Series | SAIL
Monograph | Rethinking English Language Certification
Chapter | Certifying English to Access Higher Education
Certifying English to Access Higher Education
Abstract
The need for English language certification is nowhere more apparent than in higher education in Europe today. This chapter provides an overview of the three best known tests for academic purposes: TOEFL, IELTS, and the more recently developed Pearson Academic. It examines the structure and scope of the tests, and includes an analysis of the image which the boards project of them, as promoting mobility and guaranteeing success in the workplace. However, the tests are designed primarily to predict the abilities of test takers to interact in a native-speaker environment, in particular in the US, the UK and Australia. Today, we argue, there is an urgent need for examining boards to engage with the reality of non-native interaction, to reflect the real language needs which have emerged in academic contexts in Europe and beyond.
Submitted: Oct. 2, 2017 | Published Nov. 6, 2017 | Language: en
Copyright © 2017 David Newbold. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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