Examining English Ability-Grouping Practices by Aligning CEFR Levels with University-Level General English Courses in Taiwan

Li-Tang Yu, Mei-Ching Chen, Chao-Wen Chiu, Chien-Che Hsu and Yun-Pi Yuan
Additional contact information
Li-Tang Yu: Department of English Instruction, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 300193, Taiwan
Mei-Ching Chen: Holistic Education Center, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, Taiwan
Chao-Wen Chiu: Holistic Education Center, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, Taiwan
Chien-Che Hsu: Holistic Education Center, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, Taiwan
Yun-Pi Yuan: Department of English Language and Literature, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242062, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: In higher education in Taiwan, mandatory general English courses like Freshman English adopt ability-grouping practices to assign students to classes of different proficiency levels. However, little research has explored the efficacy of ability-grouping criteria and standardized the language-proficiency description for general English courses of different proficiency levels. Thus, this study recruited 806 Taiwanese undergraduates from Freshman English classes of advanced, intermediate, and basic proficiency levels to take the Oxford Online Placement Test (OOPT), and compared their scores on the Joint College Entrance Examination English subject (namely the General Scholastic Ability Test, GSAT) with OOPT. The findings indicated that the ability-grouping criterion was effective to classify students into three groups of different proficiency levels. A positive relationship between the GSAT and OOPT scores was identified. A clear trend, but with some overlapping correspondence, was displayed between the class levels and Common European Framework of Reference levels derived from the OOPT scoring report. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies are provided.

Keywords: ability grouping; Freshman English classes; Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR); General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4629/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4629/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:8:p:4629-:d:792680

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().