The study also suggested that it is important to look at other individual differences as potential predictors of learners’ effectiveness, namely personality, cognitive ability, or learning orientations.
Trang 1NĂNG LỰC TIẾNG ANH VÀ KẾT QUẢ HỌC TẬP ĐẠI HỌC:
VAI TRÒ CỦA BÀI KIỂM TRA NĂNG LỰC TIẾNG ANH
TRONG VIỆC DỰ ĐOÁN ĐIỂM TRUNG BÌNH HỌC TẬP CỦA SINH VIÊN
Hoàng Gia Th, Nguyn Tin Dũng, Bùi Lê Minh*
Trường Đại học Hà Nội
*Tác giả liên hệ, email: thuhg@hanu.edu.vn
giữa năng lực tiếng Anh và kết quả học tập của sinh
viên các chuyên ngành Quản trị Kinh doanh, Quản trị
Du lịch, Tài chính – Ngân hàng và Kế toán tại một
trường ñại học công lập Tại ñây tiếng Anh ñược sử
dụng làm phương tiện giảng dạy và kiểm tra – ñánh giá
Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy năng lực tiếng Anh là một
chỉ báo ñáng tin cậy về khả năng thành công trong học
tập của sinh viên ở các môn học và trình ñộ khác nhau,
và trình ñộ tiếng Anh yếu, ñặc biệt ở các kỹ năng Đọc
hiểu và Nghe hiểu sẽ khiến kết quả học tập bị hạn chế
Dựa trên kết quả thu ñược, nghiên cứu ñề xuất một số
giải pháp nhằm cải tiến việc thiết kế và triển khai
chương trình giảng dạy cũng như phương pháp kiểm
tra – ñánh giá ñể nâng cao trình ñộ tiếng Anh của sinh
viên Nghiên cứu cũng ñề cập ñến việc tìm hiểu những
sự khác biệt giữa các cá nhân sinh viên có thể là chỉ
báo về khả năng học tập của sinh viên như: tính cách,
khả năng nhận thức hoặc ñịnh hướng học tập
Abstract: The current study investigated the
relationship between the English language proficiency (ELP) and academic success of students majoring in business studies (i.e., Business Administration, Tourism Management, Finance and Banking, and Accounting) at a state university where English is the medium of instruction and assessment The findings suggested that ELP is a strong indicator of students’ achievement across subject areas and course levels, and insufficient proficiency in English, particularly in reading and listening skills, would result in limited academic success Based on the findings, a number of recommendations were put forward in an attempt to help improve the curriculum design and implementation
as well as assessments for better English language proficiency The study also suggested that it is important to look at other individual differences as potential predictors of learners’ effectiveness, namely personality, cognitive ability, or learning orientations
ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:
THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL-BASED ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST
IN PREDICTING STUDENTS’ GRADE POINT AVERAGE
Students whose first language is not English
encounter grave challenges in their academic
study when English is the language of instruction
of the program Various studies have linked
students’ English language proficiency (ELP) with
important academic [e.g., Grade Point Average
(GPA), non-completion rate] and individual (e.g.,
sociocultural adjustment and well-beings)
outcomes(Chen & Sun, 2006; Cho & Bridgeman,
2012; Cumming, 1994; Graham, 1987; Johnson,
1988; Johnson & Buck, 1995; Pantages &
Creedon, 1978; Sarudin, 1994; Zhang & Goodson, 2011).Generally, the current body of research suggested that better ELP leads to better GPA, completion rates, and sociocultural adjustment Review of the literature, however, suggests that most of the studies examining the relationship between ELP and academic success were conducted in English-speaking countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand with samples from non-speaking countries in Asia, the Middle East, and
Trang 2Eastern Europe (e.g., Chen & Sun, 2006) This
raises the question of whether such findings can
be generalized to similar programs (i.e., programs
where English is chosen as the language of
instruction and assessment) delivered locally in
non-English-speaking countries The differences
in the academic and social environment (e.g.,
instructors’ and peers’ level of English, learning
facilities and support, and opportunities for
language practices outside the classroom) may
moderate the relationship between ELP and
academic success reported in the literature
For that reason, the purpose of this study is to
examine the relationship between ELP and
students’ academic performance in a
non-English-speaking country More specifically, we studied
the relationship between students’ ELP, measured
by (a) their performance on an institutional-based
ELP test and (b) students’ GPA of an intensive
English as a Second Language (ESL) program,
with their overall college GPA and GPAs of
different course areas and levels In addition, we
also explored the relative importance of English
language skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening,
and speaking) to students’ overall GPA Finally,
we looked at the relationship between students’
ELP and their GPAs across the course levels (i.e.,
200-level, 300-level, and 400-level courses).The
study is expected to contribute to the literature by
extending the current research to programs in
non-English-speaking countries where the academic
