This article questions the need for mandatory English Language Proficiency Exams for students and workers when applying to certain nations. It criticizes the elite institutions conducting the exams in reinforcing national boundaries to declare and determine what constitutes a native English speaker. The article briefly describes the case of IELTS exams in the Indian State of Punjab.
If any language has defined the globalization wave, it is English. In the contemporary world, there are around 1.5 billion people around the globe that speak English. Out of these speakers, more than a billion people speak English as their second or foreign language (Guo & Beckett, 2007). English has become the language of international studies. The 21st century suffers from what Krashen (2003) refers to as ‘English fever’ which he defines as an overwhelming desire of the people across the world to acquire English as well as ensure that their children acquire English as an additional language. Learning this language of global value has been a priority for individuals seeking jobs, academics, and even social privileges (Al Hosni, 2015). The influence and prevalence of English cut across the borders of all nations as this language has gained importance throughout the whole globe. Scholars are of the opinion that is the result of long lasting processes and vested political and economic interests and actions of British and Americans over the English language with the support of the English Language teaching industry (Ciprianová & Vančo, 2010). There is a lot of debate around how English has become the language of the world. Guo and Beckett (2007) attribute this status of ‘language of all’ to English due to processes like colonialism, neocolonialism, capitalism, migration, and immigration (Centre for International Education, n.d).
With the widespread influence of English for international communication, there have emerged certain elite institutions that demand a test for the proficiency of the language by relying only upon the national boundaries and citizenship. One of the most popular exams for proving English proficiency is the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).This article will critically examine the parameters of the IELTS exam which is required for all nations except for a handful to seek opportunities around the world. It will also explore the case of the popularity and craze of this exam in the Indian state of Punjab.
The IELTS exam began in 1989 and since its introduction, the exam has enjoyed a steady growth of candidates from all over the world (Pearson, 2021). In 2018, almost 3.5 million people undertook this test 1. The purpose for undertaking the exam is to prove proficiency in order to migrate, work, or study in native English-speaking countries such as the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The influence and power of this exam can be observed through the recognition that it enjoys from over 11,000 institutions around the globe including many universities, employers, and immigration bodies (ielts.org). It is popularly conducted by the British Council and IDP Australia. These institutions demarcate which countries are non-native English speakers and require them to take the exam in order to seek international opportunities. Kachru (1992 as cited in Mitchell, 2021) provides for three distinct spheres of the English language around the globe. These are the inner circle (where English is the primary mode of communication such as in UK, USA, Australia, Ireland), outer circle(where English was introduced as a result of colonization such as in India, Pakistan, Nigeria), and expanding circle (where English is not an official language but is increasingly becoming popular for international communications such as in China and Russia). Mitchell (2021) uses this model and opines that the inner circle countries and their English occupy the center where they influence and determine what is ‘correct’ in the language all over the world. This hierarchy is visible in the speaking task as accents and cultural vocabulary play a big role in this component of the exam. IELTS contains four different components – reading, writing, speaking, and listening (ielts.org). The English proficiency tests with their parameters completely overlook the context of nationality and overall background of the candidate while conducting the test. Such English proficiency tests are biased as they do not take into account race. People from all races as well as cultures can be native or even advanced level speakers of the English language (Guo & Beckett, 2007). Out of these four components, most scholars have found the speaking section to be the most biased. They opine that the content and criteria of the tests remain ignorant of the social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of the candidate while conducting the speaking test. This blatant ignorance reinforces language imperialism, as they promote only certain forms of English language as acceptable and ideal for the purpose of seeking opportunities in life (Michell, 2021). Khan (2006) is particularly critical about the speaking part of the exam. While analyzing the situation in Bangladesh, she found that there is a mismatch in the cultural and educational backgrounds of the test designers and the test takers. The issue is the different education systems. In Asia, education largely focuses on memorization and repetitions in contrast to the western systems where the learner is encouraged to think critically and subjectively express their thoughts. The prevalent education system impacts the performance of the candidate in the proficiency test, especially during speaking tasks. The vocabulary and language of the test do not pay adequate importance to the local cultural contexts of the nation. For instance, many candidates in Bangladesh could not even understand the terms such as ‘souvenirs’ since going on holidays is not common in the country. Moreover, despite being native speakers and extremely fluent in English, the testing parameters remain biased and unfair to certain candidates as they would be using local or national speech patterns and lexical terms which do not enjoy the same importance as mainstream British or American ones (Michell, 2021). The content of the test also reinforces class barriers as many of the questions and prompts remain something that only the elite could have been able to experience and express (Khan, 2006). What is even more astounding is that with the presence of these tests, the status quo is maintained in linguistic imperialism. For even previous education with English as the medium of instruction is not enough to prove proficiency, institutions demand that proficiency can only be adequately proven if a candidate can afford to sit for a certified exam. They reinforce that certain education systems cannot be trusted to provide a good level of language proficiency to their students.
