Australia: Universities get tough on ESL

[Harold Schiffman]

The Australian December 19, 2007 03:54pm AEDT

 Universities get tough on ESL  December 19, 2007

INTERNATIONAL students, Aborigines and newly arrived migrants face
tougher English language requirements to get into Victorian
universities after institutions complained they were not performing as
well as local students. The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre has
allowed universities to raise the entrance scores required for
students who have completed English as a second language instead of
English in their final year of school. Secondary school students who
have been in an English-speaking country less than seven years, are
here studying from another country or Aborigines whose first language
is not English are entitled to study ESL, which was previously worth
the same marks as English.

But under the changes to start in 2009, ESL students will have to get
five points higher than students studying English to meet university
entrance requirements. The move came as Swinburne University decided
to test the English language skills of incoming international and
domestic students. Those who perform badly will be required to
undertake extra English classes as part of their undergraduate degree.
The University of Melbourne, the Australian Maritime College, Monash,
La Trobe and Deakin universities have indicated they will increase ESL
scores for course selection, making it five points higher than the
minimum score needed for English.

But RMIT University, Victoria University and the University of
Ballarat have decided against the increase for 2009 entry and
Swinburne University is waiting for the results of its new English
testing project before deciding whether to raise ESL scores. Victorian
Tertiary Admissions Centre director Elaine Wenn told the HES VTAC did
a review of VCE English and ESL scores after requests from
universities. She said institutions had done their own research and
discovered ESL students often could not compete with local students
who had studied English. "They found that students entering university
with ESL were not doing as well, some even had a higher rate of
failure than the students who had the same study scores in English,"
Ms Wenn said.

She said the VTAC study compared five years worth of VCE English and
ESL results with general aptitude tests taken by the students. The
research found there was a difference in the way the English and ESL
students performed on aptitude tests.

"It was telling us that a higher score was required for ESL to get the
same score in English," Ms Wenn said.

"We are just trying to be fair," La Trobe University admissions and
selection chairman Peter Stacey said. He said the aim was to establish
equivalent standards.

Monash University demographer Bob Birrell backed the move, saying
there was strong anecdotal evidence international students with poor
English skills enrolled in Australian high schools as a way of getting
into university.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22945952-12332,00.html

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