IELTS: The International English Language Testing System

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By looking at how IELTS measures someone's English level, we can work out what good English actually means. So let's use IELTS as a way of helping us to answer this question. Basically IELTS is probably the standard international test for assessing someone's level of English in a foreign or other language. It's just a very common test that people have to do in order to get an official English level score which they can then present to universities if they're trying to apply for courses in English.

How do we know when someone's English is good? Is it just about having a "British accent", knowing lots of big words, or speaking with no errors? In fact, there is a lot more to it than that. IELTS can show us how someone's level of English is assessed by looking at a wide range of skills and sub-skills and there is a lot more to it than making no errors while speaking with a "British accent". This episode should help you consider your own level of English level, get some perspective on what language competence really means, and hopefully cause people to think twice when making snap judgements about other people's English.

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