Page 10 - ELG1806 June Issue 458

RESEARCH NEWS .

HIGH IELTS SCORE BEATS ABILITY

IN QUEST FOR ACADEMIC RESULTS

Pre-sessional courses don’t boost academic results for weaker test performers,
study finds

By Federica Tedeschi
Why do international students do
worse than their native-speaker
counterparts academically?
Figures from the Higher
Education Statistics Agency
have shown that they gain
proportionately fewer first and
upper second-class degrees than
UK home students.
And now, a UK study has found
that while the Ielts scores students
obtain before they arrive at
university are a good predictor of
academic results, attending a pre-
sessional course has no significant
effect on the outcomes of students
with lower Ielts scores on entry.
This finding has led the author
to suggest that the entry level
should be ‘equivalent to an Ielts
score of 7.5’, – higher than the
typical score of 7 required for
masters courses.
Researchers also found that the
vocabulary size of foreign students
starting university is a good
predictor of academic success. (8,000-word families) of that of who spoke English as their native students initially fell below the
The study covered two groups of the home students (15,000-word language. university’s Ielts entry threshold
social sciences students in the UK: families). At the end of eight months, and attended a six-to-ten-week
63 Mandarin-speaking Chinese Significant differences were results from the second ‘follow- pre-sessional course.
doing a one-year masters and 64 also highlighted in a reading up’ test showed that living in an Students’ academic results
first year BA students, all of whom comprehension test, where the English-speaking environment however, correlated to their initial
were English mother-tongue. Chinese scored 33 per cent lower helped the Chinese students to scores with or without a pre-
Female students accounted for than the L1 students. When asked make some progress, from 7.24 sessional. Lead researcher Danijela
over 80 per cent of both groups to write a summary of a written points in summarisation, for Trenkic told the Gazette: ‘Our
and all were new to the UK higher text, they remembered one third example, to 8.32. However, as the study cannot provide a definitive
education system. fewer points. British had also progressed, the answer, but it suggests that the
Both groups were tested at the However, there was no gap between the groups had not threshold (for entry) should be set
beginning of their course, and difference between the groups on narrowed. at, or above, a level equivalent to
again after eight months. general cognitive abilities assessed The study found the best an Ielts score at 7.5’.
Results from an initial through non-verbal reasoning predictor of a Chinese student’s The researchers pointed out
vocabulary knowledge test showed tests. No strong link between academic success was their overall that further studies of the subject
that the international students in language and literacy skills and Ielts score on entry. These scores needed to address a gender
the sample had an average English academic grades was found in ranged between 6.5 and 7.5. imbalance in the sample of
vocabulary almost half the size the sample of British students Some 38 per cent of the Chinese students who took part.
‘Further research needs to
Total number of Degree British International establish whether our findings
generalise to other international
graduates in the UK classification graduates (%) graduates (%) students, particularly to speakers
413,020 First class honours 26 23 of languages that are typologically
closer to English,’ the researchers
50
45
Upper second class honours
added.
British Lower second class honours 19 25
n Language and literacy skills of
78,100 Third class honours/Pass 5 6 home and international university
students: How different are they, and
International Source: HESA, Academic year 2016/17 does it matter? https://tinyurl.com/
ybghxvl3
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