.0 6.6 6.0 6.5 6.6

Gujurati 6.1 5.6 5.5 5.8 5.8

Hindi 6.6 6.0 5.8 6.2 6.2

Indonesian 6.3 6.4 5.6 6.0 6.1

Italian 6.5 7.0 5.8 6.3 6.5

Japanese 6.0 6.0 5.3 5.6 5.8

Kannada 7.1 6.5 6.3 6.8 6.7

Kazakh 5.9 5.8 5.5 5.9 5.8

Korean 6.2 6.1 5.4 5.6 5.9

Lithuanian 7.0 6.7 5.7 6.4 6.5

Malay 7.0 6.8 6.0 6.5 6.6

Malayalam 6.7 6.2 6.1 6.4 6.4

Marathi 6.9 6.4 6.2 6.6 6.6

Nepali 6.3 5.8 5.8 6.0 6.0

Other 6.3 6.0 6.1 6.8 6.4

Pashto 5.4 5.3 5.5 5.9 5.6

Polish 7.1 6.9 6.2 6.9 6.8

Portuguese 6.8 6.8 6.1 6.8 6.7

Punjabi 5.9 5.4 5.2 5.5 5.5

Romanian 7.2 7.0 6.2 6.8 6.9

Russian 6.5 6.5 5.8 6.5 6.4

Singhalese 6.7 6.2 6.0 6.6 6.4

Spanish 6.5 6.7 5.9 6.5 6.5

Tagalog 7.0 6.6 6.2 6.8 6.7

Tamil 6.6 6.2 5.9 6.4 6.3

Telugu 6.4 5.8 5.8 6.2 6.1

Thai 5.9 5.8 5.3 5.7 5.8

Turkish 6.0 5.9 5.4 5.8 5.8

Urdu 5.9 5.5 5.6 6.0 5.8

Uzbek 5.6 5.5 4.9 5.4 5.4

Vietnamese 5.9 6.1 5.6 5.7 5.9

* first language as self-chosen by candidates drawn from a wide range of nationalities

First language


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General Training Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall

Afrikaans 7.2 6.8 6.9 8.0 7.3

Akan 4.6 4.1 5.5 6.3 5.2

Arabic 5.2 4.6 5.1 5.7 5.2

Bengali 6.1 5.5 5.8 6.2 6.0

Chinese 6.3 6.1 5.7 5.9 6.1

Creole 6.4 5.7 6.1 6.6 6.2

English* 7.3 6.9 7.0 7.8 7.3

Farsi 5.8 5.4 5.8 6.3 5.9

French 6.4 6.2 6.2 6.6 6.4

German 6.9 6.6 6.4 7.1 6.8

Gujurati 6.3 5.5 5.7 6.1 5.9

Hindi 6.6 5.8 6.0 6.4 6.2

Ibo/Igbo 5.8 5.6 6.6 7.0 6.3

Indonesian 6.6 6.3 5.9 6.3 6.4

Italian 6.2 6.1 5.8 6.3 6.2

Japanese 6.0 5.6 5.5 5.8 5.8

Kannada 6.9 6.3 6.3 6.7 6.6

Korean 5.8 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.5

Malay 7.1 6.7 6.4 6.9 6.9

Malayalam 6.5 5.9 6.1 6.3 6.3

Marathi 6.8 6.1 6.3 6.7 6.5

Nepali 6.4 5.6 5.9 6.2 6.1

Other 6.1 5.6 6.3 6.9 6.3

Pashto 5.9 5.3 5.9 6.4 5.9

Polish 6.3 6.0 5.9 6.5 6.2

Portuguese 6.4 6.2 6.1 6.7 6.4

Punjabi 6.1 5.2 5.6 5.9 5.7

Romanian 6.5 6.2 5.9 6.2 6.3

Russian 6.2 6.1 5.9 6.3 6.2

Singhalese 6.4 5.7 5.8 6.4 6.1

Spanish 6.0 6.0 5.8 6.3 6.1

Tagalog 6.2 5.7 5.9 6.3 6.1

Tamil 6.4 5.8 5.9 6.3 6.2

Telugu 6.7 5.9 6.0 6.4 6.3

Thai 5.6 5.2 5.3 5.6 5.5

Turkish 5.8 5.5 5.5 5.8 5.7

Ukrainian 5.7 5.4 5.4 5.9 5.6

Urdu 6.2 5.6 6.0 6.4 6.1

Vietnamese 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.8

Yoruba 5.6 5.6 6.3 6.8 6.2

* first language as self-chosen by candidates drawn from a wide range of nationalities

Mean band scores for the most common first languages (General Training)


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notes


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notes


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British CouncilBridgewater House58 Whitworth StreetManchester, M1 6BBUnited Kingdom

Tel 44 161 957 7755email [email protected]

IDP: IELTS AustraliaLevel 8535 Bourke StreetMelbourne VIC 3000Australia

Tel 61 3 9612 4400Fax 61 3 9629 7697email [email protected]

University of CambridgeESOL Examinations1 Hills RoadCambridge, CB1 2EUUnited Kingdom

Tel 44 1223 553997Fax 44 1223 460278email [email protected]

IELTS USA825 Colorado Boulevard Suite 201Los Angeles, CA 90041USA

Tel 1 323 255 2771Fax 1 323 255 1261

email [email protected]

www.ielts.org

U C L E S 2 0 1 3 E M C / 8 3 3 0 / 3 Y 0 3

* 9 8 9 8 8 8 8 6 1 8 *

IELTS is jointly owned by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations(Cambridge ESOL). The IELTS test is designed and set by some of the worlds leading experts in language

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