I failed visa test because I can’t speak Australian!
‘There’s obviously a flaw’
AN Irish woman failed a test to stay in Australia – after a computerised language exam found she couldn’t speak English well enough.
Louise Kennedy has excellent grammar and a broad vocabulary. She holds two university degrees – both obtained through English – and has been working in Australia as an equine vet on a skilled worker visa for two years.
After learning she was about to have a baby with her Australian husband Adam, she decided to apply for permanent residency.
But she’s now scrambling for other visa options after a computer-based English test – scored by a machine – essentially ‘failed her’ in terms of convincing immigration officers she can fluently speak her own language. While the Wicklow woman blitzed all other components of the test including writing and reading, she failed to reach the minimum score immigration requires in oral fluency.
She got a score of 74 when the Australian government requires 79.
She said she was shocked when she got the results of her Pearson Test of English (PTE) exam. Ms Kennedy, 34, went to Pearson, which administers the exam and is one of five test providers the immigration department uses to assess English competency for visa purposes.
But it’s the only one that uses voice recognition technology to test speaking ability, with recordings then marked by a ‘scoring engine’ that has been trained to identify acceptable and unacceptable answers to questions that pop up on screen.
Other test providers say they use human assessors to determine if people are competent English speakers.
Given that she’s a native speaker, Ms Kennedy has told the company the PTE technology is flawed.
‘There’s obviously a flaw in their computer software, when a person with perfect oral fluency cannot get enough points,’ she said.
Pearson has categorically denied there is anything wrong with its computer-based test or the scoring engine trained to analyse responses.
Sasha Hampson, head of English for Pearson Asia Pacific, said the immigration department set the bar very high for people seeking permanent residency.
Pearson, which conducts its PTE test worldwide for a wide range of purposes, doesn’t offer a pass or a fail – simply a score.
Ms Kennedy, who is due to have her baby in October, says she’ll now have to pursue a bridging visa, while she seeks a more expensive spouse visa so she can remain with her Australian husband.