Job Discussion Forums

[nigel2]

AS a teacher I have heard some worries raised about examiners with "foreign" accents. I was wondering if there was someone in the know who cares to comment? Also what is the general situation about IELTS in China?

[once again]

I saw nothing in the last post to warrant such a rude response. THE poster was only asking for information. Did you give any?

[noyb]

When the query is about IELTS examiners, why would that indicate someone trying to teach IELTS? An IELTS examiner is one certified by UCLES and employed by the British Council (in China) to examine candidates, not teach them.

I'd pity the students of the one who doesn't understand Nigel's properly framed question.

[Roger]

To Nigel,
methinks these concerns are not well founded! IELTS is fast replacing TOEFL as an exam that determines whether a foreign student can use the English language effectively as a medium of instruction at tertiary level. While TOEFL has done a good job for years, IELTS is the new exam for those that want to study in Europe or Australia.
Does 'accent' matter? So far as I know, it does not. There might be an American preparing a student for IELTS, who cares? The more different accents a student can cope with the better! Australian and British accents differ from each other as do American English and British English.
I did some IELTS teaching for a while. From my memory I can say that the format is similar to a TOEFL exam: Your skills get tested in reading and writing, speaking and listening. Students get no pass grades. Instead, they get a definite score, and it is up to the school to decide which score is sufficient.
In mainland China, it is the British COuncil that administers IELTS although private training centres often sell IELTS training programmes.

[xiaoyu]

DOS - you are basically repeating yourself.... give it up please, we read it the first time.
From my experiences with IELTS, there was no real problem with the examiner having a bit of an accent. in one situation it was actually seen as a bonus, in that the student would be facing different accents while speaking english. it is definitely an up and coming progam..... and think it is definitely better than TOEFL....

xiaoyu

[nigel2]

Thankyou Roger and Xiaoyu. Shame about DOS. Must have been rejected by UCLES or something. May I suggest you(DOS) seek professional help.

[arioch36]

I guess my feeling about the IELTS is different, mostly negative.
I know of two types of IELTS classes..one is a pure IELTS class, taken for five weeks just to prepare for the IELTS test. Evidence I have seen is that these students do littlie better (.5 Band improvementThe other type of class is the semester colleges or two year colleges designed to prepare the student to go to school overseas. Passing the IELTS is the ultimate goal...not learning English.
Two things are problematic...the quality of the IELTS examiners, for written or oral, and the concept of the IELTS oral test.
At first i said, "sounds great" Interesting that Roger and I disagree on the importance of oral english, but reverse disagree on the worthwhileness of the oral test portion of IELTS. I feel now it is rubbish.
The accent is very important. Students preparing for the IELTS get used to the sound and tone of one foreign teacher. They can be initially confused or feel ill at ease with a different accent, different mannerisms. Here i think reading and writing an essay is much more objective, and a better indication of their sucess overseas, where they will have time to adapt to different tones/mannerisms.
My current class I am teaching on the side... I had another foreign teacher come in to give them a practice interview (I had to sacrifice 300 yuan)
Also ten minutes, much less 15, is far too long for such an interview, a physiological problem.
Disparities are very large in grading the oral test. Many more problems.
If you teach at a school that has other foreign teachers, switch classes sometimes. Always make them talk english to different people