Preparing students for the

IELTS Academic Reading Module

Guy Brook-Hart
Cambridge University Press

Russia, April 2012

This talk will cover

what the IELTS Academic Reading module
involves
what reading skills IELTS students need
why we should be teaching reading skills to
students in class
suggestions for classroom reading activities for
different IELTS reading tasks.

Examples are taken from Complete IELTS

(CUP 2012).

Match these IELTS statistics

Candidates per year
Assessment bands
Percentage going to
higher education
Institutions recognising
IELTS
Parts of the IELTS test
Average reading score
Average reading score
for native speakers

4
9
68
6.6
6,000
1.5 million
6

What does the IELTS Academic Reading

module involve?
3 reading passages (750 950 words each,
max. 2750 words)
40 questions (mixed task types)
1 mark each
1 hour

How is the IELTS Academic Reading

module different from Main Suite
exams?
All reading passages have an academic focus.
13/14 questions per passage.
At least 13 different types of task
2/3 different task types per passage.
Candidates may have to read the passage more
than once
Increasing level of difficulty.

The majority of IELTS candidates take

the test as an entry requirement for
further study.

CEF
Levels

IELTS band
(approximate)

C2
C1
B2
B1
A2
A1

7.5+
6.5 7
56
3.5 4.5
3
12

IELTS Academic Reading Passages

The passages used in the test are designed to
present the candidate with materials similar to
those which they might need to read on a
university course.
The passages may be written in a variety of
styles, for example narrative, descriptive,
discursive or argumentative.
They are not simplified.

Features of IELTS passages

authentic
discipline-related
international but neutral
demonstrate a number of writer techniques
well written: argument, embedded clauses, formal
language and structures, discourse markers

IELTS Reading Skills

The skills tested are intended to reflect the target

language needs of undergraduate and postgraduate
students.

Candidates may have to:

identify the writers overall purpose, target audience, sources
etc.
identify and follow key arguments in a passage
identify opinions and attitudes as opposed to facts
locate specific information
read for detailed information
extract relevant information
distinguish the main idea from supporting detail
recognise key points for a summary
group pieces of information in a passage in accordance with
salient criteria
extract information from a prose passage to put into a
diagrammatic representation
make inferences

What question types are there?

Multiple Choice
Short-answer Questions
Sentence Completion
Notes, Summary or Table/Flow-chart Completion
Labelling a Diagram
Choosing Headings for Paragraphs/Sections of a passage
Locating Information
Identification of Writers Views/Claims or of Information
Classification
Matching

What question types are there?

Some tasks e.g. completion tasks tend to be easier
than others e.g. Multiple choice, True False Not
Given
Its important to build up students skills at dealing
with all tasks.

Student perceptions
Candidates often perceive the Reading module
to be the hardest part of the IELTS Test.

Option A is obviously wrong and

option B doesnt make sense!
Now how many word spots can I
find to decide whether its C or D?

Research observation
Many candidates come out of the test with
no idea what the passages were about.

Why do reading activities in class?

To ensure that all students have read the
passage(s)
To teach and practise different reading techniques
and strategies
To explore passages on different levels
To limit time.

Some general reading skills IELTS candidates

need:
Ability to skim the passage to get an overview
of its contents
This helps them to
- see how the passage develops (its structure)
- locate the specific information they require.

Some general reading skills IELTS candidates

need:
Ability to scan the passage
- to find specific information
- to locate the section of the passage that they need
to read in detail.

Before they read the passage, students

should be trained to read
- the title
- the sub-heading
- look at any pictures, illustrations, or footnotes

Some frequent IELTS reading tasks:

Multiple choice
True, False, Not Given / Yes, No, Not Given
Matching Headings

Multiple choice tests ability to:

scan the passage to find the relevant part
read this part in detail to understand e.g. opinion,
purpose, main idea, implication etc.

