THE RELEVANCE OF INTENSIVE TRAINING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Charles Mason University of Hawaii

Intensive work in English a s a foreign language is often an American university prerequisite to full academic work for enter- ing foreign students. Questionable a re the underlying assumptions that English proficiency norms have been established as predictors of academic success and that intensive EFL programs a re the best means of increasing English proficiency. With a control group of 15 subjects, who took the compulsory University of Hawaii English Language Institute program for foreign students, and an experi- mental group of nine subjects, who were allowed to follow their regular academic programs, the hypotheses were tested that there would be no differences between the groups on tests of English skills after one semester o r in overall academic success after one school year. No significant differences were found, except that the experimental group earned significantly more semester hours credit during the year. The implications are , at least for many intermediate to advanced foreign students, that intensive EFL work may be a waste of time.

With the increased enrollment of foreign students in American universities has come the feeling of responsibility on the par t of these universities t o provide remedial training in English as a foreign language (EFL) for those students who show a need for it. It has been taken for granted that non-native speakers of English must have cer ta in minimum ski l ls in English to succeed in most American university programs. Hence, screening tests like the TOEFL a re used for admissions decisions and achievement or pro- ficiency tes t s are used for placement in (or exclusion from) inten- sive programs in EFL. If a student is admitted at all, an attempt is made to give him an even break in his academic competition with native speakers of English: he is either judged fit for the task or he is given a chance to sharpen his language tools in prep- aration.

While it is admirable for universities to take on the burden of making available the prerequis i tes for academic success, the basic assumptions underlying university E F L programs are ques- tionable. The first assumption is that English proficiency levels have been established as predictors of ultimate success in aca- demic programs. Second, the assumption is made that English proficiency can best be gained through intensive E F L training.

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In regard to the f i rs t assumption, Spolsky (1967) questioned the predictive validity of English proficiency tests when this validity is based upon correlations between entrance test scores and success in the university. He reports on a number of studies which show dissappointingly little relationship between grade-point averages and English proficiency scores. Upshur (1967) suggested that pre- dictions of academic success from proficiency test scores can be enhanced by considering the types of courses foreign students en- roll in-that is, the kind of English demands made upon the stu- dents-in conjunction with GPA. But a basic problem still lies with the validity of existing English language tests as overall measures of proficiency or competency, regardless of haw refined the cri- ter ia of academic success may become. As Spolsky (1967:30-44) noted, we still have no adequate answer to the question so often asked about entering foreign students: “Does he know enough Eng- lish? )’

The assumption that special EFL training is requiredfor up- grading English proficiency has evidence against it. Upshur (1968) conducted four experiments to find partial answers to several ques- tions on the relation between foreign language teaching and learn- ing, which included an attempt to answer the question “1s formal foreign language instruction useful for students living and working in that language environment?” He used foreign students in a seven-week orientation program in which treatment groups took (a) no EFL training, (b) one hour per day of E F L training, and (c) two hours of training per day. Placement in treatment groups was de- termined by a pretest of English proficiency. Results supported the hypothesis that English language learning is not related to the amount of English language instruction for students in an English language environment. With some reservations the study suggests that the E F L approach is not the best for language learning when the opportunities to use the second language in other activities a re available.

It is likely that when assignment to the EFL program on the basis of entrance test scores is compulsory the motivation toward learning takes, in Lambert’s terms, an instrumental orientation; the value in becoming more proficient in the language is to get on with the business of completing an academic program. If motivation takes this direction, it may become detrimental to an integrative, favorable attitude toward English and English language learning.

That a compulsory E F L program falls short of its purpose of bringing the English proficiency of individuals up to ccacceptable’7 levels for university study was shown in a study (Smith 1969) di- rected by the writer. The 24 subjects used were both graduate

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and undergraduate foreign students at the University of Hawaii who had completed their compulsory E F L sequences during the previous semes te r and had taken at least seven separate E F L courses in the program. Subjects were given a posttest battery of examinations of writing, reading, aural comprehension, and English structure. These examinations were either identical to o r equivalent forms of the tes t s used to place the subjects in required E F L courses upon their entrance to the University of Hawaii. Results of this study showed that the group had made significant gains (p < .01) in all a reas except aural comprehension. However, these gains were off- se t by the fact that subjects’ posttest s co res were not high enough, in a majority of cases, to qualify them for exemption from E F L work, according to established English placement test norms for entering foreign students. In other words, after at least seven Eng- lish courses supposedly tailored to individual needs, most of these subjects would have been required to repeat a number of E F L courses if their posttest s co res were again used to determine their English placement

In spite of the many uncontrolled variables inherent in such a study, doubts were cast on the efficacy of special work in English as a means of improving proficiency when, perhaps, the same or greater gains could be made by foreign students who simply pur- sued their regular academic programs, regardless of placement test scores . In addition, the la rger question remained as to whether or not intensive work in English, regardless of i ts effectiveness in improving over-all language proficiency, is really necessary for the foreign student’s ultimate success in the academic program of the university.