and social settings are different from those in the
English-speaking countries In addition, by
examining the two measures of ELP (i.e., IELTS
score and GPA of an ESL program) and their
relationship with students’ GPA, we further our
understanding of the relative importance of
standardized ELP tests versus ESL programs
Academic Programs Delivered in English in
Non-English Speaking Countries
The last decade witnesses an increase in the
popularity of international programs in
non-English-speaking countries such as China,
Thailand, and Vietnam According to the recent
statistics published by the Vietnam International Education Department (VIED), there are currently412 international programs which are co-delivered locally by 78 Vietnam educational institutions and over 200 international universities
in 30 countries and territories (VIED, 2014) These programs are usually designed by foreign universities and delivered partly or entirely by domestic partners in the host countries Regardless
of where these programs come from, English is usually chosen as the language of instruction and assessment In addition, over the last few decades, local universities in these developing countries have started to offer their own academic programs
in English in an attempt to internationalize their academic programs and to meet the increasing demand of the public for graduates who are both well-versed in English and professionally qualified
in their respective fields With the current trends
of global cooperation in education, the increased mobility of the workforce, and the demand for tertiary education, it is expected that this kind of programs will continue to grow in the future
We chose to investigate the relationship between the ELP and students’ academic success
in a non-English-speaking country for several reasons First, internationalization is an important component of universities, especially in developed countries in the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand Altbach & Knight (2007) suggested that internationalization of higher education have expanded dramatically in the last two decades in volume, scope, and complexity and predicted that
it would continue to be a central force in higher education around the world Because of this we expect to see an increase in international programs and other forms of training in developing countries around the world Second, despite the popularity of the topic, we found only a few published studies investigating the relationship between the ELP and the academic performance
in non-English speaking countries such as the Netherlands (e.g., Vinke & Jochems, 1993), Somalia (e.g., Addow, Abubakar, & Abukar,
Trang 32013), Nigeria (Aina, Ogundele, & Olanipekun,
2013; Kakeye, 2014), India (e.g., Kumar, 2014),
Iran (e.g., Maleki & Zangani, 2007); and Tanzania
(Komba, Kafanabo, Njabili, & Kira, 2012; Wilson
& Komba, 2012) A better understanding of the
relationship between the two variables is
extremely important to improving the quality of the
English training and subsequently the performance
of students in these academic programs
English Language Proficiency and Academic
Performance
As indicated, the relationship between
students’ ELP and their academic success has
been attracting a great deal of research attention
In the past studies, ELP was usually measured by
a standardized ELP test such as the Test of
English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL; e.g.,
Al-Musawi & Al-Ansari, 1999; Cho & Bridgeman,
2012; Van Nelson, Nelson, & Malone, 2004) or
the International English Language Testing
System (IELTS; Feast, 2002; Read & Hayes, 2003,
Woodrow, 2012) In some studies (e.g., Komba et
al., 2012; Kong, Powers, Starr & Williams, 2012),
however, the authors utilized institutional-based
ELP tests Students’ academic success was usually
measured by students’ GPA at the end of the term
or program, although other individual outcomes
such as sociocultural adjustment (e.g., Andrade,
2006; Zhang & Goodson, 2011) and students’
perceived academic difficulty (e.g., Xu, 1991)
were also used as the criteria in several studies In
general, the empirical evidence suggests a
significant positive relationship between ELP and
academic achievements (Fakeye, 2014) The
results have been able to be replicated in various
educational levels from elementary to tertiary
education (e.g., Fakeye, 2014; Kong et al., 2013;
Sawir, Marginson, Forbes-Mewett, Nyland,
&Ramia, 2012; Vinke & Jochems, 1993), across
subject areas (e.g., Aina, Ogundele, & Olanipekun,
2013; Salamonson, Everett, Koch, Andrew,
&Davidson, 2007), and in various
English-speaking countries (e.g., the United States, the
United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada)
