IELTS conforms to the highest international standards of language assessment, testing four language skills-listening, reading, writing and speaking, which are equally weighted with scores reported on a 9-band scale of ability. Every candidate needs to take the same Listening and Speaking modules. The Speaking test of IELTS measures a candidate’s general proficiency in speaking in everyday situations via a structured, five-phase oral interview. As a performance test, the IELTS Speaking test has been one of the most important issues in the assessment of English proficiency. Assessment needs to be theory driven. For this reason, this paper will focus on validity, reliability and practicality of the IELTS Speaking test, qualities that affect assessment design.
展开▼
