Mind the Gap! Three Years Down the Line from the Entrance Exam at the English Department, Faculty of Philology, Belgrade

Abstract

This paper examines the nature and degree of correlation between the candidates’ entrance exam results and their respective results in the Contemporary English G5 exam in the third year of undergraduate studies at the English Department, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade. It assesses the predictive validity of the entrance exam as a selection tool and highlights the need of a more balanced development of language competences and skills in EFL university studies. The analysis comprises the scores achieved by 218 students from two generations (entrance exam 2011 and 2012, Contemporary G5 exam 2014 and 2015, respectively) in the following exam components: English in use (grammar and vocabulary), reading comprehension, listening comprehension and writing. The findings indicate satisfactory overall predictive validity of the entrance exam, whereby, more specifically, they reveal a high degree of correlation between the writing and listening comprehension scores but a considerable discrepancy between the English in use (grammar and vocabulary) and reading comprehension scores achieved in the entrance exam (B2+ level) and in the third year Contemporary English G5 exam (C2.1 level). The findings should ultimately serve as a basis for further qualitative research and improvement of the interaction between teaching, learning and assessment across different levels of EFL university studies.