Will Artificial Intelligence make educators obsolete

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been making headlines for decades, often with fanciful claims about what is around the corner. However, the New Directions Conference held in Shanghai last year provided some solid insights into the current state of the field and what to expect in the near future for language learning and assessment, and whether technology will make educators obsolete.

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How Language Assessment Works

Gordon Allan developed the course and materials for ‘How Language Assessment Works’ (HLAW), a series of workshops aimed at helping teachers to understand more about the principles and practice of language assessment.

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Assessment Reform and the Growth of International Education in China

A Summary of an International Exchange Forum in Chongqing by Christopher Redmond

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Do you have questions about teaching, English or IELTS that you would really love an answer to? Send them to
jan.langeslag@britishcouncil.org.cn

Remember, we also have a Frequently Asked Questions list onwww.chinaielts.org, for you to visit!

Why does the examiner often interrupt a candidate during the speaking test?

This happens for a number of reasons. All parts of the speaking test are bound to a strict time limit which the examiner has to adhere to. Also, during parts one and three of the exam, the examiner wants to hear the candidate talk about a variety of questions on different topics. This is to make sure the examiner has a varied sample of language to grade and is also fairer to the candidate. For this reason, examiners will interrupt the candidate if they feel a question has been answered in sufficient detail and it’s time to move on. Examiners may also interrupt if they feel the candidate is speaking off-topic or appears to have misunderstood a question.

While examiners will attempt to appropriately time their interruptions, for example after the candidate finishes a sentence, this is not always possible. For example, when a candidate speaks very slowly and takes a long time to finish a sentence, or when a candidate keeps stringing clauses together using “…and…” or “…so…” these interruptions may sometimes appear brusque and sudden.

It is important to keep in mind that examiner interruptions never affect a candidate’s score. Even if a candidate hasn’t finished telling his/her story in part two and the examiner cuts off the candidate after the allotted two minutes have passed, it’s nothing to worry about. If it makes you feel any better: newer examiners often find it unpleasant to have to interrupt candidates because they, too, feel it makes them look rude. Think of examiner interruptions as something necessary for making sure the IELTS test is delivered to standard.