Recent research focus has switched to a new but related area of inquiry Researchers have started to look at students’ ELP and how it influences students’ academic performance in non-English-speaking countries Several differences in the academic and social environments between English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries qualify for the new research direction First, a majority of the instructors in these types of programs are non-native English speakers themselves Research suggested the limitations associated with the instructors’ ELP influence their students’ ability to understand the materials, which in turn exerts a negative impact on their academic performance Second, the learning facilities and support (e.g., library, ESL training, and academic skills assistant program) are much limited in those developing countries where these programs take place The shortage of these resources may adversely impact students’ learning and performance Finally, students study in non-English-speaking countries miss valuable opportunities to strengthen their ELP by using their English outside the classroom
In the following section, we shall review several studies looking at the relationship between ELP and academic performance in non-English-speaking countries
Fakeye (2014) examined the influence of Nigerian secondary school students’ ELP and their overall academic performance and found that the ELP has a significant positive relationship with students’ academic achievements in Mathematics, Biology and English In another study using a Nigerian sample at the college level, Aina et al (2013) investigated the relationship between students’ ELP and their performance in science and technical courses The results suggested that students with a better level of ELP were more likely to perform better than their counterparts Several studies in Tanzania school system also found that the overall ELP or specific English language skill (i.e., writing) are positively related
to students’ academic performance at the secondary (Wilson & Komba, 2012) and tertiary
Trang 4level (Komba et al., 2012) Similar findings have
been replicated across subject areas such as arts
(Wilson & Komba, 2012), management (Kumar,
2014; Stephen, Welman, & Jordaan, 2004),and
engineering (Vinke & Jochems, 1993) and the
empirical evidence so far suggested that the ELP
is crucial for students’ academic success
Notwithstanding, the investigation by Addow
et al (2013) pointed out that the proficiency in
English would not ensure success in academic
performance and that the relationship between
English language proficiency and academic
achievements of the subjects studied remained
weak The findings of this study are similar to
those reported by Graham (1987), Hill, Storch,
and Lynch (1999), or Wilson and Komba (2012)
that the relationship between English language
proficiency plays a role but not a major or dominant
role in the students’ academic success in English
Hypotheses
Based on the current empirical evidence on the
relationship between ELP and academic
performance, we proposed the following
hypotheses for the current study First of all, as
reviewed, most of the studies to date suggest that
students’ ELP plays a positive role in students’
academic success We therefore concur with the
empirical evidence and predict:
H1a: The English language proficiency,
measured by students’ overall GPA of their
first-year ESL program, is positively related to the
overall college GPA
H1b: The English language proficiency,
measured by institutional-based ELP test, is
positively related to the overall college GPA
In addition, because the format of the
institutional-based ELP test used in this institution
was similar to that of the IELTS, which mainly
focuses on testing students’ linguistic knowledge
rather that communicative competence and
academic skills (Carroll, 1980), we predict that the
institutional-based ELP test scores is not as
effective as students’ overall GPA in their
first-year ESL program in predicting students’ academic achievement (i.e., overall GPA) Therefore, we predict:
H1c: Students’ overall GPA of their first-year ESL program is a better predictor of student overall GPA as compared to students’ performance on the ELP test
With regard to the English language skills, there have been a number of studies investigating the relationship between language skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and academic performance A review by Bharuthram (2012; p 205) suggested that “reading is one of the most important tasks encountered by students”, especially students in tertiary education Empirical studies (e.g., Bohlman & Pretorius, 2002) have found a significant relationship between students’ reading ability and their academic performance Because the reading ability is central to the process
of acquiring knowledge of students, we predict: H2: Among the four English language skills, reading is the strongest predictor of students’ overall GPA
Many studies investigating the relationship between ELP and academic achievement used students’ first year GPA as the criterion of academic success Therefore, little is known about how well ELP predicts the students’ academic success in the subsequent years In order to examine the importance ELP and academic success over the years during college, we examine the relationship between ELP and academic performance across course levels Because, in general, the level of course difficulty increases as students advance to graduation, we predict:
