In the second segment of the interview, Don explains the tasks of an IELTS Expert and his accomplishments towards improving the IELTS test.
2.The tasks of an IELTS Expert
Interviewer: What are the tasks of an IELTS Expert?
Don: It’s a difficult question. I am an IELTS Expert, but there are many things I cannot say at this point. However, I can say that I have prepared students for IELTS tests over many years and I have been involved in monitoring examiners and improving examiner performance and also improving the test and that’s an interesting point, because the test has improved a lot. It was a very different test thirty years ago. It has improved in terms of its content, delivery, and its security. It is a very secure test. This is a really important part of IELTS. Because as soon as the test is not secure, if there’s fraud or if you are not sure who you are testing, if there are substitutions and all those things. A lot of fraud can happen in the test. As soon as that happens, of course, the test becomes invalid and can’t be used because people can’t trust the scores. So, I would say IELTS is probably the most secure test in the world: the biometrics used, and the picture of the person who actually did the test appears on the transcript of the results. There are mechanisms for universities to validate results that they see. All of those things are important for the improvement of the test and I have been involved in a lot of those improvements for over many years so that’s one of the things an IELTS expert does.
Interviewer: I think that is important, especially when you think about the era that we live in where information leakage causes damage to the brand of a company.
Don: Absolutely!
Interviewer: Thank you for your answer.
~Index~
About Don
1: Why did you become an IELTS Expert?
2: The tasks of an IELTS Expert←you’re here
3: The tasks done for IDP
4: Teaching experience in Oman and Vietnam
About IELTS
5: The factors that helped IELTS establish its worldwide trust
6: Test design process for IELTS
7: The linguistic studies and observations used for IELTS
8: About IELTS’ scoring system
9: The importance of IELTS’ Speaking Task
10: The drastic changes in the history of IELTS
About second language acquisition
11: Important factors for second language acquisition
12: Important factors for beginner-level learners of English
13: Important factors for mid-level learners of English
14: Important factors for advanced-level learners of English
