Journal Article

Effects of Linguistic and Demographic Features of Chinese International Students on Placement Test Levels in Higher Education: Logistic Regression

Park, Eunjeong

2019

Overview

Higher education institutions in the United States provide placement essay tests to ensure international students’ readiness for college courses. The high-stakes nature of placement tests makes educators and researchers seek significant components of differentiating levels of placement tests. This study investigated the prediction of two levels (i.e., low vs. intermediate) of 411 placement test essays written by Chinese international students and examined the influence of linguistic and demographic features on placement test levels through logistic regression. The results show that the type-token ratio (TTR), tokens, college type, and graduate status were significant indicators to differentiate students’ placement test essays. However, several demographic features were not statistically significant. The results may shed light on improving writing skills of Chinese international students who scored intermediate or low in the placement tests.

• Publisher: Journal of International Students,Journal of International Students (JIS)
• Subject: Academic Language / Academic readiness / Analysis / Asians / College Readiness / College Students / Demographic aspects / Demographics / Discourse Analysis / Educational Testing / Educational tests & measurements / Educational tests and measurements / English (Second Language) / Essay Tests / Evaluators / Examinations / Foreign Students / Gender Differences / High Stakes Tests / Higher education / Institutional Characteristics / International Education / Language Proficiency / Linguistics / Prediction / Preparedness / School Holding Power / Second Language Learning / Student Placement / Students, Foreign / Teaching / Testing / Undergraduate Students / Vocabulary Skills / Writing Evaluation / Writing Improvement / Writing Skills