H3: The English language proficiency is more strongly positively related to students’ GPA in the higher course levels than those in the lower ones Finally, we expect ELP, which illustrate students’ verbal competences, is less important for courses that require more quantitative competences such as Accounting or Finance and Banking More specifically, we predict
Trang 5H4: The English language proficiency is
more strongly positively related to students’ GPA
in Foundation courses, Business Administration,
and Tourism Management, as compared to those
in Accounting and Finance and Banking
Method
Participants
Data providing information on the English
proficiency and academic performance for the
current study was obtained from the academic
database of the students in the four undergraduate
programs (i.e., Business Administration, Tourism
Management, Finance and Banking, and
Accounting) ata medium-sized public university
in Hanoi These students graduated from the
university from 2012 to 2014 The reason for us to
choose these particular programs was that, except
for several compulsory general courses1, all of
their courses are delivered in English Therefore,
it is very important for the students to have a good
level of English proficiency in order to do well in
these programs
There were 747 students in the final sample
including 183 (24.5%) students from the Business
Administration program, 99 (13.3%) students
from the Tourism Management program, 286
(38.3%) students from the Finance and Banking
program, and 179 (23.9%) students from the
Accounting program Of those, 364 (48.7%)
students graduated in 2012, 227 (30.4%) students
graduated in 2013, and 156 (20.9%) students
graduated in 2014 The sample included 121
(16.2%) male and 626 (83.8%) female students
The mean age for the total sample was 22.29 years
(SD = 69)
Procedure
1 Vietnamese universities are required to offer selected
compulsory courses in their academic programs as
regulated by the framework established by the Ministry of
Education and Training More specifically, in these
particular programs, students are required to take 5
courses in Vietnamese including General Philosophy,
Political Economics, Scientific Socialism, History of
Vietnam Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh’s Thoughts
Approval from the university management was obtained to secure the access to the academic database of the students in the four programs Grade record and selected demographic information (i.e., major, gender, and age) of the students who graduated from the four programs in the last three years (2012-2014) was retrieved from the database by a university administrator who was not involved in the study to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of the students whose grade records were used in the study No personal information which can be used to identify the students was obtained
Measures Demographic Variables Students’ major, age, gender were obtained from the students’ academic record Research have shown that age and gender may influence academic performance (Abubakar
& Oguguo, 2012) In addition, because the requirements2 for the students to be admitted to the university are different for different majors in different cohorts, we, therefore, wished to ensure the control of the majors and cohorts in the statistical analyses
English Proficiency All the students in the programs were required to go through an intensive English training program in their freshman year The training consists of 900 contact hours, organized into three 10 week quarters from September to June every year We obtained students’ English grades for each quarter which includes the general average point (GPA) for English and four of its language skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking).From these individual grades, we derived the first year English GPA as well as grades for each of the four language skills Students’ grades range from 5 to
10 3 In addition, we obtained students’
2 All students are required to take a university entrance examination to be considered for admission into universities in Vietnam The minimum grades required for each major vary across majors and cohorts
3 Students have to score 5 and above for English GPA and four of its components to be qualified for the sophomore year
Trang 6institutional-based ELP test scores which includes
the overall band and four of its component (i.e.,
reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills)
The students were required to take the
institutional-based ELP test at the end of the third
quarter and had to score 6 or above for the overall
band of 9 to be qualified for the sophomore year
Academic Performance We obtained students’
GPA at the end of the program as the main
indicator of student academic performance In
addition, we calculated the GPA for each subject
area(i.e., Foundation, Management, Tourism and
Hospitality, Finance and Banking, and Accounting
courses) and course level (i.e., 200 level, 300 level,
and 400 level)to explore the relationship between
