The rich get richer and the poor get poorer

Abstract

Abstract This study is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of a standard one-year advanced English course. Three hundred and twenty-two freshmen from Haifa University were tested with the same English comprehension test twice: before and after the course. An improvement score defined by the difference between the two administrations of the test was computed for each student. In the statistical analysis, the sample was stratified into four groups according to the student's first (before) score, labeled: LOW, MIDDLE-LOW, MIDDLE-HIGH, and HIGH. Results indicated that improvement was significant for each of the three upper groups while the LOW group showed no improvement at all. When comparing the improvement mean scores of the four groups, a general trend was found: the higher the initial level of a student is — the larger his improvement score will be.