IELTS Research Reports

A multiple case study of the relationship between the indicators of students’ English languagecompetence on entry and students’ academic progress at an international postgraduate universityproficiency to linguist staff, often conducted by interview. The latter form of assessment operateswithin the EPP scheme which links HEIs around Europe prepared to exchange students under the EUErasmus programme. The third School, SOE shared features of SOM and SAS selection proceduresemploying formal English testing and, where appropriate, assessment by linguist staff of EPP students.Although differences stemmed from School affiliation, there was evidence of autonomy of selectionpractice at the organisational level of Course Director, particularly in SOE where the greatest diversityof practices amongst Masters programmes was found. The strong collective culture in SOM isdisplayed in School regulations for the admission and selection of NNES student which supplementthe institutional regulations. SOM Course Directors may modify selection procedures but only byemploying additional measures that extend but do not replace the existing School and institutionalrequirements, for instance, through a preference for interviewing applicants. The consequences ofthese differences in practices between Schools and, to a lesser extent, programmes will be revisitedunder the discussion of the third aim of the research.There was substantial evidence of complex decision making in selection rationales of the typedescribed by Banerjee (1995) which are built upon multiple and sometimes competing, criteria.This was regardless of School affiliation or programme. Several extracts, especially those relatingto applicant interviews, demonstrate how Course Directors view the integration of language andacademic abilities. Interviews permit an interrogation of an applicant’s disciplinary knowledge throughthe medium of English language, so allowing both to be evaluated. Correspondingly, there was littlesupport for the alternative version of selection portrayed in the literature in which evidence of Englishlanguage ability operates independently of other considerations. SOM, for instance, which is theSchool which places most reliance upon English entry test scores, yet prefers to use a variety of testsrather than rely upon a single one.There may be several explanations for these findings. To some extent they may reflect the portrayal ofdifferent perspectives; academics being more likely to favour complexity of judgement, administrators,transparency and the requirements of quality assurance and earlier studies have incorporate bothviewpoints in the same study. Secondly postgraduate applicants are not only diverse in nationalityand language, but in age, educational background, academic qualifications and career experience. Itis these aspects of an applicant’s history, and others, that a Course Directors considers in decidingwhether to make the applicant an offer of a place, yet they are not publicly recorded. In consequenceof this diversity, it is common for applicants to satisfy one criterion but to be borderline on another;applicants do not display sets of skills and experience which fit neatly into selection criteria. Thisfact is neither sufficiently acknowledged in the literature nor in the spheres of policy, and audit.Postgraduate applicants differ substantially from the typical applicants for UK undergraduate courseswho are often of comparable age and educational qualifications and where, as a result, selectionprocedures and practices may differ. These differences plus questions of scale imply differencesbetween undergraduate and postgraduate selection.A third reason relates to the demand for course places. Where demand for places is high, applicants aremore likely to comply with entry requirements so reducing the need to consider borderline applicantswho possess more varied profiles of ability and experience that entail more complex judgements. Thedata supported the influence of demand for places as Course Directors of programmes that were inhigh demand were more likely to consider raising the levels of English entry test scores and to be ableto ensure that all their students complied with entry requirements. Selection decisions under thesecircumstances may be simpler where language requirements are concerned although choices amongstother criteria may be more challenging.IELTS Research Reports Volume 11173