Assessing the Efficacy of the Test of English as a Foreign Language

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron W. Hughey ◽  
Danny Hinson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Major Area ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Academic Records ◽  
The University ◽  
Time Of Admission ◽  
Academic Potential

American colleges and universities routinely use the Test of English as a Foreign Language to assess international students' potential for academic success. This is unfortunate given current disagreement regarding its validity as a predictive measure. The present study examined the academic records of 168 international students enrolled at a private, four-year institution in the southeastern United States. Each student was profiled by gender, general language background, major area of study, score on the test at the time of admission to the university, and GPA at the time of departure from the university. Analysis indicated that the test's value as a vehicle for assessing academic potential is problematic. Recommendations are presented for use within current limitations, and possible lines of enquiry are suggested.

Implementing English-Taught Programmes in Higher Education in Spain

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Victor Pavón-Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Bilingual Programs ◽  
University Policy ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Institutional Profile ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University

The acceptance of English as the lingua franca of the academic world has triggered the flourishing of different approaches to promote the learning of English as a foreign language in higher education. Under the umbrella of supranational regulations (as in the case of Europe), the promise of linguistic gains runs parallel with the necessity to attract international students, to promote the international and institutional profile for the universities, and to enhance employability for graduates. At the university of Córdoba, studies or courses taught through a foreign language are part of a larger university policy, and the decisions were based on clear definition of content and language learning outcomes and human and material resources available. This chapter describes the implementation of bilingual programs at this university, offering a picture of the challenges and problems that emerged and of the initiatives that were adopted.

Suspended Students: An Analysis of Suspension Length and Returning Semester GPA

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deana C. Meadows ◽  
Terri J. Tharp
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Academic Records ◽  
Return To College ◽  
One Year ◽  
The University

The purpose of the study is to determine if length of suspension is related to academic success upon a student's return to college. This research stems from opposing views of members of a university academic appeals committee concerned about whether a suspended student should serve a suspension term of one semester, one year, or be granted immediate reentry. Academic records of 765 students who were suspended between the fall 1991 and the summer 1993 semesters and then were allowed to reenter the university within one year were examined. The results reveal that suspension length is unrelated to subsequent academic success.

scholarly journals The influence of Organizational Image on Academic Success for International Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüyam Küçüksüleymanoğlu
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
General View ◽  
Image Perception ◽  
Organizational Image ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Overall Evaluation ◽  
The University

Image as a concept that develops through personal, environmental, cultural, and organizational factors throughout history. Organizational image is the overall evaluation of people’s views regarding an organization or system. The purpose of present study was to determine the relationship between international university students’ academic achievement and perceived organizational image. As this is a descriptive research for it measures the image perceptions of the participants at a single time, quantative research methods were used. The population of the research was 2208 international students at Uludag University in Bursa. Randomly selected  1718 students (%77.8) who provided anonymous responses were the sample of the study. To examine the relation between organizational image and academic achievement, correlation analysis was used. To control the effect of the organizational image on the academic achievement regression analysis was used. Students’ academic achievement was mostly affected by reputation and recognition, provided services and general view and physical infrastucture at moderate level. As the students' image perception towards the university increases, their acdemic success also increase. Perceived organizational image affected students’ academic achievement significantly and explained 16% of the variance of academic achievement. General view &physical infrastructure provided services, reputation and recognition, and extra curricular activities from the sub-dimensions of organizational image perception have a meaningful effect on the academic success of students.  Key findings are discussed and recommendations offered to address issues related to organizational image.

scholarly journals Peer-led Discussion Groups in Foreign Languages: Training International Students to Become Peer-Facilitators

2015 ◽  
pp. 433-443
Author(s):  
Catherine Jeanneau ◽  
Stéphanie O’Riordan
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Constructive Feedback ◽  
The Past ◽  
Training Package ◽  
The University ◽  
Peer Facilitators

While practice is paramount to achieve fluency and accuracy in a foreign language, Higher Education is understandably limited in the amount of language practice it can offer to its students. The initiative discussed here aims to address this issue by providing peer-led discussion groups in languages in a systematic manner. For the past three years, a team of language practitioners at the University of Limerick, Ireland have developed a programme whereby groups of native speakers receive training before facilitating discussion groups and/or one-to-one sessions. In this study, we will first present an overview of the initiative. We will then focus on the training offered to the peer-facilitators. The main principles of the training package will be explained: it seeks to prepare the facilitators to select relevant topics, to focus on language fluency and to provide constructive feedback to participating students. Finally, we will draw some conclusions from our experience, provide some recommendations and discuss the value of peer-supported activities to integrate International students in their host university.

scholarly journals How Proficient is Proficient Enough?: A Look at Proficiency in ESL for Academic Success

