Abstract
This case study explores the challenges that Master’s students encounter
when learning to write in academic English as part of a UK postgraduate
course, after having achieved the required IELTS entry score.
Interviews with six Chinese and Japanese learners at different stages of
Master’s study revealed more sophisticated writing difficulties than they
had previously experienced. Although students were largely managing
their written work overall, there were recurring difficulties with critical
thinking, the transition to full academic compositions, using reading to
inform academic writing, presenting evidence and conveying a clear
written message over demonstrating lexical or grammatical range as
required in IELTS writing. Furthermore, candidates on non-standard
courses (e.g. film or finance) found their assignments to be quite
unfamiliar; the use of one academic test (IELTS) for all disciplines may
be disadvantageous to some. In summary, although IELTS had provided
an important first step to help students develop basic writing skills,
meeting university assessment expectations necessitated considerable
further progress. The required support to achieve this may be somewhat
underdeveloped in the existing model.
This study follows as part of a larger project, which focussed on pre-
IELTS test preparation in China (AUTHOR, forthcoming 2020) and Japan
(AUTHOR, forthcoming 2020).
when learning to write in academic English as part of a UK postgraduate
course, after having achieved the required IELTS entry score.
Interviews with six Chinese and Japanese learners at different stages of
Master’s study revealed more sophisticated writing difficulties than they
had previously experienced. Although students were largely managing
their written work overall, there were recurring difficulties with critical
thinking, the transition to full academic compositions, using reading to
inform academic writing, presenting evidence and conveying a clear
written message over demonstrating lexical or grammatical range as
required in IELTS writing. Furthermore, candidates on non-standard
courses (e.g. film or finance) found their assignments to be quite
unfamiliar; the use of one academic test (IELTS) for all disciplines may
be disadvantageous to some. In summary, although IELTS had provided
an important first step to help students develop basic writing skills,
meeting university assessment expectations necessitated considerable
further progress. The required support to achieve this may be somewhat
underdeveloped in the existing model.
This study follows as part of a larger project, which focussed on pre-
IELTS test preparation in China (AUTHOR, forthcoming 2020) and Japan
(AUTHOR, forthcoming 2020).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1512-1530 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 19 Oct 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Tony Clark is a Senior Research Manager at Cambridge Assessment English, managing research on the IELTS test. Since joining Cambridge English in 2018, he has been responsible for the IELTS Joint-funded Research Programme and the Caroline Clapham Master's Award, acted as Permanent Secretary/Chair of the IELTS Joint Research Committee, and led on a number of high profile cross-partner research projects, in addition to several standard setting workshops. His other principal research interests include Chinese and Japanese educational contexts, academic writing for overseas learning, test preparation, pedagogy, diagnostic assessment and lexical studies. Tony's PhD (University of Bristol) received a British Council Research Assessment Award in 2014, and in 2015/2016 he was a recipient of the Newton Fund Scholarship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords
- IELTS
- postgraduate study
- masters
- academic writing
- Chinese students
- Japanese students
