Testing of English, as a whole, is becoming an increasingly contentious issue around
the world as, through globalisation, English is still seen by the majority to be the lingua
franca. In this market, IELTS would, at face value at least, appear to be the most
comprehensive test of an overall proficiency in English but, with the constant emergence of
new tests in the same field (Arita, 2003), this may not continue to be the case without
continual development and modification.