The research reported on here was designed to probe the fol- lowing question: Are there significant differences in (a) the degree of improvement of English proficiency and in (b) the degree of success in the university academic program between students who follow the standard E F L program and those students who are simply allowed to take a full load of regular university academic work?

Method

Subjects were selected f rom a population of foreign students whose scores on the University of Hawaii English Language Insti- tute English tes t battery would place them in advanced sections of EFL course work in writing or in advanced o r intermediate sec- tions of aural comprehension, English s t ructure , and reading. Such intensive English work at levels consonant with tes t battery scores is compulsory for entering foreign students at the University of

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Hawaii. A foreign student whose test scores exempt him from E F L classes may enter the full academic program of the University. The use of subjects in this study at advanced o r intermediate Eng- lish proficiency levels was a precaution against the event of forcing students of obviously low English proficiency into competition with native speakers of English in courses such as the standard fresh- man course in English composition.

Subjects were then randomly selected from this population to form an experimental group, which was simply granted exemption (with their consent) from EFL courses, and a control group, which followed the traditional sequence of E FL courses consistent with their needs. Although the original plan was to use between 12 and 20 students in each group, it was possible to get only nine experi- mental subjects and 15 control subjects. In the experimental group there were six undergraduates and three graduates; the control group had four undergraduates and eleven graduates. All subjects were beginning their f i rs t semester of enrollment in the University of Hawaii.

Though the experimental and control groups appeared roughly equivalent on the basis of pretest scores, t- tests were applied to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between the groups in the four areas of English proficiency. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups’ pro- ficiency in reading o r knowledge of English structure. However, the experimental group proved to be superior to the control group in aural comprehension (p < .01) and in writing ability (p < .05). Thus, in order to obtain nearly identical experimental and control groups it was necessary to draw matched samples to form two groups of six subjects each.

At the end of the f i rs t semester, identical o r equivalent forms of the original English entrance tests were administered to all subjects. Instruments used in the pre- and posttesting procedures were the Plaister Tes t of Aural CompYehension, a 50-item culture- fair test (cf. Plaister 1967); Tes t of English Structure, a multiple- choice test of 100 items; the ELI Essay Writing Examination, of forty minutes’ duration, scored on a scale from 0-24; and the read- ing portions of Cooperative English Tes t s , Forms B and C, which measure vocabulary, reading speed and comprehension. At the end of the entire school year, the grade-point averages and the total semester hours’ credit for each subject were recorded. The null hypotheses were tested that no significant differences existed be- tween the groups in mean improvements in English skills at the end of a semester or in academic success at the end of the school year .

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Results

The matched groups were used f i r s t to tes t the null hypothesis that there were no significant differences between the groups in the four skill areas after one semester . Table 1 records the results, which show that there were no significant differences between the matched groups in any language skill.

TABLE 1

Posttest Means-Matched G ~ o u p s (N= 6)

Experimental Control Significance Test Group Mean Group Mean t Level

Aural 40. 40.8 .5 N.S.

Structure 79. 83.6 1.8 N.S.

Writing 14.14 15.1 .71 N.S.

Reading 15 0.46 147.46 .93 N.S.

A comparison was also made of the mean gains of the original, unmatched experimental and control groups to determine whether or not any significant differences still existed between the groups after one semes ter . Though the posttest group means were s t i l l higher for the experimental group in each skill area, no significant post- tes t differences were found between the groups in any area of Eng- lish proficiency.

