School of SSESW academic Sin-Wang Chong has co-authored a new book with colleague Xuejun Ye (doctoral student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University). Designed as a classroom text, a resource for workshops and consultations or as self-study material, 'Developing Writing Skills for IELTS: A Research-based Approach' will support IELTS (English Language Test) writing instructors and test-takers with a variety of writing proficiencies including those needed to succeed in the two academic writing tasks in IELTS. ISBN 9780367258375, published by Routledge.

Adopting an original exemplar-based writing instructional approach, this text offers an in-depth and reader-friendly analysis of the assessment standards of the two academic writing tasks in IELTS. Authentic exemplars written by English as a Foreign Language university students are included to illustrate high (Bands 8–9), average (Bands 6–7), and low (Bands 4–5) performances in IELTS writing.

Key features of the book include:

• Diagrammatical representation of assessment standards of the two academic writing tasks by experienced IELTS writing examiners and instructors.

• 100 writing questions modelled after the IELTS format, designed by the authors, and categorised according to question types and topics that emerge from an analysis of over 400 IELTS writing questions.

• Over 100 writing exemplars by EFL university students, accompanied by guided activities and suggested answers.

Dr Sin-Wang Chong

SSESW