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Marcellino Berardo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Class Discussion ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Academic English ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
The University

We teach English to international students for the purpose of academic achievement at the University of Kansas. The assumption is that students cannot be successful in university classes without the ability to use academic English well. This is most obvious at the lower levels. If the student cannot understand any spoken or written English, then s/he cannot take notes, read textbook chapters, write papers, take exams, or participate in class discussion. This assumption also implies that as the student’s English improves, proficiency will become less of a factor in academic success.This essay is intended to help us discuss assumptions associated with language proficiency and academic success and to identify how well students need to be able to use English in order to fulfill the university’s ESL requirement and be successful in their chosen academic program, at least as far as language is concerned. To this end, I begin by characterizing different kinds of proficiency. Then I highlight the literature reviews in this issue, one by Jennifer Hornbaker and one by Parul Sood, that bring up issues related to using proficiency tests as the sole indicators of linguistic readiness for academic success at the university.

The effect of academic breaks on undergraduate academic performance

2020 ◽  
pp. 002072092092251
Author(s):  
Artem Lenskiy ◽  
Raad Shariat ◽  
Soonuk Seol
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Grade Point Average ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Academic Records ◽  
Final Grades ◽  
The University

Leaving school for a period of time can have significant effects on students’ academic success. In this article, we analyze how taking an academic break for a different number of semesters affects students’ academic performance in terms of their Grade Point Average. This study is conducted at a university in Korea by analysing academic records of 653 undergraduate students who entered the university from 1998 to 2013. In addition, 101 currently enrolled students were surveyed to collect students’ opinions on the effects of academic breaks. We investigate changes in grades before and after a school leave and compare the final grades of students who had academic breaks to students who continued their studies without having any breaks during their undergraduate education.Our results indicate that students’ grades improve after coming back to the university from a four or more consecutive semesters break, however their final GPAs did not statistically differ from their peers who studied continuously, this suggests that students should not be afraid of taking longer academic breaks.

scholarly journals How Proficient is Proficient Enough?: A Look at Proficiency in ESL for Academic Success

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
Marcellino Berardo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Class Discussion ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Academic English ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
The University

We teach English to international students for the purpose of academic achievement at the University of Kansas. The assumption is that students cannot be successful in university classes without the ability to use academic English well. This is most obvious at the lower levels. If the student cannot understand any spoken or written English, then s/he cannot take notes, read textbook chapters, write papers, take exams, or participate in class discussion. This assumption also implies that as the student’s English improves, proficiency will become less of a factor in academic success.This essay is intended to help us discuss assumptions associated with language proficiency and academic success and to identify how well students need to be able to use English in order to fulfill the university’s ESL requirement and be successful in their chosen academic program, at least as far as language is concerned. To this end, I begin by characterizing different kinds of proficiency. Then I highlight the literature reviews in this issue, one by Jennifer Hornbaker and one by Parul Sood, that bring up issues related to using proficiency tests as the sole indicators of linguistic readiness for academic success at the university.

scholarly journals French-English Cognates in the Jordanian Foreign Language Learning Classroom: Friends or Foes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Samia Azieb ◽  
Rajai AL-Khanji ◽  
Majid Tarawneh
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Good Strategy ◽  
Language Background ◽  
University Of Jordan ◽  
Foreign Language Instructors ◽  
The University

The aim of the present study is two-fold in essence. First, it aims at finding out the extent to which cognates’ recognition aids Jordanian French-English bilinguals to translate from English into French. Second, it seeks to determine if such recognition can be a good strategy in learning foreign languages. Accordingly, a Translation Elicitation Task containing cognates and false cognates was devised and given to a sample of 31 students majoring in French at both the B.A and M.A levels at the University of Jordan. Findings of the study showed that most students did benefit from their English language background, and thus cognates facilitated their comprehension of French. However, some students participating in the translation test were not mindful of the lexical differences between English and French, thus producing an incorrect interpretation of the text. The study ends with a recommendation for foreign language instructors to teach cognate recognition strategies explicitly.

scholarly journals Quale scelta per una politica linguistica universitaria multilingue?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Sisti
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Italian Language ◽  
The University

The language policy of the University of Urbino, a mid-sized Italian university with a large number of Erasmus exchange participation and a good degree of internationalization, includes CLIL-based courses to its students as well as to international students. The policy of providing disciplines taught in Italian and in foreign languages, and the choice of alternating modules of Italian and foreign language teaching within the same course, supports multilingualism without penalizing the Italian language, thereby also promoting foreign language learning within the university. This study reports the results of a questionnaire distributed to students and teaching staff regarding a project, Didattica in lingua straniera – CLIL@uniurb, which includes also data related to students who took advantage of study abroad opportunities over the years.

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