5、Content authenticity
　　Content authenticity is believed important in IELTS listening test. Firstly, there was a grow interests in teaching and testing real-life language in the late 1970s and authenticity has evolved in language testing and more recently in general education (Lewkowicz, 2000). Although the debate on authenticity is still moved forward, the use of text taken from real-life situations is believed important in language testing (Lewkowicz, 2000). Secondly, the communicative approach is one of the main approaches to testing( Heaton, 2000, pp.15-19). Communicative tests are concerned primarily with content authenticity and how language is used in communication (Zou, 2005, p.276). Thirdly, an awareness of the ways in which the spoken language differs from the written language is of crucial importance in the testing of the listening skills (Heaton, 2000, p.64). For instance, spoken language is much more complex than the written language in certain ways, as a result of the large element of redundancy that it contains, such as conversational features: repetition, hesitation and grammatical repatterning (Zou, 2005, p.277-279). Consequently, when designing the IELTS litening test, it is important to concentrate on content authenticity, it is necessary to choose test items which appear directly relevant to the ability to use language for real-life communication.
　　On one hand, redundancy, colloqural language and environmental noise should be included in IELTS recording. Firstly, Listening is special because spoken language has a number of unique features including the use of incomplete utterances, repetitions, hesitation and so on (Harmer, 2000, p.99). Secondly, most heard discourse in real-life is spontaneous and differ from extremely formal speech in the amount of redundancy, noise and colloquialisms (Ur, 2000, pp.6-7). Besides, the real-life listening situation is normally rich in aural environmental clues that can provide information about the situation, speakers and general atmosphere (Ur, 2000, p.5). For example, if we are in an airport and hear an announcement over the loudspeaker, we may expect it to announce the arrival or departure of a flight.
　　On the other hand, different manner of spoken language and a wide range of topics should be used in IELTS listening test. Firstly, in today's world we are exposed to different varieties and accents, such as Britain English, American English, Australian English, or Indian English (Harmer, 2000, p.97). A range of native-speaker English accents should be used in the recordings in order to reflect the real language context. Secondly, task set should relate to real-life situations (Heaton, 2000, p.20), a wide range of authentic topics should be contained in the recording. For example, listening to both informal talk and formal lectures is important for IELTS tset takers.
　　6、Conclusion
　　It is essential to keep test validity in order to get a successful outcome. There are many considerations at IELTS litening design stage. The purpose of the test, test specifications; and content authenticity are three main considerations in the process of designing an IELTS listening test. Test writers should analyze the purpose of the test carefully to ensure content and construct validity; a clear test specifications should be made at a very early stage in IELTS listening test construction; it is important to concentrate on content authenticity when designing the test. Every effort should be made in designing the IELTS listening test to ensure the test measures accurately what it intended to measure.
　　
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