“Whiteness” and Future “Imaginaries”: Pakistani Test‐Takers' Perspectives on Mobility and High‐Stakes English Proficiency Tests

Abstract According to the World Migration Report 2024, transnational educational mobility has increased significantly worldwide, with numbers rising from 2.2 million in 2001 to over 6 million in 2021. As a proxy of English‐language proficiency, the International English‐Language Testing Service (IELTS) has emerged as one of the most popular high‐stakes English tests, with around 4 million test‐takers in the year 2023 alone (IELTS, 2024). Since it is a popular proxy of English‐speaking skills, this study explores test‐takers' motivations, experiences, and perspectives in Pakistan regarding IELTS tests to examine the factors motivating mobility among graduate test‐takers to pursue higher education in the Global North, and to reflect on how test‐takers' socioeconomic background influences their test‐taking experiences. Grounded in “colonialingualism” and “Whiteness as futurity” framework, the study reveals how the test‐taking bodies, figuring within the neoliberal globalization, respond to and interact with the needs of the test‐takers. The test‐takers' perspectives also shed light on the interaction between the local and the global demonstrating how the international high‐stakes English testing bodies interact with and capitalize on the “colonialingual” status of English and the political and socioeconomic conditions of the test‐takers and facilitate an asymmetrical mobility of “imaginaries”, “resources” and “people” between Global North and Global South.