The Problem with ALL English Tests !

Bear with me here—I’m about to argue something I never thought I would. With the onset of AI and the widespread gaming of English tests, we need to throw the whole system out and simply let students come based on their integrity and aptitude for their subject, regardless of their English level. I’m arguing on getting rid of English tests for students visas!

Recently, at a Duolingo seminar and also a Pearson seminar in Sydney, I had the chance to network with teachers from various university English language departments and ELICOS colleges. All were grappling with the onset of AI, but the two sectors (universities vs. language colleges) were having very different experiences.

Universities preparing international students who were pre-enrolled in a course but did not yet have sufficient language skills were focused on preventing students from using ChatGPT to complete assignments and tests. These students weren’t learning or engaging with their studies, and many didn’t see the point of learning something AI could already do for them. Teachers could easily detect AI use, since students’ handwritten work and face-to-face communication skills did not match the assignments they submitted.

Meanwhile, ELICOS colleges, which enrol students primarily to learn English (and, quite frankly, provide them with working rights), reported a different experience. Some permitted limited ChatGPT use as a tool—much like a thesaurus or grammar reference book once was. They found that most students did not use ChatGPT to cheat on writing tasks or weekly tests because they genuinely wanted to see how they were improving. Of course, a few students cheated, but those who did quickly fell behind in class discussions and daily life.

This all got me thinking—especially after hearing Basim Baig, chief software engineer at Duolingo, describe the extraordinary lengths companies go to in order to preserve some minimal level of test integrity. The DET was originally designed to give equity to students in remote areas by allowing them to take the test at home on their phone. But it has evolved into a process that requires scanning every corner of a room and even giving Duolingo control over your entire operating system and phone. In the end, setting up for the test at home seems more trouble than simply catching a train to Mumbai… but I digress.

Baig explained that cheating rings have existed since ancient times and technology is simply the latest form. His job was to make Duolingo’s DET the most expensive and complex test for these rings to crack, in the hope they would target other tests instead. Success, he said, was when Duolingo’s dummy students inquired about the cost of cheating on DET and were told it was quicker and easier to cheat on other exams.

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, before IELTS was floated on the stock market, the test could only be taken in a native-speaking country at an approved centre—usually attached to the student’s destination university. Candidates were limited to one attempt per month, recognising that genuine skill improvements take time. If a student scored 5 one month and then 8 the next, it was a sign something was wrong with the testing process.

These days, in places like India, students can buy a book of test vouchers and sit IELTS every week for 12 weeks, like a lottery. Many attend “cram schools” where they memorise answers instead of learning English.

English testing has become an international business with many offshoots. Test centres are subcontracted to the highest bidder, and writing tests completed in Australia are sometimes marked by remote workers in India to cut costs and maximise profits.

As a result, universities are now full of students whose families had the financial means to game the system, often from cultures where academic integrity is not prioritised. Of course, this is not true for all students, but it undermines the experience for genuine learners—those who spent years developing the skills needed to truly understand their coursework and who chose their subject with aptitude and passion.

By contrast, ELICOS visa holders typically arrive honestly acknowledging that they don’t know English. With a timeframe of a few years to reach their goals, they rarely cheat. Their motivation is partly the experience of living abroad. Many work in construction, aged care, or childcare while studying, giving them daily contact with Australians. Their tests are low-stakes and geared toward personal growth. After two years, if they decide to stay, their English is usually strong enough to pass the high-stakes tests without cheating.

High-stakes English tests done in a hurry are the real problem. IELTS only truly worked when international education wasn’t such a massive business and when tests were conducted slowly and in-house at universities.

The only way to know if a migrant or international student has the skills, interests, and English needed to fulfill their goals in Australia is to bypass the endless language tests and let them come. Let them sink or swim. Yes, some will cheat their way to a degree—but afterwards they still won’t pass IELTS, making the degree effectively worthless here.

I don’t want a tsunami of deluded, entitled overseas students flooding Australian universities and disrupting both local and international students who genuinely earned their place. But if some ChatGPT their way through courses without bothering others, and later fail their language or skills test to work in the field, the consequence falls on them. They won’t stay in Australia.

Perhaps universities and immigration authorities should stop wasting time quantifying English language tests that are broadly gamed, if not outright cheated—tests that reward dishonesty while making life harder for genuine candidates. A simple interview to confirm identity, aptitude, and passion for the subject—even conducted in a student’s native language—could deter those intending to game the system and waste their parents’ money in Australia.

If a young person has true passion and aptitude, they can learn English once they are here.