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Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 172:1 (2021) ► pp.85–120

The predictive validity of the Academic IELTS test

A methodological synthesis

ORCID logo | University of Exeter

Despite an abundance of studies that address the fundamental issue of the relationship between students’ IELTS results and their academic performance, findings remain inconclusive. One reason for this are variations in research design, notably in how researchers collect, analyse, and interpret data, and report their findings. The present study constitutes a critical methodological synthesis of 32 published IELTS predictive validity studies. The results revealed a number of efficacious design practices, and also some concerning tendencies, including: (a) dependency on linear models of causality, (b) small sampling frames situated in Anglo-Australian contexts, (c) a lack of thoroughness in describing contexts, samples, and approaches to academic performance measurement, and (d) where qualitative data was generated through interviewing and observation, a tendency to overlook ‘quality’ issues, such as confirmability, dependability, and trustworthiness. Recommendations are made for enhancing research designs along with suggestions for novel investigations to address gaps in the predictive validity literature.

Keywords: IELTS, predictive validity, language testing, methodological synthesis
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Researching IELTS predictive validity
    • A framework for investigating IELTS predictive validity
    • Challenges involved in researching IELTS predictive validity
    • Aims of the research
  • Method
    • Identification and retrieval of studies
    • Coding and analysis
  • Results and discussion
    • Aims of the research
    • Contexts and settings
      • Tertiary education level
      • Country research settings
    • Participants and sampling
      • Approach to sampling student data
      • Participant nationalities
    • Language proficiency measurement and reporting
      • Reporting cut-off scores
      • Reporting students’ IELTS test scores
    • Methodology, data collection, and analysis
      • Research designs
      • Data collection methods
      • Measures of student academic performance
      • Statistical tests utilised
    • Reporting of results
  • Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 14 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.19021.pea
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