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Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 175:2 (2024) ► pp.271–297

Academic and general language proficiency in post-entry language assessment

Linguistic predictors of domestic L1 student achievement in the first year of university education

ORCID logo | KU Leuven
In higher education systems with no or low entry requirements for domestic students, post-entry language assessments (PELAs) are often used to detect at-risk students. This study investigates how two language proficiency measures relate to students’ academic achievement: an academic reading and vocabulary (ARV) screening test, and the computer test of the Interuniversitaire Taaltest Nederlands voor Anderstaligen (ITNA), a Dutch L2-entrance test. The ARV screening test, ITNA and its language in use subtest show moderate to weak correlations with achievement. While the ARV screening test selects a large potential at-risk group; the few students failing the ITNA, language in use or scoring lower than ‘very good’ on language in use have a higher risk of underperforming. When controlling for students’ background variables, only academic language proficiency remains a significant predictor. While academic language proficiency seems more appropriate as a PELA construct, general language proficiency may identify a small, but high-risk group.
Keywords: post-entry language assessment, predictive validity, first-year university students, academic language proficiency, general language proficiency
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Language proficiency and academic achievement
  • Data and methods
    • Participants and background variables
    • Language measures
  • Analyses
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 10 October 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.23004.hee
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