the English proficiency and academic
performance of students in specific subject areas
and course difficulties
Results
We collected the demographic variables (i.e.,
age, gender, cohort, and major) and used them as
controlled variables for all analyses in the current
study Means, standard deviations, and
intercorrelations among study variables, except for
major and cohort, are displayed in Table 1
Among the demographic variables, age was
negatively correlated with all grade variables,
except for Tourism and Hospitality courses GPA
Intercorrelations between age and different GPAs
rangingd from -.18 to -.41 (p< 01) suggested that
younger students were more likely to do better
academically, especially for English related
competencies (rs ranged from -.22 to -.41)
Gender was positively related to most of grades
variables (rs ranged from 09 to 21), listening,
speaking, institutional-based ELP test score, and
Finance and Banking GPAs, suggesting that
female students were more likely to do better in
school as compared to male students
Among English related grades, there were
strong correlations between the four language
competencies and the overall English GPA (rs
ranged from 71 to 82; p< 01) while there were
relatively weaker relationship observed between
the four language competencies and
institutional-based ELP test score (rs ranged from 31 to 45;
p< 01) The correlation between overall English GPA and institutional-based ELP test score
was 49 (p< 01) suggested a moderately strong
relationship among the two major indicators of English proficiency used in the current study However, their correlations with the overall
college GPA (r = 75 for overall English GPA and
r = 43 for institutional-based ELP test score) and other indicators of students’ academic performance (i.e., subject areas and course levels) were rather different, warranting further investigation of the relative importance of the two indicators in predicting students’ overall academic performance in later analyses Finally, we observed strong correlations among subject areas
GPAs (rs ranged from 54 to 81; p< 01) and course levels GPAs (rs ranged from 62 to 84;
p< 01)
To further investigate the role English proficiency and students’ academic performance,
an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted with the overall college GPA as the dependent variable, categorical demographical variables such as major, cohort, and gender as the fixed factors, and the overall English GPA, institutional-based ELP test score, and age as the covariates The results indicated that the main
effects of overall English GPA, F(1, 715) = 510.26, p< 01, partial η 2= 42 and
institutional-based ELP test score, F(1, 715) = 13.97, p<.01, partial η 2= 02 were significant In addition,
among the controlled variables, major, F(3, 715) = 5.32, p< 01, cohort, F(2, 715) = 3.41, p< 05, gender, F(1, 715) = 6.21, p< 05, age, F(1, 715) = 7.62, p< 01, and the interaction between major and cohort, F(6, 715) = 2.73, p< 05, were found
to be significantly related to the overall college GPA As mentioned, the overall English GPA was the single most important variable in the model, accounting for 42% of the variance in the overall college GPA while institutional-based ELP test score only accounted for 2% of the variance in the same dependent variable The results suggested that Hypotheses 1a, 1b, and 1c are supported
Trang 7Next, we investigated the relationship between
the four language competencies (i.e., reading,
writing, listening, and speaking skills) and the
overall college GPA, controlling for students’
major, cohort, gender, and age Another
ANCOVA was conducted with the overall college
GPA as the dependent variable, categorical
demographical variables such as major, cohort,
and gender as the fixed factors, and the four
language competencies and age as the covariates
The results suggested that the main effects for
reading, F(1, 720) = 86.95, p< 01, partial η 2= 11,
writing, F(1, 720) = 40.23, p< 01, partial η 2= 05,
listening, F(1, 720) = 54.87, p< 01, partial η 2= 07,
and speaking, F(1, 720) = 20.40, p< 01, partial
η 2= 03, were significant Among the controlled
variables, major, F(3, 720) = 5.41, p< 05, gender,
F (1, 720) = 4.21, p< 05, age, F(1, 720) = 7.27,
p< 01, and the interaction between major and
cohort, F(6, 720) = 2.16, p< 05, were found to be
significantly related to the overall college GPA
As expected, a large percentage of the variance
(26%) in the overall college GPA was accounted
for by four language competencies Reading
explained about 11% of the variance in the college
GPA, followed by listening (7%), writing (5%),
and lastly speaking (3%) Hence, the results
suggested Hypothesis 2 is supported
To further explore how English proficiency
predicts students’ academic over the years in
college, we conduct a Multivariate Analysis of
Covariance (MANCOVA) with 200 level, 300
level, 400 level courses GPAs as the dependent
variables, categorical demographical variables
such as major, cohort, and gender as the fixed
factors, and overall English GPA,
