Some interesting comments on the IELTS test.....
Sep 24th 2015, 3:49 pm
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Some interesting comments on the IELTS test.....
Irish Paralympian fighting to become Australian citizen held back by English language test
Perth mechanic Kevin Wall, 30, has cerebral palsy — a condition which affects his coordination on land but has little impact on his grace on the water.
The Irishman first came to Australia in 2011 on a tourist visa but now wants to stay and represent his adopted home at next year's Paralympic Games. To become an Australian citizen in time, he first has to obtain a permanent residency visa, which requires him to prove he is "proficient" in English through a four-part exam known as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Mr Wall has sat the test three times and failed to reach the "proficient" standard each time on a different element — reading, writing and listening.
Mr Wall's migration agent Richard Coates said it was common for tradespeople from Great Britain to struggle to meet the level of English demanded by the IELTS test.
One of the inventors of the test, linguist Dr David Ingram, said he was not surprised some English speakers were failing.
He said the test was never meant to be used as an immigration tool.
He said tests needed to be "more appropriate to their language experience and their language needs, in other words, more appropriate to the real language they have and the real language that they're going to need".
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Be interesting to know what visa he's been on since 2011, a 457 maybe, and also interesting to see there's no mention of cerebral palsy being an issue in the medical for PR.
Perth mechanic Kevin Wall, 30, has cerebral palsy — a condition which affects his coordination on land but has little impact on his grace on the water.
The Irishman first came to Australia in 2011 on a tourist visa but now wants to stay and represent his adopted home at next year's Paralympic Games. To become an Australian citizen in time, he first has to obtain a permanent residency visa, which requires him to prove he is "proficient" in English through a four-part exam known as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Mr Wall has sat the test three times and failed to reach the "proficient" standard each time on a different element — reading, writing and listening.
Mr Wall's migration agent Richard Coates said it was common for tradespeople from Great Britain to struggle to meet the level of English demanded by the IELTS test.
One of the inventors of the test, linguist Dr David Ingram, said he was not surprised some English speakers were failing.
He said the test was never meant to be used as an immigration tool.
He said tests needed to be "more appropriate to their language experience and their language needs, in other words, more appropriate to the real language they have and the real language that they're going to need".
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Be interesting to know what visa he's been on since 2011, a 457 maybe, and also interesting to see there's no mention of cerebral palsy being an issue in the medical for PR.
