Pre-admission EAP course completion as evidence of English language proficiency for university admission: A longitudinal evaluation study

Abstract

To increase the number of international students, a growing number of English-medium universities offer multiple pathways for demonstrating English language proficiency (ELP) as part of the admission process. While the standard practice requires achieving a minimum score on a standardized ELP test, an alternative pathway entails completing one or more pre-admission English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses successfully. This practice assumes that these students possess ELP levels comparable to those meeting the minimum score on an ELP test and that both pathway groups can anticipate achieving similar levels of academic achievement at university. This longitudinal study examines these assumptions by comparing the academic achievement (i.e., Grade Point Average [GPA]) over ten semesters of undergraduate students admitted to a large Canadian English-medium university after successfully completing pre-admission EAP courses with domestic students and those admitted via IELTS scores. The findings indicated that students admitted through the EAP program initially achieved lower GPA in the first semester. This gap endured throughout the ten semesters, albeit gradually narrowing over time. The implications of these findings are discussed.