I view
Mind your language
Vineetha Zachariah

THE International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an examination undertaken by individuals who wish to work or study in a country where English is the official language. The IELTS aims to equip candidates with the language ability that they would require abroad, in the country where they plan to work.

Jointly managed by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, British Council and IDP: IELTS, Australia; the IELTS conforms to the highest international standards of language assessment. The tests are administered at centres throughout the world. Internationally, universities, professional bodies, government agencies and immigration authorities of countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA recognise it. Currently, there are more than 270 centres in over 110 countries where the test is held.

In India itself, there are 19 centres: Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhopal, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. The only pre-requisites are that the candidates should have a valid passport, and be above the age of 16.

Apart from a few business students, lawyers, accountants, engineers and information technology professionals, most of the candidates for the IELTS are healthcare professionals: mainly nurses and a noticeable number of doctors with varied specialisations.

Unlike other professions that gain or lose importance with time, healthcare is an evergreen profession. The increasing demand for professionals from the field of healthcare and medicine in the international market confirms this fact. As nursing is a profession that has been taken up more by women than men in the past five decades in India, most of the candidates registering for the IELTS happen to be women.

However, these aspirants are not a homogenous group. Coming from various backgrounds, developing a sense of self-confidence in them is the foremost challenge — they have to break free from tradition and the restrictions that bind them. More than imparting information to them, sometimes it is more important to bring about a change in their attitude since many of them get into this profession not out of choice but necessity Once a transformation has been brought about in their mind-set, the next challenge is to get them acquainted with the English language.

Grappling with grammar

The younger students do not find this difficult, as English has been their medium of instruction in their respective educational institutions.

The older students belong to the age group of 30 to 50. They had last studied English years ago in school. Recollecting their forgotten grammar lessons and the various technicalities of speaking the language — the diction, pronunciation, voice modulation with different intonations-seems near impossible to them.

During the preparation period, students are trained to identify the language in its diverse international accents. The older students, who are influenced more by indigenous cultural forms, find this task quite tiring as compared to the younger ones.

For performing well in the reading and writing modules, one factor that is very crucial is patience. Not many youngsters possess this quality. Comparatively, the older students can conceptualise and analyse the matter presented to them more effectively. They are able to organise their thoughts, compare and contrast ideas and argue their case with conviction. Also, they older candidates show more cohesion and grammatical accuracy than the younger ones, who frequently misspell words or use abbreviated terms that have penetrated their vocabulary. The one-hour reading module is a test of patience. All students have to grapple with the time factor.

Being personally involved in the rigorous training process for this test, I feel that it takes a lot of determination to transform the dream of a better existence abroad into a reality.