Abstract
BackgoundHaving been influenced by the trend of internationalization of higher education, most universities in Taiwan have implemented an English benchmark requirement for graduation, which requires students to demonstrate their English ability at a specified Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level through taking a standardized English language test (e.g., GEPT, IELTS, TOEFL iBT). This practice has been increasingly criticized for failing to achieve its intended goals of enhancing students’ English language proficiency and increasing students’ career mobility. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore the consequences of using standardized tests in support of the policy.MethodsTo this end, this study investigated students’ views of the graduation policy in three universities where students are required to take the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) prior to graduation. Structural equation modeling was employed to find the best fitting model that illustrates the complex interrelationships among test performance, students’ perceptions of the requirement, test value, test anxiety, and learning motivation.ResultsThe findings show that university students, regardless of English proficiency, generally hold a positive attitude towards the English graduation benchmark policy. Results further reveal that the Intermediate group shows more positive attitudes towards the graduation requirement than the High-Intermediate group. SEM results show that the attitudes of university students towards the English graduation requirement positively impact their perceived test value and their learning motivation. However, there is no significant relationship between the attitudes towards the policy and test performance.ConclusionsThe findings contribute to our understanding of university students as the major stakeholders who defined the context of test use.
Highlights
In 2005, the Ministry of Education (MoE) began implementing the English graduation benchmark policy in universities across Taiwan, with the aim to encourage college students to pass a credible standardized English test before graduation
The High-Intermediate group data could be divided into passers and nonpassers in order to examine whether results might vary due to students’ English proficiency, we considered it to be more effective if the results between two different General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) levels could be compared directly because over 30% of the High-Intermediate nonpassers are very likely to pass the GEPT Intermediate based on the results of the GEPT vertical scaling studies (e.g., Wu and Liao 2010)
The results show that like the GEPT HighIntermediate group, the GEPT Intermediate group perceived the graduation requirement positively and their perception had a positive relationship with test value and learning motivation
Summary
The study was carried out on the basis of the previous research (Authors 2016) with respect to the validation of the research instrument and the model to explain the relationship among the variables. Measurement instruments Two measurement instruments were used: the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) and the questionnaire on learning motivation, test value, and test anxiety. Cheng et al in 2009 studied a sample of 538 test takers of the GEPT High-Intermediate Level Test, and the questionnaire proved to have good reliability and validity. Some of their questionnaire items were included in the questionnaire for this study, for example, “I study English for the satisfaction I gain from learning new things,” “I study English for the purpose of finding an ideal job,” and “I am under a lot of pressure to get good scores on this test.”. How important is my GEPT score for studying/working abroad
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