The C-test as predictor of the academic success of international students

ABSTRACT

The present article gives an overview of several studies on the predictive validity of the C-test. In the first part of the article, we discuss the construct validity of this test format. Only if the underlying construct of this test is understood, can a justification for high predictive validity be made. In the second part, we discuss several previous studies where the C-test format is used to predict the study and training success of international students. The third part discusses the findings of two as yet unpublished studies on the predictive validity of the C-test. We wish to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the validity of the C-test and argue that it is not only a language test, but also a test of processing speed which is related to working memory. For international students, processing speed in English as a foreign language is related to vocabulary knowledge, which includes statistical knowledge about the probability of words occurring in a given context as well as the probability of words following or preceding each other. The C-test taps precisely into these aspects of language proficiency which explains its high predictive validity for the study success of international students.

KEYWORDS:

• Study success
• international students
• C-test
• processing speed

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 A test format that is quite similar to the C-test was already developed in the nineteenth century: Ebbinghaus, H. (1897): über eine neue Methode zur Prüfung geistiger Fähigkeiten und ihre Anwendung bei Schulkindern (a new method to test cognitive abilities and its application with school children – translation M Daller). Zeitschrift fȕr Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane (Sonder-Abdruck/ Special issue). We have no information about whether the psychologist Raatz knew about this publication, but Ebbinghaus is certainly one of the canonical authors in the German psychological literature.

2 Not all students sat the listening exam.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Daller

Dr Michael Daller holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Utrecht/Netherlands. He works as Associate Professor in the department of English Language at the University of Reading/UK. He published widely in the area of vocabulary research, language testing and bilingualism.

Amanda Müller

Dr Amanda Müller holds a PhD from Flinders University/Australia. She is a Senior Lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Flinders University. Amanda published widely in the area of Applied Linguistics, Language Testing for Nurses and Nursing Education.

Yixin Wang-Taylor

Dr Yixin Wang-Taylor holds a PhD in Linguistics from Swansea University/Wales. She is Assistant Professor at Nankai University in China, where she teaches General English. She is also responsible for the Curriculum in the department. One of her current projects (in collaboration with Prof Paul Meara) is the development of website on research on vocabulary in China: http://www.lognostics.co.uk/varga/chinese.htm.