The IELTS

Academic Reading Module

• Background information
• Question types
• Skills
• Challenges
• Helping Ss prepare
• Questions?

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 An overview of the IELTS Academic
Reading Module

• Format
3 passages and 40 items (questions), each worth one mark
• Timing
60 minutes: no time given for transferring answers to answer
sheet
• Texts
based on authentic texts
including magazines, journals, books and newspapers
aim to represent material encountered in academic study
may include diagrams, graphs, illustrations etc
• Length
total word count for three passages: 2000 - 2750 words.
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 Question types

• Multiple Choice

• Short-answer questions

• Sentence Completion

• Notes, Summary or Table/Flow-chart Completion

• Labelling a Diagram

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 Question Types, cont.
• Choosing Headings for Paragraphs or Sections of a Text

• Locating Information

• Identification of Writer’s Views/Claims or of Information in a

Text

• Classification

• Matching

Source: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/academic_reading/index.htm

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Weir & Khalifa: a cognitive processing
approach to defining reading comprehension
“Bottom up” and “Top down”
• Goal setter: identifies PURPOSE for reading, e.g.
reading for gist-> strategies employed
• Knowledge of the language, of the world, and of text
structure
Both are utilized in the…
• Central processing core: L1 reading behaviors that the
L2 reader is moving toward, from word recognition to
the construction of a mental model of the text and
creating “an organised representation of the text”
Weir, C. & Khalifa, H. (2008). A cognitive processing approach towards
defining reading comprehension

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 Reading types: easy to difficult.
EASY
1. Scanning/searching for local information
2. Careful local reading
3. Skimming for gist
4. Careful global reading for comprehending main idea
5. Search reading for global information
6. Careful global reading to comprehend a text
7. Careful global reading to comprehend texts
DIFFICULT

Weir, C. & Khalifa, H. (2008). A cognitive processing approach towards defining reading comprehension, p. 9.

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 Skills tested
The candidate is required to
• identify the writer’s overall purpose, target audience,
sources etc.
• identify and follow key arguments in a text
• identify opinions and attitudes as opposed to facts
• locate specific information
• read for detailed information
• extract relevant information
• distinguish the main idea from supporting detail

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 Skills tested, cont.

• recognise key points for a summary

• group pieces of information in a text in accordance
with salient criteria
• extract information from a prose text to put into a
diagrammatic representation
• make inferences
• use correct spelling and correct grammar in
answers

Source: IELTS Teaching Resources, available at http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/

academic_reading/aboutthepaper/academic_read_skills_strats.htm
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 Challenges for candidates
The exam itself
•Time constraints
•Rubric difficulty
•Unfamiliar Q-types
Reading skills Metacognitive skills and
•Vocabulary knowledge strategies
•Text structure awareness •Fluency/speed
•Identification of main ideas •Application of
background knowledge

text types content

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Challenge for the instructor

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 Washback ?

washback: measurement-driven instruction

Chen and Curtis

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 Or symbiosis?
Using IELTS to practice
• Pair work
academic reading
• Synonym matching
• Annotation
• Discourse analysis
• Ss write test materials

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 A sample of academic reading
activities
• Vocabulary tasks
• Summary writing
• Interpreting charts and graphs
• Writing test materials
• Comparing texts
• Critical reading
• Reading for research: annotated
bibliography
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 References
Baker, A. & Brown, L. (1986). Metacognitive skills and reading. In P. Pearson, (ed.),
Handbook of reading research, 353-394, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
Cheng, L. & Curtis, A. (2004), Washback or backwash: A review of the impact of testing on
teaching and learning , in L. Cheng, Y. Watanabe, & A. Curtis. (eds.), Washback in
language testing: Research contexts and methods, 3–18 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Mahwah, NJ.
Grabe, W. (n.d.). Foundations for reading assessment. Retrieved 7 May 2009 from
http://testingforum.hau.gr/docs/W.Grabehandout-OK.pdf
IELTS Teaching Resources IELTS Teaching Resources (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2008 at
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/
academic_reading/aboutthepaper/academic_read_skills_strats.htm
Nation, P. (2001). Vocabulary learning strategies and guessing from context. In P. Nation,
Learning vocabulary in another language, 217-262. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Weir, C. & Khalifa, H. (2008). A cognitive processing approach towards defining reading
comprehension. Cambridge ESOL: Research Notes, 31, 2-10. Retrieved 7 May 2009
from http://www.cambridgeesol.org/rs_notes/rs_nts31.pdf

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Useful websites for IELTS Reading
• The British Council

• Holmesglen Institute IELTS Reading Practice

• City University of Hong Kong

• Cambridge ESOL

• Polytechnic University of Hong Kong

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