Roche, T. & Harrington, M. (2013). Recognition vocabulary knowledge as a predictor of academic performance. Language Testing in Asia, 3, 1. (original) (raw)
Educational institutions across Asia spend a considerable amount of resources administering placement and proficiency tests to assess whether students have the English language skills necessary to undertake higher education instruction in English medium classrooms. This paper presents findings of an investigation of recognition vocabulary knowledge as a predictor of Academic English Performance and overall Academic Achievement in English medium university contexts. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed using a computerised YES/NO test measuring participants' speed and accuracy of word recognition. Academic English Performance (AEP) was assessed using a mock IELTS academic writing test. Performance on these measures was correlated with Grade Point Average (GPA) as a measure of academic achievement. Students from an Arabic speaking background at two tertiary education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman, Rustaq College of Applied Science and Sohar University took part in the study. Pearson's correlation tests reveal there is a strong positive relationship (0.836 at the 0.01 level) between English language performance and GPA, and a positive relationship (0.679 at the 0.01 level) between recognition vocabulary knowledge and AEP. Recommendations for using computer generated word recognition scores as a valid and reliable, cost and time effective general measure of AEP and as predictor of academic achievement and underachievement are explored.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.