| dc.description.abstract | IELTS as one of English language assessment tests plays a crucial role for
international university admission. The number of Indonesian students who study
in overseas is increasing and the majority of foreign universities requires IELTS
test result as mandatory document for applying to university. As primary English
test for abroad university entry, an issue is raising about the predictive validity of
IELTS as English test toward the International students’ academic performance.
Since there has not been a single study of Indonesian students’ views on IELTS
test, this study would focus on Indonesian students as international students in
abroad universities who are still studying or who have completed their study.
This study therefore aims (I) to investigate the comparison of Indonesian
students’ academic performances with the different IELTS scores as abroad
university admission and (II) to unpack the Indonesian students’ point of views of
their IELTS score on their learning performance in abroad universities.
To achieve the aforementioned research questions above, the mix-research
methods were implemented in this study. A quantitative method was employed to
outline the comparison of Indonesians’ academic achievements with the different
IELTS backgrounds and a qualitative research method was also used to reveal the
Indonesian students’ narrations on IELTS and their study performance. Sixteen
Indonesian students or alumni of international colleges participated as research
subjects in this study. The participants studied in various countries, which were
mostly dominated by European countries such as United Kingdom and Netherland
or other countries like Turkey and Australia. The research subjects were diverse in
term of age, gender, education background, and occupation. Most of them
completed their study abroad for master degree or doctoral degree. The data was
gathered through casual questionnaire and open-questionnaire. The questionnaire
was employed to find out the personal information of the research subjects and to
collect the data of their IELTS scores and the GPA (Grade Point Average). Then,
the open-questionnaire was used to collect the Indonesian students’ voices and
thoughts about the IELTS effect toward their study performance in abroad
universities.
The study revealed contrast findings from both quantitative and qualitative
method. The numeric data of quantitative displayed the standard deviation of GPA
with 0.26 and IELTS with 1.87. While the mean ranks of IELTS which have been
classified into three scores; 6.5,7.0 and 7.5 showed different mean value with 5.93, 8.63 and 12. Furthermore, the average mark of GPA from 5 participants with IELTS
6.5 is 3.75, 4 people with IELTS 7.0 is 3.56 and 7 subjects with IELTS 7.5 is 3.44.
It is therefore reinforced by the Kruskall-Wallis analysis result that showed the
significant value of 0.93. This confirms that IELTS does not contribute to the
academic accomplishment of Indonesian students in abroad universities. However,
the descriptive qualitative design depicted a different outcome. From the open questionnaire, majority of Indonesian students affirmed that IELTS have given
positive benefits to their study performance at the foreign colleges.
The implication of this study is beneficial for the Indonesian students who
are willing to pursue their higher education in another country, the EFL teachers
who particularly focuses on teaching language tests such as IELTS and the
stakeholders of language assessments. Furthermore, the suggestions for the future
studies with relevant issue are highly recommended. It is expected to have deeper
studies with the more number of participants or deep investigation of specific
IELTS section on students’ education performance. | en_US |
