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.

摘要

先前对在英语教学环境中接受教育的学生的学业成绩 (AA) 的研究表明，标准化的国际语言测试对学习成功的预测能力较低。因此，探索确定语言能力和学业成绩之间有影响的相关因素的替代方法似乎具有明显的价值，特别是在国际考试既不是大学录取的先决条件也不是具有成本效益的选择的国家。本研究探讨了以匈牙利语为母语的人，他们是居住在罗马尼亚的语言少数群体成员，正在攻读英语语言文学学位。英语（L3）和罗马尼亚语（L2）基于形式意义的接受性词汇测试已被用于探索他们预测 AA 的程度。结果表明，测试语言的词汇知识与 AA 之间存在显着的正相关。然而，回归分析表明，英语词汇分数是最好的单一预测指标，可以解释超过 30% 的差异。这表明，在类型学上接近的语言的情况下，词汇测试很可能测量相同的潜在特征。鉴于词汇测试对 AA 的预测能力相对较高，我们得出结论，词汇知识是 AA 的重要解释因素，即使在多语种情况下也是如此。词汇测试很可能测量相同的潜在特征。鉴于词汇测试对 AA 的预测能力相对较高，我们得出结论，词汇知识是 AA 的重要解释因素，即使在多语种情况下也是如此。词汇测试很可能测量相同的潜在特征。鉴于词汇测试对 AA 的预测能力相对较高，我们得出结论，词汇知识是 AA 的重要解释因素，即使在多语种情况下也是如此。