The English language has been commodified to the extent that it has its own market with consumers spread all across the world ( Al Hosni , 2015). This can be seen in the various fee models for taking the exams. In Nigeria, the test cost 250 USD which is around three times the minimum wage of the country (Chin, 2021). The additional cost of sending results to institutions for various purposes has not been accounted for. Furthermore, the high prices are not justified as the validity of the results is only two years. This means that candidates have to prove their proficiency again and again by incurring heavy costs. This makes international opportunities inaccessible to many people. The prestige and high fee attached to the test feeds into the ‘coaching classes’ or ‘preparatory classes’ culture but only the elite who can afford good instructors. The IELTS coaching industry in India amounts to over 1000 crores INR ( over 130 million USD) with the majority of these coaching individuals and institutes being unregistered (Brar, 2019). This leads to the exploitation of many students. Besides, the commodification of the language can be observed through the presence of agencies and courses offering online along with in person training and resources and the prestigious private schools offering education in English (Al Hosni, 2015).
The historic construction of nations and languages is also ignored. Institutions in positions of power determine who gets to labelled as a native speaker despite the long history of British Colonialism. Today Asia makes up for the biggest market for the IELTS English test. The candidates from countries with history of Anglo-post colonial past fare better in the IELTS test (Pearson, 2021) yet the question to ask is why the candidates with a history of British colonialism are required to take such language exams in the first place.
The case of Punjab
This crazy race for IELTS is visible in the case of the Indian state of Punjab. This state is in the northern region of India. This particular state makes up for 10% of the workers who migrate from India to other nations (Brar, 2019). It was found that almost six lakh (600,000) students underwent IELTS training every year in Punjab (Desk, 2022). The craze to go abroad can be seen in the movies produced by the Punjabi cinema - ‘Jatta vs IELTS’ which goes on to show the struggles of preparing and giving exams in order to go abroad to other nations (Times of India, 2018). Most of the candidates who have Punjabi as their mother tongue have low scores which are insufficient for them to make use of the opportunities (Brar, 2019). This exam has transformed into a gendered angle. An emerging trend in the state is the ‘spouse visa’ where boys from wealthy families seek to find girls for marriage with a good score in the IELTS exam in order to immigrate to another nation. There is a clear class dimension as it is only men from economically well off families who are encouraging this trend. Moreover, this poses the question of the education and freedom of the girl. This race to immigrate to a new nation has made IELTS scores as the new form of dowry in Punjab (Narwana & Gill, 2021). The demand for this English proficiency exam has risen so much that the State minister has collaborated with Cambridge University Press India to provide coaching classes to the students of the state (Desk, 2022).
Towards a reform
In the last year, a young Nigerian student, Wikina, highlighted the discriminatory practice of English-speaking nations having to undergo proficiency exams. His actions led to the Australian university finding an alternative to prove the efficiency of the Nigerian students (Chin, 2021). This can be one possible solution to redefine the parameters of global English proficiencies and assign the role of conducting the tests to other institutions in order to make the exams more accessible and affordable according to the needs of the candidates. In the globalized world, English is also the common medium of interaction and instruction, it enables students to talk and work. It would be wrong to commodify it while ignoring the cultural, historic, and economic implications in the world. The exam remains a “powerful gatekeeper” (Michell, 2021, p.9) as the test remains inaccessible and unaffordable for many candidates. There is a need to reform the tests criteria and content as well as the fee to ensure that the global opportunities can be enjoyed by all.
References-
Al Hosni, J. K. (2015). Globalization and the linguistic imperialism of the English language. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 6(1), 298-308.
Brar, A. S. (2019, November 5). The Economics of English: Why there’s a boom for IELTS coaching centres in Punjab. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/education/the-economics-of-english-why-theres-a-boom-for-ielts-coaching-centres-in-punjab-6104109/
Chin, A. (2021, November 2). English proficiency test should be fairer for Anglophone Africans. Study International. https://www.studyinternational.com/news/english-proficiency-policy-change/
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Khan, R. (2006). The IELTS speaking test: Analysing culture bias. Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, 2(1), 20.
Michell, C. (2021). Critically Examining Perceptions of Different Englishes in the IELTS Speaking Section: Who Decides What is Acceptable? Journal of World Englishes and Educational Practices, 3(4), 08–15. https://doi.org/10.32996/jweep.2021.3.4.2
Narwana, K., & Gill, A. S. (2021). Employment of educated youth in rural Punjab: Amidst Stagnancy and (IM)Mobility. South Asia Research, 42(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/02627280211055989
Pearson, W. S. (2021). How Do Asian Candidates Fare in IELTS? A Look at 15 Years of Performance Data. 3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 27(2), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.17576/3l-2021-2702-03
Times of India. (2018, May 31). This Punjabi film that targets IELTS! - Times of India. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/punjabi/this-punjabi-film-that-targets-ielts/articleshow/64399494.cms
Desk, E. A. C. (2022, January 8). Punjab Becomes First State to Teach IELTS at ITIs. News18. https://www.news18.com/news/education-career/punjab-becomes-first-state-to-teach-ielts-at-itis-4635575.html
