Bridging to academic success: the impact of reading gains in an English bridging program on GPAs

IF 2 2区 教育学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Daniel Schmidtke, Seina Yamada, Anna L. Moro
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Abstract

Although research has established that students enrolled in pre-sessional English for academic purposes (EAP) programs make gains in English reading ability, the evidence base for whether gains made during this period of instruction make a difference to future academic outcomes is nonexistent. We report a multi-cohort longitudinal study of a 28-week university-level EAP program that was designed to improve the English language skills of international students in preparation for undergraduate study. The sample comprised N = 405 EAL students who completed the same EAP program in a Canadian university. At the beginning and end of the EAP program students completed a battery of 12 measures, including reading comprehension, reading fluency, and other established component skills of second language reading ability. We investigated whether the change scores of these measures, as markers of skill growth, predicted the post-EAP program undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs) of these same students. The Random Forests nonparametric regression technique was used to estimate the relative importance of all change scores of the reading skill tests, as well as their scores at the beginning of the program. This method identified reading fluency change during the EAP program as a high-ranking predictor of future GPAs. Additional stepwise linear regression modelling confirmed that reading fluency change made unique significant contributions to GPAs in such a way that greater growth in this measure translated into higher GPAs. These findings suggest that reading speed development during an EAP program has a long-term and beneficial impact on the academic flourishing of EALs.

Abstract Image

衔接学业成功:英语衔接课程中阅读能力的提高对 GPA 的影响
尽管已有研究证实,参加会前学术英语课程(EAP)的学生在英语阅读能力方面有所提高,但在这一教学阶段所取得的成绩是否会对未来的学业成绩产生影响,目前还没有相关的证据。我们报告了一项多队列纵向研究,研究对象是一个为期 28 周的大学英语课程,该课程旨在提高留学生的英语语言技能,为本科学习做好准备。样本包括 N = 405 名在加拿大一所大学完成相同 EAP 课程的 EAL 学生。在 EAP 课程开始和结束时,学生们完成了一系列 12 项测量,包括阅读理解、阅读流畅性和第二语言阅读能力的其他既定组成技能。我们研究了作为技能增长标志的这些测量的变化分数是否能预测这些学生在 EAP 项目结束后的本科平均学分绩点 (GPA)。我们使用随机森林非参数回归技术来估算阅读技能测试的所有变化分数及其在项目开始时的分数的相对重要性。这种方法将 EAP 项目期间的阅读流畅性变化确定为未来 GPA 的重要预测指标。额外的逐步线性回归模型证实,阅读流畅度的变化对 GPA 有独特的显著贡献,即这一指标的增长越大,GPA 越高。这些研究结果表明,EAP 课程中的阅读速度发展对 EALs 的学业发展有着长期而有益的影响。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
5.20
自引率
16.00%
发文量
0
期刊介绍: Reading and writing skills are fundamental to literacy. Consequently, the processes involved in reading and writing and the failure to acquire these skills, as well as the loss of once well-developed reading and writing abilities have been the targets of intense research activity involving professionals from a variety of disciplines, such as neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics and education. The findings that have emanated from this research are most often written up in a lingua that is specific to the particular discipline involved, and are published in specialized journals. This generally leaves the expert in one area almost totally unaware of what may be taking place in any area other than their own. Reading and Writing cuts through this fog of jargon, breaking down the artificial boundaries between disciplines. The journal focuses on the interaction among various fields, such as linguistics, information processing, neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, speech and hearing science and education. Reading and Writing publishes high-quality, scientific articles pertaining to the processes, acquisition, and loss of reading and writing skills. The journal fully represents the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of research in the field, focusing on the interaction among various disciplines, such as linguistics, information processing, neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, speech and hearing science and education. Coverage in Reading and Writing includes models of reading, writing and spelling at all age levels; orthography and its relation to reading and writing; computer literacy; cross-cultural studies; and developmental and acquired disorders of reading and writing. It publishes research articles, critical reviews, theoretical papers, and case studies. Reading and Writing is one of the most highly cited journals in Education, Educational Research, and Educational Psychology.
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