As we have seen so often
in studies investigating the setting of language proficiency requirements, there exists no magic IELTS
band score formula which can suit multiple contexts of use. Instead, a process of careful analysis and
considered judgement is necessary by each institutional user of IELTS scores, taking into account
factors such as course length, level of language and other support available post entry, as well as cultural
experience and expectations. Sawyer and Singh suggest that the extent of opportunity for language
development during a course may be an important consideration in this regard: thus higher IELTS
scores may be deemed advisable for accessing shorter courses (e.g. one-year Diplomas), lower scores more appropriate for longer courses which offer students more time to develop the critical language
skills they need to embark on their professional career.
It is encouraging to see that the researchers are not at all naïve about the practical considerations involved
in test production and they readily acknowledge the challenges associated with modifying the IELTS test
in order to improve construct representation along the lines they propose. We clearly need to recognise
the limits to which a test such as IELTS can (or should be expected to) simulate language use in the
target use situation in its entirety. The testing of reading in IELTS is premised upon a generalist construct
of academic reading and the researchers are right to highlight the inevitable challenge that disciplinary
variation in reading requirements at university raises for a test such as IELTS. Furthermore, as previously
mentioned, IELTS is designed principally to test readiness to enter the world of university-level study
in the English language and does not assume test takers have already mastered the high-level academic
literacy skills they are likely to require for their future studies. Such skills may well need to be developed
during their studies, perhaps even during the early months of their first year, and within a specific
disciplinary context which enjoys its own specialist discourse and approach to literacy.