institutional-based ELP test score, and age as the covariates
We observed similar results found in the first
ANCOVA model with the overall English GPA
was significantly related to the 200 level courses
GPA, F(1, 715) = 114.74, p< 01, partial η 2= 14,
300 level courses GPA, F(1, 715) = 112.80,
p < 01, partial η 2 = 14, and 400 level courses, F(1,
715) = 98.41, p< 01,partial η 2= 12.It also
accounted for a large variance (i.e., 14%, 14%,
and 12% for the 200 level, 300 level, and 400 level courses GPA respectively) in the dependent variables Institutional-based ELP test score, controlled variables (i.e., major, cohort, gender, and age) and the interaction between them (i.e., major and cohort) explained some variances in the dependent variables but were relatively smaller than those by the overall English GPA Hypothesis 3 is, therefore, not supported
Finally, we conducted another MANCOVA to test the relationship between English proficiency and students’ academic performance in each subject area The model included 44 subject areas (i.e., Foundation, Management, Finance and Banking, and Accounting) GPAs as the dependent variables, categorical demographical variables such as major, cohort, and gender as the fixed factors, and overall English GPA, institutional-based ELP test score, and age as the covariates The result suggested that the overall English GPA was significantly related to the Foundation courses
GPA, F(1, 713) = 95.36, p< 01, partial η 2= 12,
Management courses GPA, F(1, 713) = 180.27,
p < 01, partial η 2= 20, Finance and Banking
courses GPA, F(1, 713) = 57.95, p< 01, partial
η 2 = 08, and Accounting courses GPA, F(1, 713)
= 74.14, p< 0, partial η 2= 09 As described, it also accounted for a large variance (i.e., 12%, 20%, 8%, and 9%for the Foundation courses GPA, Management courses GPA, Finance and Banking courses GPA, and Accounting courses GPA respectively) in the dependent variables Similar
to other models tested in the study, institutional-based ELP test score, controlled variables (i.e., major, cohort, gender, and age) and the interaction between them (i.e., major and cohort) did explain some variances in the dependent variables but were relatively smaller than those of overall
4 Tourism and Hospitality courses GPA was excluded from the model because it only applies to Tourism and Hospitality major and the sample size (n = 99) was too small for a MANCOVA with 9 predictors The minimum sample size for a 9 predictor MANCOVA model is 113, calculated based on an effect size (f 2 ) of 15, statistical power level at 8 and probability level at 05 (Soper, 2014)
Trang 8English GPA As hypothesized, we found
relatively large differences in the variance
explained for by the overall English GPA between
courses that deemed to require a higher level of
English competencies[i.e., Management courses
(20%) and to a lesser extent Foundations course
(12%)]and courses[i.e., Finance and Banking (8%)
and Accounting (9%)]in which English is
relatively less important The findings suggested
that Hypothesis 4 is supported
Discussion
The current study investigates the relationship
between several indicators of English proficiency
(i.e., overall English GPA, students’ English
language skills, and institutional-based ELP test
score) and students’ academic performance, as
measured by overall college GPA, subject areas
(e.g., Management course) GPA, and course level
GPA (e.g., 200 level) Overall, after controlling
for differences in students’ majors, cohorts,
gender, age, we found a strong relationship
between the students’ level of English proficiency
and their academic performance across subject
areas and course levels There are, however,
several important findings in the current study that
deserve further discussion
First of all, we found that while the overall
English GPA in the first year explained a huge
amount of variance (42%) in the students’ overall
college GPA, institutional-based ELP test score
explained a very small percentage of the variance
(2%) in the dependent variable This finding was
later found to be generalized across subject areas
and course levels There are two reasons that
might help to explain the current finding First, as
described in the previous section on the
characteristics of the current English program, the
current English training is very intensive,
consisting of 900 contact hours over a 30 week
length The workload for this training was 4 - 5
times more intensive than other already
concentrated language trainings in the same
university and could be up to 10 times more
intensive than regular language trainings in the
