Cyril Weir is Professor in English Language Teaching at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, and Director of the Centre for Research in Testing Evaluation and Curriculum in ELT. He has taught and provided consultancy in language testing, evaluation and curriculum renewal in over fifty countries worldwide. He has published widely in the fields of testing and evaluation. His books include "Communicative Language Testing" and "Understanding and Developing Language Tests." Also as Co-Author, "Reading in a Second Language" and" Evaluation in ELT," He is on the editorial board of "Language Assessment Quarterly."

This volume reports research that informs the development of reading and listening assessment in IELTS. This volume brings together a set of eight IELTS-related research studies - four on reading and four on listening - conducted between 2005 and 2010. Findings from these studies provide valuable evidence on the validity, reliability, impact and practicality of the IELTS test; they are also instrumental in highlighting aspects needing attention, and thus directly inform the continuing evolution of the IELTS reading and listening tests. The volume reviews and comments on the specific contribution of each study to the ongoing process of IELTS reading and listening test design and development.