An Investigation into the Elements of the International English Language Testing System: Instructors' Success

Educating for a more sustainable future in its broadest sense includes improving quality basic education, reorienting education to address sustainability, improving public awareness and providing training to many sectors of society. In order to reorient teacher education to address sustainability, we need to examine the major tenets of sustainable development and apply them to education and teacher education. This study reports on an exploratory study into the distinctive characteristics of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) instructors. Six IELTS instruction institutes in Iran were selected. Totally, there were 122 students studying IELTS, distributed in 18 classes available in these institutes, and 15 teachers were teaching IELTS preparation courses there. All 18 classes were videotaped to be used and analysed in more detail. In addition, three questionnaires were developed for the purpose of identifying the most frequently occurring practices and strategies. The questionnaires were filled in by researchers, students and the teachers themselves. The results of the study demonstrated that knowledge and command of the target language, an ability to organize, explain, clarify, arouse, sustain interest and motivation among students, fairness to students by showing neither favouritism nor prejudice and availability to students were among the most significant characteristics and qualities of a successful IELTS instructor.