Coleman, J. A. (1995a). Progress, proficiency and motivation among university language learners. Centre for Language and Communication Studies. Occasional Paper No.40. Dublin, Ireland. Trinity College.

Population: Learners of French, German, Spanish, English and Russian in British higher and further education. Year 3 students, since most spend this year abroad, were excluded.

Size/Scope: 3,000 language learners in 12 UK universities and 8 other institutions for Stage 2 (completed) and 20,000 students for Stage 3 (in progress in six EU countries). This is a joint project between the universities of Portsmouth, Duisburg, and Bochum. It received its funding under the LINGUA program from the Commission of the European Communities, the British Council, and the German Austauschdienst (under their Academic Research Collaboration Program).

Instrumentation: Proficiency levels were assessed by means of C-tests while associated questionnaires sought to explore biographical data, language learning background, residency abroad, attitudes, motivations, strategies, and grammatical knowledge. Coleman says of the C-test, “The C-test is easy to construct, quick to administer, and easy, objective, and unambiguous to score. It is also extremely reliable. To provide a snapshot of a learner’s general competence in a foreign language, the C-test is unrivaled (full bibliography in Grotjahn 1995).”

Details: The paper first describes Phase 1, a small-scale survey that “showed widespread ignorance of theoretical constructs underpinning language testing among university staff.” It continues by listing the divergent performances and rates of progress across different institutions of Phase 2, and examines features of learner motivation and of how it evolves during university studies.

Conclusions: The results show that there are (1) both similarities and dissimilarities between learners of different languages, (2) that there is a shift in emphasis in motivation between students in different years of study (with significant changes following residence abroad), (3) that there are major differences between UK students and their counterparts in Germany and Austria, (4) that motivation changes with age (with sex-based differences being marginal), and (5) that there is a slight but measurable relationship between integrative and/or resultative motivation and foreign language proficiency.” Factor analysis confirms expectations of the principal motivations underlying student responses.

Comments: This three-stage study, using the C-test developed at the University of Duisburg, is closest to what I believe needs to be done in select schools and universities in the U.S.

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