first year of college in Vietnamese universities The intensity of training over a short period of time might have improved students’ English proficiency exponentially and maximized the variance in the predictors, which help to explain better the variance in the dependent variables In contrast, the preparation for institutional-based ELP test was roughly 42% of the whole training and therefore might not be enough to create a strong variance among students with regard to their institutional-based ELP test score Second, the current English training is diverse, offering a wide range of learning opportunities for the students to improve their English knowledge and skills (e.g., pronunciation, vocabulary, academic writings, English for special purposes) that are truly important students’ success in their study of professional courses in the later years Test-focused training and assessment was, on the other hand, very narrowly focused on limited language skills, which might limit their relevance to the professional study (Carroll, 1980; Dulay, Burt, & Krashen, 1982)
Second, we found that language competencies related to knowledge acquisition such as reading and listening comprehension were more important for students’ academic success than language competencies related to information transfer such
as written and oral expression It is obvious that students will need to understand the course materials through, for example, reading a text or listening to a lecture first, before they can perform academically through written assignment or a presentation Third, the current study also suggested that English proficiency are equally important across the years in college More specifically, we found that the overall English GPA explained roughly the same percentage of variance (i.e., 12 – 14%) in the GPAs for 200 level, 300 level, and 400 level courses This finding indicated that the level of students’ English competency is more or less stable throughout the program
Fourth, the large differences observed among
Trang 9the variance accounted for by the overall English
GPA in each of the subject areas suggested that
English competency is more important for certain
disciplines which require a higher level of verbal
skills (e.g., Management and English Literature)
and are less important for certain disciplines
which require stronger quantitative skills (e.g.,
Finance and Banking and Accounting) Finally,
we found that the total variance in the overall
college GPA explained for by the overall English
GPA (42%) was relatively larger than the
combined variance (26%) in the overall college
GPA explained for by the four language
competencies Further analysis indicated that the
four competencies explained only from 66 to 74%
of the variance in the overall English courses
They were very large variance but there was still
at least 26% of unaccounted variance in the
overall English course GPA It suggested that
there were more variables (e.g., personality and
learning orientations) beyond the four language
competencies at work, which influenced the
overall English proficiency, which then may
influence students’ academic performance
Theoretical and practical implications
The current study confirms the important
relationship between English proficiency and
students’ academic performance in the programs
where English is used as the language of
instruction and assessment More importantly, it is
the first study which systematically investigates
this relationship in Vietnam, a non-English
speaking country, across disciplines and
longitudinally In addition, the study highlights the
importance of learner-centered approach in
designing and implementation of academic
programs Some of the contingent variables we
may want to consider in designing English
preparation courses, as suggested by the study, are
(a) the expected outcomes of the training; (b) the
major of the programs; and (c) the intensity of the
training program A strong training needs analysis
will certain help to facilitate the understanding of
these variables and provide a solid basis for
curriculum design and implementation The study also suggests that it is important to look at other individual differences as potential predictors of learners’ effectiveness such as personality, cognitive ability, or learning orientations
The current study offers several practical implications for ESL- and ELICOS-like training
to prepare students for professional studies First, the study suggests the institutional-based ELP test score might be irrelevant in situations where students have been trained intensively in English
to prepare for college The university in the current study may want to consider removing the institutional-based ELP test at the end of the first year because it does not add much value to the prediction of future academic performance Second, the study also suggests that institutional-based ELP test score might not be the perfect predictor of academic performance as many thought it should be because of its narrow focuses
In addition to test training and requirements, institutions might want to offer other kinds of training, e.g., academic writing or referencing, which are more relevant to the requirements of professional studies Third, students are more likely to maintain their ELP over the time One of the concerns for universities is that students’ English proficiency may get worsened overtime if they do not continue to learn English The results
