Student academic language proficiency: an investigation into a non-first language developmental intervention by Dr Cay van der Merwe, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein and Prof Driekie Hay, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein SAAIR, Port Elizabeth September 2009

2 UNIVERSITEIT VAN DIE VRYSTAAT UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE YUNIVESITHI YA FREISTATA Tel (051) Introduction English is the mother tongue of only 8,6% of South African students As from Grade 4 for the majority of learners : no mother tongue instruction Academic language proficiency level of 85% below Grade/K 12

3 UNIVERSITEIT VAN DIE VRYSTAAT UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE YUNIVESITHI YA FREISTATA Tel (051) Implications for higher education Students coming from a variety of educational backgrounds Rote learning Problems with note taking, synthesising, analysing, critical thinking, reasoning as vocabulary is lacking Poor reading development levels

4 UNIVERSITEIT VAN DIE VRYSTAAT UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE YUNIVESITHI YA FREISTATA Tel (051) Theoretical points of departure educational viewpoint: collapse of the secondary school system Moral / transformational viewpoint: social responsibility Economical stance: costs of failure / shortages in the economy

5 UNIVERSITEIT VAN DIE VRYSTAAT UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE YUNIVESITHI YA FREISTATA Tel (051) Role of academic language proficiency testing Most SA universities : UCT developed PTEEP Tests among others: comprehension Less than 50% : placed in an academic language proficiency course Purpose of our paper is to share findings of an investigation into a non-first language development intervention

6 METHODOLOGY Analyse UFS data of students from 2006/7, on School-leaving outcomes English proficiency test outcomes English development course outcomes End of first year results over all courses

7 3 TYPES OF DATA ANALYSES Pre-test vs Post-test Means Students selected on basis of “vulnerability” by PTEEP (English Proficiency Test), were directed to English Development Course. After about 8 months, underwent similar English Proficiency test; outcomes compared by Student t–test for dependant samples - accounts for intracorrelation. ResultSignificant (α=0.5) increase in means of pre-test to post test ButMeans were 37% and 47%, whereas maximum scored by anyone in 2006/7 in PTEEP was 90% And Comparisons of mean differences for particular constraints (e.g. vocabulary) weren’t available – could prove interesting.

8 3 TYPES OF DATA ANALYSES (cont..) CORRELATIONS Correlation matrix of 5 variables (not age) with 1 st and 2 nd Eng. Proficiency test scores of this group of about 200 students yielded…… - No significant correlation between 1 st test score and end-of-year results, but - Significant correlation between 2 nd test score and end-of-year results. - Bigger and significant correlation between 2 nd test score and score in English Development Course

9 Comparisons among first-year intakes The variables are: PTEEP=Test in English for Educational Purposes (UCT) Mark=Mark attained in an English development/basic Language course Age=Age in years at enrolment (February) Mscore=An aggregated/weighted total of school-leaving results Enrol=Number of courses (subjects) for which a student enrolled Passed=Number of courses passed during the first year. Subj. Pass Ratio= Number of courses passed divided by number of courses enrolled. Avg Percent = Average percentage attained over all courses at end of first year. Race = African (Black) / White (Caucasian) / Coloured / Asian.

10 Comparisons among first- year intakes (cont…) Summarised statistics for these variables:

11 Race as a factor One-way ANOVA’s on PTEEP; Mark (EngDevCourse), SubjPassRatio and AvgPercent. All means differed significantly (α=0.05) over races. Followed-up with post-hoc tests to see which differ. Used Scheffe (conservative test) to see which races differ with regard to variables above..

12 Race as a factor Example: Scheffe post-hoc table, variable PTEEP score ( Marked differences are significant at p< ) African and White means differed significantly from each other and from Coloured and Asian groups (significantly higher mean scores) in PTEEP tests. With end of year outcomes, the White students’ results differed significantly from the other 3 groups, but the paired comparisons for the latter means did not differ that much. Race{1}{2}{3}{4} M=47.658M=66.116M=58.581M= African {1} White {2} Coloured {3} Asian {4}

13 PTEEP scores cut-off points Choice of cut-off level ≤49% - must do English Development Course ≥50% - don’t do English Development Course Four categories: 0-44%; 45-49%; 50-54%; ≥55% ANOVA’s on MARK (in English Development Course); SubjPassRatio; and AvgPercent showed highly significant (α=0.0001) mean differences. Post-hoc tests showed :

14 Test group versus control group Compared outcomes for groups who tested below 50% in PTEEP, between those who did an English academic proficiency course and those who should have attended but (voluntarily) did not. End-of schools results (composite) not applied in these analyses

15 Test group versus control group (cont’d…) Distribution of two groups, in AvgPercent, for example.

16 Test group versus control group cont’d… Means of average percentage obtained differed significantly (*) between the two groups. VariableMean ENProf Mean NONE t-valuedfpValid N ENProf Valid N NONE SbjPass Ratio Avg Percent *64894

17 Essays Voluntary essays on students’ own perceptions of benefits of development in academic English proficiency were very positive. Extend qualitative investigations to systemic analysis, with random sample of essays and interviews as well.

18 CONCLUSION Thank You HE obliged to invest resources in English Academic Proficiency improvement. Trade-off between burden of shouldering secondary education’s level shortcomings, taking decade at least, with Students’ success ….less attrition, efficient throughput, economic gain, less wastage and trauma.

Student academic language proficiency: an investigation into a non-first language developmental intervention by Dr Cay van der Merwe, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein Prof Driekie Hay, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein SAAIR Port Elizabeth September 2009