A Comparative Analysis of IELTS and TOEFL in an Iranian Context: A Case Study of Washback of Standard Tests.

Having desired results represents a type of success on what the teachers and the learners have been working on. In order to obtain the correlation of the standard tests of IELTS and TOEFL 120 applicants have been selected. They were grouped under IELTS study phase and non-IELTS study group and also TOEFL study group and non-TOEFL study group. The applicants were at C1, C2, and B2 level of CEFR in the first group and Advanced and intermediate high of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. The applicants received treatment and took six tests along with a pretest and a post test. Therefore, there were four groups in the study as receiving the treatment and the placebo thereof. Besides, the applicants were interviewed in order to get their ideas and personal attitudes to the success or failure of standard exams. In order to do so a questionnaire was developed and its reliability and validity was gauged. The results of the testing procedure represents more plausible scores on IELTS test results. This could be attributed to the recent trend among Iranian graduate and post graduate learners to IELTS exam. The results of the total study reveals the idea of teaching to the test and studying for the test which verifies the washback of the tests and reflects washback on teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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