Norwegian university students’ AcademicEnglish reading proficiency in 2001 and 2013

– with a look at upper secondary school exit skills

Associate Professor Glenn Ole Hellekjær,

Department of Teacher Education and School Research, UiO

Two“longitudinal” studies

• Self-assessment and IELTS reading data from• 2001– 2013 university level• 2002-2011– upper secondary level

• Changes between 2001 to 2013• The Pisa studies-> strong focus on reading• LK06 and LK13 curricula -> focus on reading• Increased media exposure to English

Overview

• A brief look at academic reading• The university study• Upper secondary school data• Conclusion and discussion

A Vital Skill: Reading Academic English

• Upper secondary school is to develop “study competency”- in Norwegian as well as English

• Norwegian students have long needed to be able to read English texts and textbooks, prior to that German textbooks

• Recently there has been a recent and gradual increase in the number of Norwegian textbooks for undergraduate students at the expense of English, Swedish and Danish

• Graduate level students and those in certain subject areas can have most or all of their reading in English

Academic reading

• Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language form via the medium of print (meaning creation)

• University students read for a purpose:– To obtain information (facts, data)– To understand ideas or theories, etc.– To discover author’ viewpoints– To seek evidence for their own points of view (and to

quote and cite) all of which may be needed for writing their essays, etc.

– In a foreign language- also handle the language

The baseline study

Baseline study:• my 2005 doctoral thesis, The Acid Test:Does Upper

Secondary EFL Instruction Effectively Prepare Norwegian Students for the Reading of English Textbooks at Colleges and Universities?

1. Survey of 578 university students (self-assessment) - 20012. Validation study with 53 university students, self-assessment

+ IELTS-20013. 217 upper secondary school students, IELTS reading test-

2001

The 2013 study: university level

• Mixed-methods• Self- assessment +

interviews• Used my validated

scales• Surveyed 141 beginner

students with English texts

• 5 interviews

Arnsby’s sample

Faculty Course Respondents

Faculty of Natural Sciences

KJM1110 77

Faculty of Mathematics

STK1100 29

Faculty of Social Sciences

SOSANT16000 36

Total 142

The scales

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 how quickly you read the texts on your reading list

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 how many words you do not understand in the texts on your reading list

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 to what extent you find the sentences in the text difficult to understand

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 to what extent you find the texts coherent when reading

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 to what degree the information in the text is so densely presented that it hinders your understanding of the content

• Indicate on the scale from 1 to 7 to what extent you find the content of the texts understandable

• Validated, r=0.72 with IELTS scores (2001, N=53)

Comparison mean scoresHellekjær 2001 Arnsby 2013

Norwegian English Norwegian English

Mean scores

5.7 4.6 5.5 4.8

Standard Deviation

.7 1.1 .92 1.0

Respondents

142 572

Comparison of distribution

Hellekjær 2001 Arnsby 2013

34% 4 or below

24% 4 or below

Study experience - no effect27% Linguistic Threshold

41% Linguistic Threshold

Comments in open ended questions - Arnsby

• I think its fine reading English, but it takes more time.

• I become frustrated when I have to spend a full study day on one text because I have to look up words all the time, the result is that I have a very poor understanding of the English course material on the reading list.

• I really struggle with English in general, and did not know that the subject I am studying requires that high an English level. The subject consists of many difficult words from the start, and with English as well it becomes even more difficult. Therefore I am considering changing studies next year.

The qualitative follow-up

Bob is struggling with reading: I met with a guidance counselor who said that that English would not be of use in regards to a workplace in science

Peter says: English should be obligatory all three years of upper secondary school.

All five say they would have benefitted from additional English instruction in upper secondary school

From upper secondary to university 1

• Nick about upper secondary English: No, it wasn’t very challenging.

• He (and the other four) finds reading at university far more demanding than at upper secondary: Oh yes, oh my God yes, it (the difference) is quite significant”

• Nick, and Bob, argue the need for an upper secondary course in Scientific English: it would have been a nice preparation to have an English that was relevant, and maybe it would have made me more used to reading this type of texts, and I would perhaps be more efficient when reading. (Bob)

From upper secondary to university 2

All five felt that they had received too little information about what would be required at university• Matt: I think they should spend more time on informing

seniors in upper secondary school, especially those in the Educational Program for Specialization in General Studies, about what they can expect and what is expected of them.

• Being better prepared and learning how to read large amounts of English course material in an efficient way, is something I believe would have been very valuable.

At university: Reading/learning strategy use

• None had been offered reading strategy courses in higher education- but several were offered writing courses

• Most seem bewildered by how best to handle and work with the information in the texts they read

• Arnsby: One if the biggest issues for the respondents in the qualitative study is figuring out how to read in an efficient way, and what to do when reading to remember the information later

Bob- exemplifies the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis

• High scores in Norwegian-low score in English• I find that reading (in English) is slower, it is more slow than

what I am used to, especially skimming a text in English gives a much poorer understanding of the text compared to skimming in Norwegian.

• It is difficult to remember the information in the paragraph I have read regardless because there is so much information in a small space

• Provides an example of poor English proficiency preventing the transfer of reading strategies

Summing up

• Clear improvement from 2001 to 2013, but:• Students still need better preparation to master the

transition to higher education, with regard to language and terminology, and strategy use

• Students still need to be made “literate”– learn how to approach a text, knowing why one approaches it and what to do with it.

• This comprises determining level of understanding, setting goals, and monitoring comprehension.

• English – how to handle unfamiliar vocabulary

Study no.2- upper secondary level

• 2011• IELTS Academic Reading

Module (same as in thesis)

• 467 senior upper secondary school students– 324 EFL only– 138 with CLIL or IB

Hellekjær, G. O., & Hopfenbeck, T. N. (2012). Lesing. In B. W. Svenhard (Ed.), CLIL: Kombinert fag- og engelskopplæring i videregående skole (Vol. nr. 28/april 2012, pp. 84-124). Halden: Fremmedspråksenteret.

The upper secondary school samples

Year Types of English input

Respondents

2002 EFL 178 (82%)CLIL 39 (18%)All 217 (100%)

2011 EFL 324 (69%)CLIL 73 (16%)International Baccalaureate

68 (15%)

Total 465 (100%)

Comparing the samples according to English courses using Vg1 grades

Comparison of IELTS scores- EFL only

EFL, CLIL, IB - a comparison

But--- CLIL students (2011) with 50% or more teaching in English score better, Mean IELTS =28.5, SD = 6.21, N= 43

EFL, CLIL, IB – strategy use

Conclusion and discussion

• There has been an improvement in reading proficiency at both levels – but we do not know why

• Still, university students still do not feel well prepared by upper secondary EFL, they need reading strategy courses and more systematic preparation

• EFL instruction at the upper secondary level also has clear quality problems, advanced courses have clearly diminishing returns– to the point of being a waste of time

• Solutions (see Swain 1985, 2001)– More challenging EFL teaching– Increased use of CLIL– Bringing in new content and elements from CLIL in EFL