Trenkic, Danijela orcid.org/0000-0001-6340-6030 and Warmington, Meesha (2019) Language and literacy skills of home and international university students: How different are they, and does it matter? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. pp. 349-365. ISSN 1366-7289
Abstract
Although international students experience lower attainment at university than home students (Morrison et al., 2005), reasons are poorly understood. Some question the role of language proficiency as international students come with required language qualifications. This study investigated language and literacy of international students who successfully met language entry requirements and those of home students, matched on non-verbal cognition, studying in their native language. In a sample of 63 Chinese and 64 British students at a UK university, large and significant group differences were found at entry and eight months later. Furthermore, language and literacy indicators explained 51% of variance in the Chinese group’s grades, without predicting the home students’ achievement. Thus language proficiency appears predictive of academic outcomes only before a certain threshold is reached, and this threshold does not correspond to the minimum language entry requirements. This highlights a systematic disadvantage with which many international students pursue their education.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Cambridge University Press 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | UK higher education,academic attainment,home students,international students,language and literacy skills |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Education (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 09 Jan 2018 16:10 |
Last Modified: | 04 Mar 2025 00:05 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672891700075X |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S136672891700075X |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:125919 |
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Description: Language and literacy skills of home and international university students, accepted version 15 Dec 2017