In answer to the question of the academic success of the sub- jects, it was found that the mean number of semes ter hours com- pleted by the experimental group (22.9) was significantly higher ( p < .05) than the mean of the control grbup (16.4). However, such resul ts are to be expected, since the experimental group, freed from the requirement of ELI course work, had more opportunity to enroll in regular academic courses. On the other hand, one might expect inferior grade-point averages in the experimental subjects, since they were taking the r i sk of carrying more semes ter hours of regular academic work without the benefits of special English training. This, in fact, was the crucial question of this study: would by-passing the standard ELI requirements be detrimental to the academic success of the experimental group? For this com- parison, the groups were broken up into graduate and undergraduate segments because of the preponderance of graduates in the control group and because of the difference in grading systems in graduate

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and undergraduate schools. In addition, there was a need to ex- amine separately the success of undergraduates, both experimental and control, in the standard freshman English composition course, English 100, a course in which foreign students compete with native speakers of English.

It was found that the mean grade-point averages of both under- graduate and graduate experimental groups (3.02 and 3.67 respec- tively) were slightly higher than those of the control groups (2.52 and 3.27 respectively), but these differences were not statistically significant. Likewise, non-significant results were obtained in com- paring the two groups’ grades in English 100.

Discussion

Within the limits of sample size and ability level of the sub- jects used in this study, results suggest that we cannot predict through existing English test batteries the success o r failure of the foreign student in the academic program of an American university. In addition, prescribing compulsory intensive EFL work across the board on the basis of scores on these test batteries instead of al- lowing a greater number of the foreign students more freedom to function realistically in the second language environment through f u l l participation in the regular program of the university appears pedagogically unsound and uneconomical in terms of both time and money.

In addition to being adventurous enough to leave home to enter a university in an English language environment, most foreign stu- dents have had more than four years of English training in their own countries. While they may recognize their need for greater proficiency in English, they a re probably ready psychologically for immersion in the second language environment and acceptance of the consequences of their language handicaps. Also, these students may be reluctant to accept the idea that their English proficiency level is such that they must take intensive English work similar in teaching methods, materials, and difficulty level to the type of Eng- lish training they have had at home. And for many students, like Hong Kong Chinese and Micronesians, who have taken all o r nearly all of their pre-university schooling in English, it is awkward, if not ridiculous for American universities to set test-oriented E F L prerequisites for academic work.

If the validity of tests of English skills can be questioned as to their measurement of overall English proficiency, their use in evaluating the outcomes of EFL courses can also be questioned. Do they test what has been taught? Probably not, but then neither

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do these tests measure, even in pre- and posttest series, the lan- guage learning that takes place in a second language environment. One of the common complaints of both the experimental and con- trol subjects in this study was centered about their general lack of English vocabulary. Standardized vocabulary tests with their fixed, sample vocabulary lists do not measure gains in passive and active vocabulary items outside of the sample list. Beyond vocabu- lary test data is the simple question: in which program will a foreign student get the greatest exposure to the functional vocabu- lary he will need for his work in the total university program?

On the other hand, there is probably a segment of entering foreign students with a need for a buffer language program before their entrance into the university mainstream. For this group, an EFL program which they could enter at their own option should be made available. Joining this group might be those students who have found total immersion in the regular academic program too traumatic and who have made some self-diagnosis of their language needs. In the case of either group, one could expect higher levels of motivation for the intensive study of English. Within this study, the unmatched control group, taking E F L work, did overcome the significant differences between it and the experimental group in aural comprehension and writing posttest scores. While such re- sults may indicate the power of EFL work to overcome deficiencies in English, it is possible that such gains could have been made by many of the control subjects without EFL training.

With universities moving towards a pass-fail grading system for courses such as freshman composition, lessening the chances of a student’s lowering his GPA with letter grades in these courses, the precaution taken in this study of using only upper level foreign students who a re better able to compete with native speakers of English for grades, could be foregone. Because of the limitation in the choice of subjects for this study the study should be repli- cated using foreign students on all levels of English proficiency. Such a study might serve to show not only the irrelevance but also the relevance of E F L work for students possessing various language abilities, national backgrounds, and motivations for learning English.

REFERENCES

Plaister, Ted. 1967. Testing aural comprehension: a culture fair ap-

Smith, Larry. 1969. A r e ELI courses worthwhile? Unpublished paper,

Spolsky, Bernard. 1967. Do they know enough English? Selected Confer-

proach. TESOL Quarterly 1.3.17-19.

University of Hawaii.

ence Papers of ATESL. 30-44.

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Upshur, John A. 1967. English language tests and prediction of academic

Upshur, John A. 1968. Four experiments on the relation between foreign success. Selected Conference Papers of ATESL. 85-92.

language teaching and learning. Language Learning 18.111-124.