A Study of the Relationship between Tested English Proficiency and Academic Writing Performance

摘要

This study was conducted as part of the Academic English for Science (AES) course development at a private university in Japan. The work is a preliminary study on factors that relate to academic writing proficiency. Although there are many factors that need to be taken into account in developing an effective academic writing curriculum for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners, this initial study examined the relationship between general English ability and writing achievement. The results showed a moderate correlation between scores from standardized testing of general English skills and academic writing ability. The correlation coefficient from class achievement and student average CASEC total scores was r = 0.30. Results revealed that students with high CASEC scores (760 and above) performed well in writing classes while performance of students with low to intermediate English scores varied. Future research to inform academic writing course development should consider other factors such as academic background and teaching methodology in addition to tested linguistic skills.