عنوان مجله
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Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
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چکیده
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The role of language proficiency in EAP test performance is a hotly contested issue in the field,
and, more specifically, disciplinary distance is assumed to mediate such a relationship. The purpose
of this study was twofold: a) to investigate the role of English proficiency in teacher-constructed
ESAP tests serving achievement purposes; and b) to examine whether with variations in disciplinary
distance the role of language proficiency would fluctuate. To this aim, 110 English majors were given
TOEFL followed by four ESAP tests: law and psychology as neighbor and chemistry and geology as
non-neighbor disciplinary fields. Data analyses revealed that there were statistically significant
differences across proficiency levels, and the participants took advantage of their proficiency stock
more, and statistically so, when sitting for disciplinarily close rather than distant ESAP tests. Also,
the positive effect of disciplinary adjacency was not bound to any linguistic thresholds. Except for
geology, moderate to large positive correlations were found between proficiency and ESAP test
scores. Findings and implications are discussed vis-à-vis studies addressing the role of language
proficiency in EAP assessment in general and ESAP assessment in Iran in particular.
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