Learning Objectives of IELTS Listening and Reading Tests: Focusing on Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Abstract

The quantitative-qualitative content analysis study reported in this paper investigated if there was any significant difference between the listening and reading sections of IELTS tests with regard to the representation of learning objectives of Revised Bloom’s taxonomy. For this purpose, 16 Academic IELTS listening and reading tests from Cambridge IELTS Academic: Authentic Practice Tests (IELTS 12, 13, 14, and 15) were selected as the material of the study. The content of the tests was codified based on a coding scheme developed by the researchers. The reliability of the coding was evaluated through the inter-coder and intra-coder reliability analyses. The frequency, Chi-square and Cramer's V tests were employed to analyze the data.The results indicated that IELTS listening and reading tests mostly included Understanding Factual and Conceptual Knowledge, respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a substantial difference between IELTS listening and reading tests with regard to the inclusion of learning objectives. It was concluded that the listening and reading tests of IELTS assessed different learning objectives. The implications of the study suggest that IELTS candidates, teachers, and researchers should take the different learning objectives represented in IELTS listening and reading tests into consideration.