Predicting the academic achievement of multilingual students of English through vocabulary testing

ABSTRACT

Previous studies on the academic achievement (AA) of students who pursue education in English-medium instruction settings indicate that standardised international language tests demonstrate low predictive power for study success. Consequently, there seems to be clear value in exploring alternative means of determining influential correlators between language proficiency and academic performance, especially in countries where international tests are neither a prerequisite for university admission nor a cost-effective option. This study explored Hungarian native-speakers, members of a linguistic minority living in Romania, studying for a degree in English Language and Literature. English (L3) and Romanian (L2) form-meaning based receptive vocabulary tests have been employed to explore the extent to which they predict AA. The results show significant positive correlations between lexical knowledge in the tested languages and AA. However, regression analyses indicate that English vocabulary scores emerge as the best single predictors and explain over 30% of variance. This suggests that, in the case of typologically close languages, lexical tests are likely measuring the same underlying trait. Given the relatively high predictive power of vocabulary tests in relation to AA, we conclude that lexical knowledge is an important explanatory factor of AA, even in the case of multilinguals.

KEYWORDS:

• Lexical knowledge
• multilingualism
• academic achievement
• vocabulary testing
• L2 and L3

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Csaba Z. Szabo

Dr Csaba Z Szabo received his MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Swansea University, Wales and has recently obtained his PhD in Second Language Acquisition from The Open University, UK. He holds an assistant professorship at the University of Nottingham Malaysia where he is involved in training English language teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His research interests are in the areas of vocabulary acquisition and testing with a specific focus on multilingualism, cross-linguistic influences, and academic attainment.

Ursula Stickler

Dr Ursula Stickler is Senior Lecturer in German in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at The Open University, UK. Her research focuses on independent and technology-enhanced language learning and teacher training. She has published widely in the areas of independent language learning and methodological issues in language learning research, such as qualitative methods for Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research and eye-tracking. She is co-editor in chief of the journal System.

Lina Adinolfi

Dr Lina Adinolfi is a Lecturer in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University, UK. Her professional and research activities span language education and learning in education, with a particular focus on teacher development in respect of these areas. Her specialist interests encompass lexical chunks in language learning and teaching, learner-driven language instruction (process syllabuses), pedagogic translanguaging and language-in-education policies and practices in multilingual contexts.