Multiple choice may involve selecting

- one of four options, or
- two of five options (Pick from a list)

Multiple choice:

Suggested approach:
read stem of first question and underline the key idea
scan to find where the question is dealt with in the passage.
read this section of the passage carefully to find the answer to
the question.
read each of the 4 alternatives with the stem.
match the correct one with the passage.
underline the evidence in the passage supporting your choice

repeat procedure for question 2 etc. (answers appear in the

same order)

Classroom activity 1:
Give students the passage with a skimming task and a strict
time limit.
Give students the stems of the questions, but not the
alternatives. Ask students to locate where the answers occur.

Objective: scanning.
Ask students to note answers in their own words.
Give them the alternatives. They choose.
Objective: to encourage students to go from the passage to
the alternatives, rather than vice versa, note-taking.

Classroom activity 2:
Ask students to work in pairs. Give one pair questions 1, 3
and 5. Give the other pair questions 2, 4 and 6.
Ask them to read the passage and answer their questions
with their partner.

Students then change partners, show their new partners

their questions and explain the answers, justifying their
choice with evidence from the passage.
Objective: to find and justify evidence in the passage /
communicative activity

True, False, Not

Given / Yes, No,
Not Given tasks

True, False, Not Given / Yes, No, Not Given

tasks test students ability to
scan the passage to find the relevant part(s)

read in detail to understand

factual information (TFNG)
the writers views/claims (YNNG)

What problems do students have with

TFNG/YNNG tasks?
Finding the right part of the passage.

Distinguishing between False and Not Given.

Suggested approach
Each question will contain a hook a word/phrase
which is the same or nearly the same as one in the
passage. Identify and underline the hook.
(Questions paraphrase, but the hook does not)
Scan to find where it is mentioned in the passage.
Read carefully round it to find the answer.

Choose No when the passage contradicts the

statement. Choose Not Given when it neither supports
nor contradicts the statement.

Classroom activity 1
read to identify the
hook (1 minute)
scan the passage
to locate where you
should read
carefully (2 minutes)

Classroom activity 2
give students 3
overlapping
statements:
ask students
which one is true,
which false,
which not given.

Matching
headings:

Matching headings test ability to read for:

the main ideas or themes either in paragraphs or in
sections.

What problems do students have with

matching headings?
Reading above phrase or sentence level.

Distinguishing the main idea from details

Time and technique

Suggested approach:
Read the headings carefully so as to partially
memorise them, underlining the key ideas as you
read.
Read the paragraphs/sections one by one, matching
each paragraph to a heading as you read.
Aim to complete the task reading the whole passage
just once.

Classroom activity 1:
Students read the headings and underline the key ideas.
They close their books and note down the headings they
remember.

They compare and complete their list in pairs.

Hand out the paragraphs which you have previously
photocopied and cut up one by one and in order

Ask students to match each paragraph to a heading as you

hand them out, or
Round up after each matching by asking for evidence from the
passage.

Classroom activity 2:
Students work in groups of 3.

Give each student the complete passage and 2 of the

headings
First, students work alone, read the passage and place their
2 headings

They then explain their decisions to the rest of the group and
resolve any conflicts.
Objectives: dealing with task type, communicative activity, oral
summarising, presenting information.

General considerations

Use all the clues on the page

Work on examples
Raise interest
Negotiate time limits
Avoid vocabulary explanations
Make students do the work (not you!)
Discuss strategies

Complete IELTS
Band 4 5

Bands 5 6.5

Bands 6.5 7.5

 8 10 Units
60+ hours
Complete coverage of all parts of the exam
Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation for the exam
Speaking, writing and language reference
Complete practice test

CD Rom
Workbook with audio CD
Audio CD

Teachers Book with

detailed guidance, exam information, extra/alternative
teaching ideas
photocopiable activities
photocopiable word lists and progress tests

 www.cambridge.org/elt/
www.ielts.org
guybrookhart@gmail.com