IELTS
The International English Language Testing System
The IELTS is an increasingly valuable worldwide test to assess your proficiency in English. It tests all four skills – Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. There are two options offered – Academic and General Training. The Academic option is for those who wish to undertake undergraduate or postgraduate studies in an English speaking country, whereas the General Training option is for emigration purposes, to take a secondary course or a professional training course.
Universities in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a growing number in the USA and Europe ask for the IELTS as proof that a foreign student is able to study and live in an English-speaking country. In Brazil, when applying for a grant, it is one of the English language tests applicants are asked to present to CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP and other funding institutions, including The British Council. Not only for study purposes but also for those who wish for funding to present papers at conferences, do training courses or training programmes abroad.
A candidate may take the test more than once, however, there must be a three-month interval between one test and the next. Additionally there is no expire date, but a University or agency may ask for a more recent result if the test was taken a long time ago.
(Eddie Edmundson, R. Turner, M. Hermens, A. Francis. New Routes, n°. 10, July 2000.)
Vocabulário:
• increasingly = gradativamente
• valuable = valioso(s)
• worldwide = em todo o mundo
• skills = habilidades
• to undertake = cursar
• undergraduate = graduação
• postgraduate = pós-graduação
• purposes = objetivos
• growing number = número crescente
• proof = prova
• foreign student = aluno estrangeiro
• to apply for a grant = candidatar-se a uma bolsa de estudos
• to ask = perguntar
• not only ... but also = não apenas ... mas também
• abroad = exterior
• may-might = poder
• however = entretanto
• between = entre
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