Although most international students arrive with required language qualifications, many struggle with the linguistic demands of their programmes. This study explored whether the test-preparation industry undermines the qualifications with which students arrive. English proficiency of 153 Chinese student in the UK was tested on the Duolingo English…

The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction faces many challenges in Asia because of many cultural and environmental factors, such as the lack of interactive speaking environments, emphasis placed on test scores, and foreign language anxiety. The purpose of this research is to conduct an EFL instructional course by integrating Facebook…

This article investigates a version of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening test for evidence of differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender, nationality, age, and degree of previous exposure to the test. Overall, the listening construct was found to be underrepresented, which is probably an important cause…