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Breaking Australian immigration news brought to you by Migration Alliance and associated bloggers.
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The end of the IELTS monopoly for visa applications
Move over IELTS. There will now be more choice in visa English language tests for Australia, writes Stefanie Balogh from the AFR.
Comments
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Saturday, 24 May 2014Liana, the supposedly authoritative news of alternative English language test comes from an (unidentified) newspaper rag? Really...
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Monday, 26 May 2014
Fil, yes, because as usual the AFR (read my article again because the AFR is identified), finds out before agents. I don't think the AFR fits the definition of a 'newspaper rag' however you are entitled to your views. Have you got information to the contrary? Any reason you don't believe it? Let me see if I can find any more information on it. I am not sure I stated that the news was an authoritative. It was merely a copy of news already out there.
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Monday, 26 May 2014
This is just so funny!
Look at the Ministerial Media statement: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/mc/2014/mc214807.htm
Fil Hasarliev please get your facts right before calling newspapers as rags -- what do you read? Evidently not the Minister's media releases!
Immigration blog
The really hard question for government is what scores to demand of applicants.
I have worked with TOEFL. It is a reasonably good test. The levels of proficiency are well described, and it is possible to work for a particular outcome. IELTS suffers by comparison in that regard.
TOEFL also has a board of graders in oral-aural testing for each applicant. This permits consensus scoring. IELTS suffers in this regard also. I know Irish students who have received doctorates at first class Australian universities complain bitterly about accent preferences among the IELTS staff. I believe them because I know IELTS graders whose prejudices are stridently evident and who believe that their enunciation and accent are "superior" to those of North Americans, Australians and (in particular) Irish, Scots and Welsh examinees. Worse luck if you are from working class Liverpool or Manchester!
The spoken section of Level 5 of the Pearson Test is fairly rough going for speakers from the Subcontinent. I have heard it mildly described as 8 minutes of hell. But it is well thought of in North America. Any step away from a one-test-fits-all attitude is probably a good step.