of the current study, however, suggest that the language requirements of the current programs are sufficient to help maintaining students’ language competencies during the course of the program Fourth, because knowledge acquisition language skills (i.e., reading and listening) are more important for academic success than information expression skills (i.e., writing and speaking), the training programs with a strong focus on reading and listening are more likely to pay off in the long run in terms of students’ outcomes such as academic performance
Limitations and future research
We recognized several limitations of the current study First, while the GPA is the most
Trang 10commonly used indicator for academic success,
there is evidence suggesting that it is not always
valid (Graham, 1987) Future studies should use
additional indicators such as graduation rate,
student satisfaction and engagement as criteria for
academic achievement Second, because students
are required to pass the minimum score for both
overall English GPA (i.e., 5 on a 10 point scale)
and institutional-based ELP test score (6 on a 9
point scale), the sample as a restricted range of
score can reduce the strength of the relationship
between English proficiency and academic
performance Finally, we did not include several
important variables such as cognitive ability,
personality, or goal orientation as the predictors in
the current study Research (e.g., Addow et al.,
2013; Ho & Spinks, 1985; Wilson & Komba,
2013) has suggested that these factors are directly
related to students’ academic performance and
should be included in the model to predict
students’ academic performance more precisely
In conclusion, the current study seeks to
explore the relationship between students’ English
proficiency and their academic performance in
programs where English is used as the language of
instruction and assessment It significantly
contributes to our understanding of the role of the
English proficiency because it is the first study
conducted in a non-English speaking country
where students do not have the opportunity to
practice their English outside the classroom The
results suggest that English is a strong indicator of
students’ achievement across subject areas and
course levels
REFERENCES
1 Abubakar, R B., & Oguguo, O D (2012) Age and
gender as predictors of academic achievement of
college mathematics and science students Asian
journal of natural & applied sciences, 1(2), 121-127
2 Addow, A M., Abubakar, A H., & Abukar, M S
(2013) English language proficiency and academic
achievement for undergraduate students in Somalia
Educational Research International, 2(2), 59-66
3 Aina, J K., Ogundele, A G., & Olanipekun, S S
(2013) Students' Proficiency in English Language
Relationship with Academic Performance in Science
and Technical Education American Journal of
Educational Research, 1(9), 355-359
4 Al-Musawi, N M., & Al-Ansari, S H (1999)
TOEFL and FCE Tests as Predictors of Academic Success for Undergraduate Students at the University
of Bahrain [microform] / Nu’man M Al-Musawi and Saif H Al-Ansari [Washington, D.C.]: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse
5 Altbach, A., & Knight, J (2007) Internationalization of higher education: Motivations
and realities Journal of Studies in International
Education, 11(3-4), 290-305
6 Andrade, M S (2006) International students in
English-speaking universities adjustment factors Journal
of Research in International Education , 5(2), 131-154
7 Bharuthram, S (2012) Making a case for the teaching
of reading across the curriculum in higher education
South African Journal of Education , 32(2), 205-214
8 Bohlman, C A., & Pretorius, E J (2002) Research
report on reading skills for mathematics ALRU, UNISA
9 Carroll, B J (1980) Testing Communicative
Performance An interim study Oxford: Pergamon Press
10 Chen, Y., & Sun, C (2006) Language
proficiency and Academic Performance. Paper presented at the the 11th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, Japan
11 Cho, Y., & Bridgeman, B (2012) Relationship of TOEFL iBT[R] Scores to Academic Performance:
Some Evidence from American Universities Language
Testing, 29(3), 421-442
12 Cumming, A (1994) Alternatives in TESOL research: Descriptive, interpretive, and ideological
orientation TESOL QUARTERLY, 28, 673-703
13 Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S (1982)
Language Two New York: Oxford University Press
14 Fakeye, D (2014) English Language Proficiency
as a Predictor of Academic Achievement among EFL
Students in Nigeria Journal of English and Practice,
5(9), 38-41
15 Feast, V (2002) The Impact of IELTS scores on
performance at university International Education
Journal, 3(4), 70-85
16 Graham, J G (1987) English Language Proficiency and the Prediction of Academic Success
TESOL QUARTERLY, 21(3), 505-521
17 Hill, K., Storch, N., & Lynch, B (1999) A comparison of IELTS and TOEFL as predictors of
academic success IELTS Research Reports, 2(52-63)
Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/pdf/Vol2Report3.pdf
18 Johnson, G M., & Buck, G H (1995) Students personal and academic attributions of university
withdrawal Canadian Journal of Higher Education,
XXV(2), 53-77
19 Johnson, P (1988) English Language Proficiency