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IELTS
IELTS is jointly managed by The University of Cambridge Local Examinations
Syndicate (UCLES), The British Council and IDP Education Australia: IELTS
Australia. IELTS tests reading, writing, listening and speaking. It is
recognised worldwide. There are two modules of the IELTS Test - Academic
module and the General Training module.
The IELTS Academic qualification is accepted as an entry requirement
to universities in the U.K, Australia, North America and New Zealand.
This module focuses on the English language skills which ESL students
will need when studying or training in English.
The IELTS General qualification is accepted as an entry requirement for
immigration to an English-speaking country.
For more information about the IELTS test, you could go to the www.ielts.org
website.
The IELTS Academic Reading Module has three reading passages that become
progressively more challenging. You are given 60 minutes to answer questions
for all three passages.
Reading
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The reading passages are on a variety of subjects and
are chosen for their suitability for people entering university.
The types of skills the Reading Module assesses include:
- identifying the gist of a passage
- finding detailed factual information in a passage
- identifying relationships between ideas or information items,
such as: ‹ cause and effect ‹ order of events ‹ comparison
- making inferences distinguishing between fact, assumption or
opinion
- understanding text organisation
- summarising information
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 Listening
The listening section of the IELTS exam has four taped sections that
become progressively more challenging. The IELTS listening passages are
on a variety of current topics and are chosen for their suitability for
people entering university.
The types of skills the Listening module assesses include:
- identifying the gist of a conversation or monologue extracting specific
factual information
- identifying speaker roles
- identifying relationships between ideas or pieces of information,
such as: - cause and effect - order of events - comparison
- following directions and instructions
- identifying numbers, dates, time, etc.
- making inferences
- determining when a speaker is expressing fact, assumption or opinion.
 Writing
The IELTS Academic Writing Module consists of two activities: Writing
Task 1 and Writing Task 2.
You are given 60 minutes to complete both tasks. The writing tasks are
on a variety of subjects and are chosen for their suitability for candidates
entering university, as are all our Reuters news articles.
In Writing Task 1, IELTS test candidates are
asked to write a report describing information presented in the form of
a graph, table or diagram. Many students find it difficult to understand
and interpret graphs and statistics. At www.selfaccess.com we provide
many examples of these exercises in a number of different ways to help
increase confidence.
In Writing Task 2, you are asked to:
- put forward a point of view on a given topic
- argue in support of or against a given statement
- propose a solution to a given problem
- speculate on implications of a given issue
TOEFL
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
is an English test that measures the ability of non-native speakers of
English (NESB) to use and understand North American English as it is used
in college and university settings. TOEFL is used by North American universities
and also in Australia, Britain and Europe to measure the English level
of ESL students from non-English speaking countries who wish to enter
undergraduate programmes.
The TOEFL test measures English language proficiency in reading, listening
and writing. It is a computer-based exam and there is also a paper-and-pencil
version of the TOEFL test.
Both the paper-based TOEFL test and the online TOEFL exam measure listening
and the ability to understand English as it is spoken in North America,
structure and grammar, reading and comprehension of short academic texts
and writing.
The paper-based TOEFL test takes about 3.5 hours to complete and has
three sections: Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression
which measures the ability to recognize standard written English and grammar,
and Reading Comprehension.
The Test of Written English (TWE®) is also required for everyone
taking the paper-based TOEFL test. TOEFL candidates have 30 minutes to
write a short essay on an assigned topic.
Listening
The listening section of the paper based TOEFL test and the online computer
based do differ. In the online TOEFL exam the questions integrate listening,
visuals and reading skills so TOEFL test candidates must order steps or
click on maps or pictures referred to in the listening texts. Questions
are more challenging than in the paper based version of TOEFL because
they involve such tasks as classification, ordering, referring, and insertion.
Added to this, the listening section of the computer based TOEFL test
is computer adaptive. This means that at the beginning of the section,
TOEFL test candidates will be given one moderately difficult listening
question. If the person answers correctly, the next question will be more
difficult; if the person answers incorrectly, the next question will be
easier. There is NOT a specific number of questions in this section. The
number of questions the person receives depends on the answers given to
questions.
The structure and written expression section of the computer based TOEFL
test is also computer adaptive.
TOEFL is equivalent to the British IELTS (International English Language
Testing System) examination.
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