The impact of English-language proficiency on international graduate students' perceived academic difficulty

Abstract

This study presents an empirical test of the impact of English proficiency as indicated by student self-ratings and TOEFL scores, and selected nonlinguistic variables on the level of academic difficulties perceived by international graduate students. A simple random sample of 450 international graduate students from three large universities in upstate New York were contacted by mail in the fall of 1988. With two mailings, 245 completed the Survey of International Students' Academic Language Needs. It was found that Self-rated English Proficiency was the most significant predictor of the perceived level of academic difficulty. In addition, Length of Prior English Training and Age were also significant predictors. TOEFL score was found to be a nonsignificant predictor of students' academic difficulty. Implications of the research for English-language educators, ESL program and curriculum design, and U.S. university recruitment policy on international students were discussed.